One of his predecessors, Sir Robert Menzies, certainly had an interest in the arts, and even at one stage tried unsuccessfully to establish an Australian Academy of Art, but his was a political agenda about maintaining conservative standards and combatting the spread of the red menace which was in his eyes thinly disguised as modern art. In the arts, Menzies stood against the tide of history and was swept aside, Whitlam rode the tide and has continued to stand tall.

A defining symbolic moment for Whitlam and the arts was the purchase of Jackson Pollock's Blue poles (1952) in 1973 for $1.3 million. Already facing pressure from conservative forces for spending too much on the arts, advisers suggested to the prime minister that he exercise caution and discretion. Whitlam famously wrote to the director of the yet-to-open Australian National Gallery: "Buy it and disclose the price." All hell broke out from the conservative side of politics and elements in the media, but the prime minister defiantly reproduced Blue poles on his Christmas card for that year. In retrospect this has been one of the most significant art purchases in Australia's history and almost overnight bought for the national gallery millions of dollars of publicity and for the first time it was regarded as a serious player on the international art market. The painting itself came to be regarded as one of the most famous and cherished possessions in an Australian public collection and is now valued by some at more than $100 million. America regretted ever letting the painting go out of the country and it is a major destination piece for the Canberra gallery.

Other spectacular acquisitions followed and the visual arts gained a high public profile and for practitioners, the word "artist" was pronounced with a sense of pride, rather than as some dirty little secret, which belonged in the domain of weirdos and social misfits. Arthur Boyd, once told me, that it was because of Whitlam that he thought that he could once more live in Australia, now that his son could not be conscripted and sent to fight in an unjust war in Vietnam and that he could take pride in being an Australian.

Whitlam also revamped the Australia Council for the Arts and gave it proper funding and direction and made it into a statutory authority in March 1975. He also established both the Australian Film Commission and the Australian Film and Television School. Many Australian artists, writers, musicians, opera singers, actors, composers and filmmakers experienced a new wave of confidence in what they were doing and the arts were receiving national acknowledgement that they were worthwhile. This was not primarily a question of funding, which of course played a major role, but more importantly, it was a question of perception and confidence. The arts community felt that it was being taken seriously and the authority of the prime minister was behind them. It was no longer a liability to be an "Australian artist" and no longer was there a perceived need to be a little shy of the local product. Australian artists, across many spheres, were seen as being internationally competitive.

Prime minister Whitlam was passionate and exceptionally well informed on the arts and his love and knowledge of opera was legendary. After all, this prime minister was also the minister for the environment, aborigines and the arts.

It is probably true to say that Whitlam loved the arts and the arts sector loved Whitlam. The arts have continued to be generally loyal to the Labor side of politics, even if Paul Keating has been the only other Labor prime minister who has reciprocated and has gone out of his way to support the arts. Sadly the corollary has meant that many on the conservative side of politics have treated the arts as a "lost cause" and many have been hesitant to support them. This is not purely a monetary question, but also one of interest, passion and commitment to the arts. The lessening in government patronage and the highly underdeveloped philanthropic sector in Australia has seen a crisis in many sectors of the arts in this country.

What is happening to the Whitlam heritage in the arts? There is a popular theory that the present federal government is hell-bent on undoing the Whitlam reforms in universal healthcare, free tertiary education as well as the support for the arts. Arguments over economic unsustainability and the new militarism have all reared their ugly head. Without quoting Mark Twain's "lies, damn lies and statistics", it is all of course a question of prioritisation. For example, how much money do we want to spend on the centenary of Anzac Day celebrations, on a new battleship, a new hospital or a new wing devoted to the display of Australian art at the National Gallery are all questions of priority on which a government can decide.

Whitlam in three heroic years of government created a vision and a wonderful dream for the arts in Australia and laid the foundations. The arts are not a charity, but an investment, which in the long term, pays for itself many times over. Whitlam proved to the Australian public that the arts did really matter and it is now our responsibility to continue to prove that this is true and to keep the dream alive.