When Gough Whitlam became prime minister in 1972, his wife Margaret confronted a dilemma: How might she approach life as the spouse of the nation’s political leader?

“What am I to do?” she asked her diary. “Stay in a cage – wide open to view, of course – and say nothing? That’s not on, but if I can do some good I’ll certainly try.”

Margaret Whitlam talks to the press in the grounds of The Lodge on December 15, 1972.Credit: The Age

Like all spouses of Australian prime ministers, before and since, Whitlam recognised there was no user manual for the role.

As Jodie Haydon prepares to become the latest wife of a prime minister, she too might have to consider how to maintain her identity beneath the sometimes overheated public gaze.

As Anthony Albanese’s partner during his almost two years as prime minister, however, she has had time to adjust to life in The Lodge, while Australians have had time to grow accustomed to her presence.

To predecessors like Margaret Whitlam, entry to The Lodge was the shock of the new.

“If you say nothing you’re just dumb. If you talk, you’re too talkative,” she told the feminist Germaine Greer in the days after her husband’s electoral triumph.

She chose to talk.

QOSHE - How to survive as a prime minister’s spouse - Tony Wright
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How to survive as a prime minister’s spouse

12 1
16.02.2024

When Gough Whitlam became prime minister in 1972, his wife Margaret confronted a dilemma: How might she approach life as the spouse of the nation’s political leader?

“What am I to do?” she asked her diary. “Stay in a cage – wide open to view, of course – and say nothing? That’s not on, but if I can do........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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