It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a raft of major policy proposals, accompanied by a television advertising campaign of prominent celebrities singing a jingle entitled "It's Time".^[1][2][3] It was ultimately successful, as Labor picked up eight seats and won a majority. This was the first time Labor had been in government since it lost the 1949 election to the Liberal Party.

Themes[link]

The campaign concentrated heavily on the mistakes made by the prime minister of the day, William McMahon, with a special focus given to the areas of the national economy, health care, city planning and the Vietnam War, as well as Whitlam's ideas for governmental reform.

Policies[link]

Economic policy[link]

Whitlam put forward an economic plan as part of his It's Time speech that advocated strong, productive relationships between the public, industry and employees. He contended that only if strong economic growth was maintained, would policies in other areas be feasible. A restoration of genuine full employment along with a projected 6-7% growth of industry were predicted. He argued that his government need not increase taxation to achieve its goals.

Health care reforms[link]

The Labor party planned to introduce a universal health insurance scheme, to which contributions would be made according to income, thus turning the old system on its head.

Gough Whitlam declared that the Labor party would set up an Australian Hospitals Commission to promote the modernisation and regionalisation of hospitals. The Commission would be concerned with more than just hospital services. Its concern and financial support would extend to the development of community-based health services and the sponsoring of preventive health programs. Labour encouraged sponsoring public nursing homes, and development of community health clinics.

City planning[link]

Labor under Whitlam proposed co-operation with the States, local government and semi-government authorities in a major effort to reduce land and housing costs, and to retard rises in rates and local government charges. To this end they advocated the establishment of a new Ministry of Urban Affairs to analyse, research and co-ordinate plans for each city and region and to advise the Federal Government on grants for urban purposes.

Whitlam claimed that the average cost of housing could be reduced by up to 20% by merely standardizing the reticulation and building and lending authority regulations. He also sought to lower interest payments by making them tax deductible. Labor committed itself to reducing the waiting time for a commission home to under twelve months.

Vietnam War[link]

Whitlam promised an end to Australian involvement in the war in Vietnam and an end to conscription into the Australian armed forces. He underscored the relevance of treaties such as ANZUS to the defence of Australia, but also noted that beginning serious relations with China was in the country's best interest.

It was also announced that all of those previously imprisoned under the National Service Act would be released.

Social justice[link]

Whitlam asserted that education was to be the fastest growing public sector in Australia, should Labor gain power. In furtherance of this goal, he proposed the establishment of an Australian Schools Commission to examine and determine the needs of students in Government and non-government primary, secondary and technical schools. He promised to increase funding to schools, and to allocate it based on need, accusing his predecessor of having neglected some schools in favour of more prestigious ones.

Whitlam announced that pre-school education would be paid for by the state, and that child care would be heavily subsidised under a Labor government. He also said that university fees would be abolished from 1974.

The ALP saw a great weakness in Australian social welfare in that it relied almost wholly on the provision of cash benefits. Whitlam said he would establish an Australian Assistance Plan with the emphasis on providing social workers to provide advice, counselling and above all the sheer human contact that the under-privileged in the community needed. He also sought to unify the different social justice systems that were in place at that time. Under Labor, the pension rate would be raised to 25% of the average Australian male's earnings.

Political climate[link]

Leadership[link]

By 1972 Australia had been governed by the Liberal-Country coalition for 23 years. However, the Coalition had barely avoided a humiliating defeat when it suffered an 18-seat swing in the 1969 election campaign--one of the largest swings against a government that still managed to keep power. Labor actually won a majority of the two-party vote; had it been able to overcome DLP preferences in four Melbourne-area seats, Whitlam would have become Prime Minister.

After the election, Liberal Prime Minister John Gorton was unable to get the better of Whitlam. Over the next two years, the Coalition fell further behind Labor in the polls, and Gorton resigned in 1971 after a tied vote of no confidence in the Liberal caucus. However, his successor, William McMahon, was indecisive, and failed to deliver on many of the Coalition's campaign promises. McMahon was also unable to get the better of Whitlam; his skills as an orator were no match for Whitlam's abilities. One of his own most cited quotes pointed out his indecisive nature.

Foreign relations[link]

The Coalition had focused heavily on relations with the United States since the Second World War to bring Australia under their defence umbrella. Under the auspices ANZUS, Australia had sent over fifty thousand troops to Vietnam in support of the South Vietnamese forces. The Australian government did not recognise the sovereignty of several communist bloc states including the German Democratic Republic and the Peoples Republic of China.

Apartheid in South Africa was becoming a huge source of controversy, and there was wide public support in Australia to increase sanctions against the white government there, particularly with respect to their sports teams.

Economy[link]

Unemployment was 2.5% and inflation was sitting on 6.1%. The Australian Dollar bought 1.93 US Dollars, 362 Yen or 1.97 Pounds Sterling. A general downturn in the western economies of the world, and the rising price of oil were contributing to a poor financial situation for Australia.

Launch[link]

The It's Time campaign was first launched in Blacktown, New South Wales in 1972. According to Whitlam himself, Blacktown was chosen because it "represented – symbolised even – the new outer suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane where we were building a new constituency. It typified all the urban policy failures of the time, through lack of planning and misallocation of resources at both Federal and State government level."^[4]

The speech that Gough Whitlam delivered to the audience in the Blacktown Civic Center was written for the Labor Party by Graham Freudenberg, the advisor and speech writer to several successive Labor governments.

Television commercial[link]

The It's Time TV commercial^[1][2][3], sung by Alison McCallum, featured a chorus comprising a "Who's Who" of Australian entertainment and sport personalities, including: Bobby Limb, Chuck Faulkner, Col Joye, Little Pattie, Judy Stone, Jack Thompson, Jackie Weaver, Graham Kennedy, Jimmy Hannan, Bert Newton and many others.

Success[link]

Labor received 49.7% of the primary vote, leaving the Liberal-Country Party coalition with just 41.4%¹. Labor, with sixty seven of one hundred and twenty eight seats in the House of Representatives, now controlled Australia's lower house of Parliament by a margin of nine seats. The overall swing to Labor on 2 December was 2.5 per cent. Labor lost four seats while gaining twelve.

The 1972 election was the first ALP victory since 1946. Its success is usually attributed to both the It's Time campaign, and Whitlam's skills as an orator, though it should be remembered that Graham Freudenberg had a major influence on many speeches given by members of the ALP during the It's Time campaign. The campaign helped the ALP to establish new voter constituencies, particularly in outer lying areas of Australia's major population centers, who were, before that time, to large extent marginalised by the major parties.

On his first day in office as Prime Minister of Australia, Whitlam declared an end to conscription and began arranging for those imprisoned for avoiding the draft to be released and compensated. During the next few weeks he implemented a range of new legislation including the establishment of an Australian honours system and the banning of racially selected sporting teams, a move intended to impede the South African Apartheid policy. East Germany and the People's Republic of China were also recognised for the first time by an Australian government.

The Whitlam program[link]

During its time in office, the Whitlam Government embarked upon an ambitious programme of social reform, in keeping with the promise of change that the ALP campaign emphasised. The social radicalism of the Whitlam Government was such that, during its first thirteen days in office, some forty important decisions had been made^[5].

As noted by one historian, “Labor’s extensive reforms during its first term in office were the high water mark of Australian postwar social democracy"^[6]. Upon coming to office, the Whitlam Government granted federal public servants paid maternity leave, a thirty-six and a quarter hour workweek, large wage rises, and four weeks annual leave. Free tertiary education was introduced, together with a universal health care system and a sole parent pension. Laws were also passed providing for equal pay for women and national land rights, divorce laws were made more liberal, and legislation against racial discrimination was introduced.^[6] In addition, the principle of equal pay was extended, occupational health and safety had been improved, annual leave loading was introduced, trade union education was established, four weeks of annual leave was achieved as a national standard,^[7] military conscription was abolished and Australian troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, a separate ministry responsible for Aboriginal affairs was established, controls on foreign ownership of Australian resources were put in place, laws against sexual discrimination were passed, maternity leave and benefits for single mothers were extended, and an attempt was made to democratise the electoral system through the introduction of one-vote-one-value.^[8]. The social services were also significantly expanded, with spending on housing quadrupled, education outlays doubled, and federal health expenditure rising by 20%^[6]

A significant amount of legislation was passed altogether from 1972 to 1975, with 221 acts passed by parliament in 1973 alone^[9], while the welfare state was signficantly extended^[10][11][12]. Public spending was raised significantly, with the 1973 budget quadrupling spending on housing, tripling outlays on urban development, and doubling spending on education^[5]. Through initiatives such as the Australian Assistance Plan and the Regional Employment Development scheme, employment opportunities were expanded and funds allocated towards improving services and amenities in deprived areas, as characterised by the construction of new health centres, community houses, legal services, footpaths, sewers, streetlights, and public libraries^[13].

A wide range of new benefits were introduced, such as a handicapped child’s allowance, a special orphan’s pension, and the Supporting Mothers Benefit. Rates of sickness and unemployment benefits were increased to bring them in line with other social security benefits, while funding was provided for child care, women’s refuges, and community health programs. The means test for pensioners over the age of seventy-five was abolished in 1973, and in 1975 the means test was abolished for all pensioners over the age of seventy. As a result of the welfare measures undertaken by the Whitlam Government, social expenditures as a percentage of GDP rose from 12.5% to 17.6% during its time in office^[14].

Needs-based funding for schools was implemented, spending on technical colleges (including the construction of residential accommodation for students) was significantly increased, while special initiatives for the handicapped, Aborigines, and isolated children were also introduced. Farmers benefited from tariff cuts and additional markets established by the Whitlam Government’s trade and diplomatic initiatives, together with higher spending on regional education and health, rural research, and other upgraded country facilities.A number of measures were also undertaken to enhance women’s rights. International conventions on equal pay, discrimination, and the political rights of women were ratified. New health centres and many women’s refuges were established throughout Australia, together with a pre-school and child care program which catered for 100,000 children. In addition, reforms were carried out which enshrined democracy in the internal administration of unions^[15].

The voting age was also lowered to eighteen, and grant programs for regional development were introduced, which provided for urban renewal, the construction of sewerage systems in unserviced urban areas, tourist and leisure facilities, and flood prevention. During its last year in office, the Whitlam Government carried out measures such as the introduction of a national employment and training scheme, the first no fault divorce procedure in the world via the Family Law Act 1975, and a welfare payment for homeless Australians^[16].

Despite being in office for only three years, the Whitlam Government was able to carry out a radical programme of progressive social reform, and arguably came far in meeting the promises for change envisioned by its electoral slogan. According to one historian,

“If many Labor supporters regard the Curtin and Chifley governments as a period of great achievements and greater ambitions frustrated by conservative forces, their illusions in the Whitlam government are even more heroic. After nearly a quarter of a century of stagnant conservative rule during which Australia seemed to be a backward looking outpost of the British empire run by monarchists and reactionaries, Gough Whitlam, the Mighty Gough, broke through and during his first 12 months in office remade Australia forever.”^[6]

Legacy[link]

The words It's Time have become an important contribution to the lexicon of Labor's constituency since their first use in Blacktown in 1972. An updated version of the It's Time song was used in advertisements for the 'Yes' vote in the republic referendum in 1999, which ended with Whitlam saying: "Yes. It's time." In 2000, after another period of Liberal dominance, the phrase had an unsuccessful short-lived recurrence, with Whitlam speaking on behalf of the Leader of the Labor Party, Kim Beazley.

References[link]

• Detailed results: House of Representatives election 1969, Parliament of Australia.
• "Hopes were high...", Sunday Telegraph, 15 November 1992.
• Whitlam Speeches: 1972 'It's Time' Policy Speech, 13 November 1972

Look up its, it's, or ITS in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

its, it's or ITS can mean:

• it's, a contraction of it is or it has
• its, the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun form of the personal pronoun it

Computing[link]

• Incompatible Timesharing System, a computer operating system
• Intelligent tutoring system, an artificial intelligence system used for tutoring
• Internationalization Tag Set, a W3C recommendation for internationalizing XML
• Issue tracking system, computer software that manages product issues

Organizations[link]

• Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty, a former political grouping in the European Parliament
• Islamic Thinkers Society
• International Thespian Society, an honorary organization for high school and middle school theatre students
• International Tracing Service
• Indian Telecommunication Service, an organised civil service of Government of India
• Irish Texts Society, promoting the study of literature

Education[link]

• Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, often abbreviated to ITS Leeds
• Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland
• Tenth of November Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember), a public university in Surabaya, Indonesia
• Institute of Technological Studies, in Sri Lanka
• Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo, in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico

Science and engineering[link]

• Integrated Truss Structure, a component of the International Space Station
• Intelligent transportation system, add information technology to the transportation infrastructure
• Internal transcribed spacer, a section of DNA located within a set of ribosomal genes
• International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90), a temperature calibration standard for measurements in units of kelvins and degrees Celsius
• Intelligent tutoring system, a computer system which automatically provides customized instruction in some topic, usually related to the field of AI

Business[link]

• International Transportation Service (ITS), an American container terminal company

Other[link]

• The "It's" man, a man with torn clothes and unkempt beard who appeared at the beginning of episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus
• Improv Tribal Style Belly Dance, a sub-genre of Tribal Style Belly Dance

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (June 2011)

Peter Hollens is an American pop singer-songwriter-producer. He has been heavily involved with a cappella music since 1999 when he co-founded (with Leo da Silva) the University of Oregon's award-winning a cappella group On The Rocks, known as the first official collegiate a cappella group in Oregon.^[1] On The Rocks began a tradition of excellence in a genre that was previously unheard of in the Northwest. Originally from Ashland, Oregon, Peter graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal performance. Since his graduation from the U of O, he has become very involved with collegiate a cappella,^[2] including recording, producing & judging international a cappella competitions throughout the United States. In 2010, Peter was featured on NBC’s The Sing Off receiving acclaim from The Sing-Off judges Shawn Stockman, Nicole Scherzinger and Ben Folds for solo performances leading On the Rocks, one of America’s premier collegiate a cappella groups.^[3][4] Peter records and produces from his home studio in Eugene, Oregon and recently recorded for Sony and Epic Records. Peter is married to Evynne Hollens, founder of the a cappella group Divisi.

Peter's notable recordings include tracks for "The Sing-Off Season 2-Greatest Hits" as well as many award-winning collegiate a cappella albums for such groups as On the Rocks, Divisi, Cornell's Chordials, the Duke's Men of Yale and the Whiffenpoofs.^[5] He has also recorded sing off season 2 winner's, Committed, the Backbeats from season 2, and the grammy award winning group the Swingle Singers.^[6]

In 2012 he released his first album.

Recent recordings[link]

• "Seasons Of Love" (A Cappella) featuring Evynne Hollens (single)
• "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" (A Cappella) featuring The Swingle Singers (single)
• "Pray" (A Cappella) featuring Therry Thomas of Committed and Courtney Jensen of The Backbeats and Noteworthy. (single)
• "Lullaby" (A Cappella) (single)
• "Need You Now" (A Cappella) featuring Evynne Hollens and Jake Moulton (single)
• "Firework" (A Cappella) (single)^[7]
• "Born This Way" (A Cappella) (single)
• "What's My Name/Only Girl" (A Cappella) (single)
• "Sleepwalking" (A Capella) (single)
• "Skyrim" (Single with Lindsey Stirling, 2012)^[8]

Discography[link]

• HOLLENS (HD) (2012)

National television appearances[link]

On October 22, 2010, On The Rocks and Peter Hollens announced that they were going to be appearing alongside 9 other groups on the NBC competition-reality show The Sing-Off. The first four episodes taped in August and September 2010, with a live finale on December 20. OTR placed 5th among the 10 groups, appearing in all five episodes. All 10 of the groups made an appearance on the live finale and helped congratulate Committed on winning the $100,000 prize and Sony Recording contract. A holiday album was released featuring songs from all 10 groups. Individual tracks (live and studio) were also made through iTunes and can be found at http://www.itunes.com/singoff. Peter Hollens had a solo in every episode.

Songs Performed: Episode 2.1 - Group: Bad Romance (Lady Gaga) Peter: "I've Got the Music in Me" Episode 2.2 - Live Your Life (TI and Rihanna) - Solos: Peter Hollens, Rap: Jeff Rogers Episode 2.3 - Pour Some Sugar On Me Solo: Jonah, Peter Hollens (Def Leppard), Kyrie (Mr. Mister) Solo: Peter Hollens Episode 2.4 - Elton John Medley (Bitch Is Back, Bennie and the Jets, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me) Solos: Nick Firth, Jonah Seitz, Peter Hollens Episode 2.5- Swan Song- The Final Countdown (Europe) Solos: Peter Hollens,

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Peter Hollens' Youtube Channel

Tyler Ray Ward (born March 12, 1989), is a singer/songwriter and producer known for his covers of hit songs by artists including Adele, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry.^[1][2] Tyler is also well known for his original songs such as Everything, The Hardest Thing, The Rescue, Paper Heart and Our Story's Told.^[3][4] Although Ward often sings and produces his own music, he also works with his backing band on many projects and on tour, members include his instrumental band whom he met during a small gig in 2007 along with rapper Eppic, singer/songwriter Alex G and rapper and brother Derek Ward... He has also worked and produced music for many people across Youtube including Boyce Avenue, Megan Nicole and Katy McAllister..

YouTube recognition[link]

Tyler Ward is best known for his cover with fellow YouTubers, Megan Nicole and Eppic of Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" which has had more than 17 million views as of July 1, 2012.^[5] His first video was a mix of the current top 40 songs of 2008 which has 600 thousand views to date.^[6] Since then, Ward has amassed over 900,000 subscribers and more than 250 million views on his channel.^[7][8]

Career[link]

Before Tyler Ward had an interest in music, he was focused on sports. After graduating from high school, Tyler enrolled in the United States Air Force Academy to begin a college football career. Tyler Ward was not able to adjust to the different lifestyle and decided to move on with his life. After leaving the Air Force Academy, Ward was accepted into the University Of Northern Colorado and started to write songs while seeking a journalism degree.^[9][10][11] Tyler is also a devoted christian and has witten songs to express his faith.

Tyler Ward was once number five on Billboard's Top 100 Uncharted List and was also ranked on Billboard's Social 50 Chart for several weeks.^[12][13]

In 2011, Ward performed a duet with The Band Perry, celebrating the Academy of Country Music Awards.^[14] Later that year, Ward performed with Christina Grimmie live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Their performance aired nationwide on October 10, 2011.^[15]

Tyler is currently working towards the release of his first official original album which will be released in two parts, one half being released in September 18th, 2012 and will feature 6 songs. The second half is then scheduled to be released complete with the last 6 songs on February 12, 2013. The album has been described as an "Album for the Fans, By the Fans" and will be funded by the fans themselves.

Songs covered[link]

Singles[link]

Top 10 most viewed videos[link]

As of 27th July 2012, the 10 most viewed videos uploaded by Tyler Ward are:

References[link]