In this stirring speech, Noel Pearson reminds us that you don’t have to agree with a man’s politics to recognise his outstanding contribution.

Pearson’s powerful oratory shows our current generation the importance of some of the changes enacted by Whitlam during his three years as Prime Minister. Many of the freedoms and rights we now take as a given find their genesis in Whitlam’s reforms.

No leader is perfect. Some, however, leave a larger legacy. I think Whitlam may be one such leader.

Watch and learn. Discover something about the country we know and love. And pray that some of these values, broader than one man or his government, may be held high as long as God gives us breath in this great nation.

clip courtesy the ABC Network’s YouTube channel