As stated on my user page, I'm not much of a one for writing new
articles, but I like to hunt down and correct errors. And to update
articles where new facts come to light.
Over recent days Cabinet documents relating to the 1974 Whitlam
government in Australia have been released under the 30-year rule, and
as much of the material is relevant to and sheds new light on Gough
Whitlam's actions at the time, I turned to the Gough Whitlam article.
Amongst other things, I noted that the article itself was heavily
biased towards a partisan point of view. One of the many areas that
needed correcting was the mention of the Patrick Field affair, where
the Labor Party's nominee for a casual Seante vacancy caused by a
death in office was rejected by the Country Party Queensland State
Premier in favour of a Labor member who was strongly critical of
Whitlam, an event which had far-reaching consequences in Australian
political history.
As I have numerous relevant texts ready to hand, I checked a few facts
and rewrote the paragraph, removing obviously partisan statements for
which I could find no source, and adding factual material. I made a
note on the discussion page explaining my actions and citing my main
source.
Soon afterwards, user AdamCarr reverted my edit to the previous
partisan version. He responded on the discussion page with a list of
points which I rebutted, citing exact sources and noting that many of
his claims were incorrect. He admitted that he could not currently
check his statements. I asked that he refrain from reverting my edits
until he could either provide sources or give others a chance to
comment.
Shortly after this, PMelvilleAustin again reverted my changes and
protected the article, stating on the discussion page that AdamCarr
and I should come to an agreement. As AdamCarr himself points out he
is on holiday overseas and unable to cite his sources. Other editors
are presumably available to discuss and edit the article until a
consensus is reached, but as the article is now protected, they are
unable to participate in the normal Wiki fashion.
PMelvilleAustin seems to be using his admin powers to prevent edits to
an article in which he is personally involved, and which should be
available for modification in the light of the recent release of
pertinent cabinet documents.
--
Peter in Canberra