Dear fellow Gen Yers, did you know that the late Gough Whitlam set up triple j?

That’s right, the Labor PM – who died last month aged 98 – established what was then known as Double J in 1974 as a way to woo young voters, as well as support Australian music.

That was just one of the many profound ways in which his government influenced the way we live and think.

• Tributes flow for Gough Whitlam in Sydney
• Liberals jeered at Whitlam memorial
• Gough Whitlam dies aged 98

Arguably the most engaged Gen Y has been in recent times has revolved around the Abbott government’s regulation of universities.

And the stamping of our collective feet echoes all the way back to when the Whitlam government made tertiary education free for all.

Also, few of us would know that Whitlam ratified the World Heritage Convention, protected the Great Barrier Reef from being drilled for oil and started the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

His long list of achievements also included improving working conditions for women – the most significant move being equal pay.

Another lesser-known contribution to women’s rights was reducing restrictions on oral contraceptives!

He also paved the way for indigenous land rights, implementing the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, recognising basic human rights for the first Australians.

At a memorial service for Whitlam in Sydney on Wednesday, Noel Pearson reflected that without him “the land and human rights of our people would never have seen the light of day”.

And could you imagine going to jail for loving your partner? Whitlam’s government put in place the first anti-discrimination measures in relation to gay and lesbian Australians, decriminalising homosexuality.

Last but not least, what about that little green card in your wallet? Could you even imagine a world without universal health care? You can thank Gough for that, too.

All of these reforms – and more – were laid out bare at the memorial, and their importance to more than Gen Y was brought to the centre of my attention.

PM Tony Abbott and former prime minister Bob Hawke have a chat at the Gough Whitlam memorial service. Photo: AAP

Gen Y is often dismissed as being the most politically apathetic generation – stuck behind and distracted by the privileged lives bestowed on us by the baby boomers.

It’s arguable that this label is justified, with 25 per cent of young Australians failing to enroll to vote at the last election. 

The irony of this is that despite our apparent inaction, the same progressive minds that drove social change in the 1960s and 1970s and had brought Gough Whitlam to power, have instilled the same social values in Gen Y.

When I look at my generation, and the collective values we hold, they parallel the legacy and achievements of Whitlam’s government in an uncanny way.

Whitlam brought Australia out of an age of conservative darkness, and into a progressive new era of social reform. A testament to this was Whitlam’s conservative counterpart Malcolm Fraser, who upheld many of Whitlam’s most significant social reforms.

Values and privileges our generation have often taken for granted were the brainchild of Whitlam’s social conscience.

And what is most significant about them is that they transcended political ideologies of left and right and are enjoyed by every Australian.

Whitlam did not just change the Australian Labor Party; the Liberal party would have committed political suicide if it had not adequately adjusted itself.

Whitlam changed the very fabric of Australian society as a whole – forever.

Ultimately, all of Whitlam’s legacies are based on values that Gen Y are also committed to, and despite being generations our senior, his ideals would just as easily fit into ours, as ours would into his.

So thank you, Gough, for making your battles and your vision, Gen Y’s life essentials.

Serge Negus is an environmental sciences and politics graduate from the University of Sydney. He is an ambassador for the world’s oldest conservation organisation Fauna and Flora International. He is also a freelance writer, presenter and conservation communicator.