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March 19th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda AAP
Margaret Whitlam will be farewelled at a private ceremony after her family declined the Labor federal government’s offer of a state funeral.
Mrs Whitlam, the 92-year-old wife of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam, died in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Saturday after being hospitalised when she suffered a fall last month.
“We understand the Whitlam family has made private funeral arrangements and we respect the family’s wishes,” a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a statement on Monday.
In federal parliament, MPs rose and stood in silence after Ms Gillard moved a condolence motion that paid tribute to Mrs Whitlam’s public service.
Ms Gillard expressed parliament’s deep regret over her death and profound sympathy for her family.
She was a “great and gracious Australian” whose death felt like a loss in the family, especially for those in the Labor movement, she added.
The prime minister recalled the “very great romance” between the Whitlams, who first met at a University of Sydney student party in 1939.
“Margaret knew what she was getting in for,” she said.
“The conversation (that) began that night lasted for another 73 years.”
The marriage of almost 70 years was a partnership of equals, Ms Gillard said, noting that Mrs Whitlam was a woman who more than matched in brains, humour and panache her formidable and dynamic husband.
“Gough’s privilege in finding Margaret was a privilege our nation shared and made its own.”
Immediately after the dramatic events of November 11, 1975, Mrs Whitlam told Gough that instead of accepting the note from Governor-General John Kerr withdrawing his commission, he should have torn it up, Labor Senator John Faulkner told the senate.
Senator Faulkner spoke to Mr Whitlam on Monday to convey his condolences.
“Australia has lost one of its finest citizens,” he said.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Australians were united in mourning Mrs Whitlam’s death.
“We join with the prime minister in expressing our gratitude for a great life well lived.”
She was a beloved spouse and model for Australian women who had acted as a “vital reality check” on her husband, he said.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd remembered Mrs Whitlam as warm and generous, with a truly wicked sense of humour.
“We all loved her dearly,” Mr Rudd told parliament, while speaking of the tears in his house at the weekend, particularly from his wife Therese Rein who considered Mrs Whitlam a “soul mate”.
Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull, the member for Wentworth, was Mrs Whitlam’s parliamentary representative.
He reflected on his decades-long friendship with Mrs Whitlam and pointed to a well-known picture of a young Bondi girl that has accompanied many stories about her.
“There in her swimming costume, looking out into the future,” he said.
“You could take the girl out of Bondi but you could never take the Bondi out of the girl,” he said, adding that 92 had been “a hell of an innings”.
Labor minister Tanya Plibersek thanked her “humorous, fun, witty, intelligent and lively” friend for supporting her preselection, despite Mr Whitlam’s decision to back another Labor candidate.
MPs on both side stood in silence as a sign of respect.
Mrs Whitlam is survived by her husband, her four children Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine, her grandchildren Alex, Alice, Helen, Edward and Peter, and her great-grandchildren Oscar, Isabella, Charlotte and Sam.
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