Doug Everingham

Douglas Nixon Everingham (25 June 1923 – 24 August 2017) was an Australian politician who served as Minister for Health in the Whitlam government from 1972 to 1975. He represented the Labor Party in the House of Representatives from 1967 to 1975 and 1977 to 1984. He is remembered for his pivotal role in the formation of the Whitlam government's Medicare program.

Early life Born in Wauchope, New South Wales, Everingham was educated at Fort Street High School and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Sydney in 1946 and worked in public and private hospitals and as a family doctor. He spent time working in New South Wales psychiatric hospitals before relocating back to Rockhampton, Queensland where he had done his internship.

Politics

Everingham's first attempt at entering politics came in 1963 when he unsuccessfully ran as the Australian Labor Party candidate in the seat of Dawson but was defeated by the Country Party's George Shaw.

Everingham went on to win the 1967 by-election beating his nearest rival, the Liberal candidate Frank Rudd, and was subsequently elected as Member for Capricornia serving on the opposition. and dubbed himself as "Minister for Helth". This prompted Prime Minister Whitlam to send correspondence to Everingham beginning with "Dear Dug" and signed "Yurs Gof".

In the late 1960s, Everingham attracted attention for his support of government-funded sterilisation as a form of population control. In 1969 he made controversial comments advocating for sterilisation to be employed on Aboriginal Australians living in Woorabinda, Queensland, which had one of the highest infant death rates in Australia. Everingham rejected claims that his comments were racially discriminatory and stated that he supported "making sterilisation free for culturally deprived people, as it is freely available to rich people". Indigenous rights activist Faith Bandler stated that Everingham's comments had been taken out of context.

At the time of his death in late August 2017, Everingham was one of four remaining original Whitlam government ministers.

At the time of his death, Doug Everingham had seven grandchildren, one great-grandchild, two step-grandchildren, and three step-grandchildren.