Graham Freudenberg


Norman Graham Freudenberg was an Australian author and political speechwriter who worked with the Australian Labor Party for over forty years, beginning when he was appointed Arthur Calwell's press secretary in June 1961.

Early life

Freudenberg was born in Brisbane. His father was a soldier who fought at Gallipoli and, being a patriot, he named his son after a former colonial Governor of Queensland, Field Marshall Sir Henry Norman. Although Jewish, Freudenberg was educated at the Church of England Grammar School in Brisbane. He then studied journalism in Melbourne and worked for some years with the Melbourne Sun.

Career

Freudenberg wrote over a thousand speeches for several leaders of the Australian Labor Party at both the New South Wales state and federal level. Senior Labor Party leaders for whom he prepared speeches included Arthur Calwell, Gough Whitlam, Neville Wran, Bob Hawke, Barrie Unsworth, Bob Carr and Simon Crean. He was "centrally involved" in policy speeches for 14 federal elections and 9 New South Wales state elections. Freudenberg was principal speechwriter for the leading campaign "It's Time" speech that Labor leader Gough Whitlam presented at the launch of the Labor campaign for the 1972 Australian federal election.
In 1990 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of "services to journalism, to parliament, and to politics".
From 1995–1998 he served on the council of the National Library of Australia.
In June 2005, Freudenberg was inducted as a lifetime member of the Australian Labor Party.

Death

He lived in retirement on Bribie Island, Queensland. Freudenberg died on 26 July 2019, aged 85, after a long illness. In a tribute to Freudenberg after his death, one of his journalist colleagues, Eric Walsh, described him as "Australia's greatest political speechwriter". Other colleagues who remembered Freudenberg in personal tributes included Carol Summerhayes and Bob Carr.

Books by Freudenberg