Former prime minister Gough Whitlam has died, according to his family.
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His children Antony, Nicholas and Stephen Whitlam and Catherine Dovey issued a statement on Tuesday morning.
"Our father, Gough Whitlam, has died this morning at the age of 98," the statement said. "A loving and generous father, he was a source of inspiration to us and our families and for millions of Australians."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott led the tributes on Tuesday.
"Gough Whitlam was a giant of his time," Mr Abbott said in a statement.
"He united the Australian Labor Party, won two elections and seemed, in so many ways, larger than life.
"In his own party, he inspired a legion of young people to get involved in public life.
Mr Abbott also paid tribute to the late Margaret Whitlam and her contribution and leadership alongside Gough.
"Gough Whitlam's life was inseparable from that of Margaret Whitlam. Margaret Whitlam was a leading light for women of her generation. Together they made a difference to our country.
"On this day we honour a life of service to our country."
Former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard honoured Mr Whitlam "as a man of the highest political courage" and "a giant of his era".
"Gough will live always in our nation, which he transformed throughout his long public life," she wrote in a blog post for the Guardian Australia.
"He is alive in our universities and the many lives he changed by giving free access to university education, my life included in that count."
"Alive in Medicare and the uniquely Australian health system we now take for granted," he said.
Father of the House Philip Ruddock, who is on the only sitting federal MP who served with Mr Whitlam after being elected in 1973, paid warm tribute to the former prime minister.
Mr Ruddock said that after John Howard, Mr Whitlam was the former prime minister with whom he had been most connected,
"I've known prime ministers since Ben Chifley, I saw a lot of McMahon, Gorton and Holt and Menzies, most gone by the time I really had been in politics for a while.
"John Howard is my closest friend among former prime ministers and Gough Whitlam is probably the next, perhaps surprisingly.
"My election as the member for Paramatta [in 1973], it was a very adversarial by-election, it was when Billy Snedden was making ground and we got a huge swing. But it was primarily because he proposed Galston as the second airport for Sydney and that caused a great deal of anxiety that could be very easily exploited.
"He forgave me for beating him. In his very magnanimous way he would say 'comrade, that's the way it had to be'."
Mr Ruddock said that amongst former prime minsters, Mr Whitlam was the "most aware of Australia's cultural diversity".
"Some of that was probably because he represented Werriwa, but I would continue to see him at events, particularly among people from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, I would see him at Chinese occasions, and that's not something you would see generally.
"He became very affectionate to my wife, he thought of her as more likely to be a comrade than me.
"I liked Gough Whitlam, he was a gentleman who believed in what he believed but it didn't interfere with the personal relationships. I think he was very dignified, given the way the dismissal occurred...he added great colour and luster to Australia and he will be sorely missed."
Mr Abbott said he had instructed all flags be flown at half mast on Tuesday and on the day of Mr Whitlam's state memorial service.
A meeting of Labor's federal caucus is scheduled for Tuesday morning and it is understood Labor leader Bill Shorten will make his first statement about Mr Whitlam's death then.
with James Massola