News has emerged that in the early 70s, Australia's hip soft-lefty PM Gough Whitlam
asked Burt Bacharach to write a new national anthem for Australia. Whitlam was a fan of Bacharach, who penned a great many
hits of the Swingin' 60s, and asked him to enter a contest to write a new
Australian national anthem, half in jest. Bacharach declined.