Australian Events in the News
 
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Whitlam sackedThe News - 11 November 1975 Adelaide; News Limited Newspaper, 410 x 300 mm Location : State Library of South Australia - view catalogue entry This item is reproduced courtesy of Advertiser Newspapers Ltd. It may be printed or saved for personal research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Advertiser Newspapers Ltd and the State Library of South Australia. Further information may be found at the State Library's Permission to publish page. |
The Australian Labor Party formed government in late 1972 with a majority in the House of Representatives but without control of the Senate. The composition of the Senate changed in 1975 when the Queensland and New South Wales governments made non-Labor appointments to Labor vacancies. This meant the Government had even less influence in the Senate.
In late 1974 and throughout 1975 there was a spate of controversies involving ministers and then the ‘Loans Affair’ was revealed. The affair involved members of parliament attempting to gain overseas loans from the Middle East through unconventional channels. Rex Connor, the Minister for Minerals and Energy, was dismissed for misleading Parliament over the matter. Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser used the scandal as justification for the opposition not to pass budget bills in the Senate until an election was called. This effectively left the Government with no money. Prime Minister Whitlam believed his party had the right to remain in government while it controlled the House of Representatives (the House passed several motions of confidence in the Government during this period), while Fraser believed a government that could not control the Senate should resign.
On 9 November the Governor-General John Kerr spoke with the Chief Justice of the High Court, Chief Justice Barwick (a former Liberal Party MP) about the crisis. Barwick suggested that Kerr had the power to dismiss Whitlam. In a simple letter, Kerr did just that, and appointed Fraser caretaker Prime Minister until an election could be held. The Governor General ended his proclamation dissolving the parliament with the words “God save the Queen”. Whitlam’s reply was “Well may we say 'God save the Queen', because nothing will save the Governor-General.”
A general election took place on 13 December 1975 and the Liberal-National Country Party coalition won convincingly.Further reading
- Constitutional Seminar (1976: University of New South Wales). Constitutional Seminar/ Eggleston, Sir Richard and Edward St. John, Kensington, N.S.W.: New South Wales University Press, 1977.
- Kelly, Paul. November 1975: the inside story of Australia’s greatest political crisis, St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen and Unwin, 1995.
- Whitlam, Gough. The truth of the matter, Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books, 1983.
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