The Dismissal of the Whitlam Goverment

or:
Why Are Australians So Weird About November 11?

In most Western democracies, November 11 is known as Remembrance Day, as it was on this day in 1918 that the armistice came into effect, and World War One officially ended. Over the years, it has become a general day for remembering the sacrifices of all those who died in the many wars of the twentieth century. And it has this meaning in Australia, too.

It’s just that, in Australia, November 11 is remembered not just for 1918, but for 1975. November 11, 1975 is the single most controversial and argued over day in Australian history. The events of that day, variously called ‘the Dismissal’ or ‘the Australian Constitutional Crisis of 1975’, were unprecedented in Australian history. The reasons for this are often opaque outside this country. Make yourself comfortable, explaining this is going to take a while. And you’re going to need some background.

The Australian Parliamentary System:
The Australian Federal Parliament is a bicameral system that borrows elements from both the United Kingdom and the United States, with a few elements not found in either. For this reason, is it sometimes referred to as the “Washminster system”¹a portmanteau referring to WASHington and westMINSTER systems. There is a Lower House, the House of Representatives, which is made up of elected representatives, one per electorate (much as in the British House of Commons or the American Congress); and there is an Upper House, the Senate. Like the UK, Australia is led by a Prime Minister, who is a member of the House of Representatives and the leader of the party (or alliance of parties) that holds a majority in that house. Like the US, the Senate is composed of an equal number of members for each state²in 1975, there were 10 Senators for each of the six states, for a total of 60.

Australia federal elections for the Lower House are not held on a regular cycle, as in the US, but at the discretion of the current government, although there is a maximum three year period between elections, and every seat is contested in each election. Senators, on the other hand, are elected for six year terms (usually meaning two federal elections), and only half of the Senate’s seats become vacant each federal election. The Senate and House of Representatives need not hold elections at the same time, although they usually do for the convenience of literally everyone in the country. However, there have been occasional elections when only the half of the Senate who terms are expiring is contested – there are called ‘half-Senate’ elections. The exception to this is called a double dissolution election, in which all seats in both houses become vacant and are contested. Double dissolutions are fairly rare, but circumstances exist to allow them to be triggered.

In the event that a seat becomes vacant, due to the death or retirement of the member holding it, one of two things happens: in the lower house, a by-election is held (an election solely for the seat affected), and the winner serves the remainder of the term until the next federal election. In the upper house, a replacement is appointed by the Parliament of the State the Senator represents. Traditionally, but not compulsorily³Foreshadowing!, the new Senator will be a member of the same political party as the senator they replace.

Finally, there is a Governor-General, who is the appointed representative of monarch of the United Kingdom (in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II), and serves the same primary functions as the monarch does in the British system: to provide royal assent to bills and to perform various ceremonial acts, such as opening each new session of Parliament after an election. Traditionally, this role has been something of a rubber stamp, with the Governor-General accepting the advice of the Prime Minister as a matter of course, although they are not compelled to do so⁴More Foreshadowing!!. The Governor-General also has a selection of other powers, some of which actually exceed the powers of the monarch in the British Parliament. They are generally called the ‘reserve powers‘, and in theory, should only be used at times of great crisis⁵Even More Foreshadowing!!!.

Previously on…
In 1949, Robert Gordon Menzies became the Prime Minister of Australia. He was the head of the Liberal Party⁶Note for American readers: that name does not mean what it may appear to. It refers to ‘liberal economics’ rather than ‘liberal politics’, i.e. generally pro-enterprise, pro-business and pro-free market. The closest US equivalent is the Republican Party of that era., and thus of the Coalition – the long-term partnership between the Liberal Party and the Country Party⁷A party named because was composed of people from the country. Much like the Liberal Party in most respects, but historically more concerned with agriculture and farmers than anything else (now the National Party). He would remain Prime Minister until 1966, and the Coalition would hold onto power after his retirement until 1972.

In 1972, the Coalition was swept from government by the Australian Labor Party or ALP⁸Note for Americans: roughly equivalent to the Democratic Party of that era, but even more proudly blue collar and union-affiliated. The new Prime Minister was Edward Gough Whitlam (hereafter simply referred to as Whitlam), and he was a man endowed with both vision and impatience. He had run on a selection of left-leaning positions – most notably, ending Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War – and wasted little time in pursuing them. In the three years he held power, Australia ended conscription, introduced socialised health care, left Vietnam, made important steps forward in recognising native title (i.e. the claim of the Australian Aboriginal peoples to ownership of the country prior to European colonisation), abolishing the death penalty, increases in welfare payments, ending the White Australia Policy⁹an immigration policy so racist that the Nazi Party spoke of it with admiration back in the 1930s and more besides. He was hated by the right and loved by the left. But the ALP had been out of office for a long time – they had little experience at being in government, and they were in a tearing hurry. There were errors of judgement and scandals began to accumulate – some of them legitimate, some of them beat-ups – not least because Whitlam and Rupert Murdoch¹⁰Yes, him were enemies.

In 1975, Malcolm Fraser knifed Billy Snedden in the back¹¹metaphorically, and became the new head of the Liberal Party in Parliament, and the Leader of the Opposition¹²Note for American readers: more or less, the Minority Leader in the Lower House. Like Whitlam, he was impatient to lead. And he had fewer scruples.

Finally, there was the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. Appointed to the vice-regal role at Whitlam’s recommendation, he would turn out to have even fewer scruples than Fraser. Kerr was very concerned with his standing and his authority and so on. Which is probably what led him to exceed it so greatly.

1975 and All That…
The Whitlam government was not doing great in 1975. They’d had to hold another election in 1974 and been returned with reduced numbers. Some ministers had needed to be replaced after scandals. The wheels were still on, but the momentum was fading. And then, across the course of the year, two ALP Senators were replaced with non-ALP members. This was a shocking break with convention, but not actually illegal per se, and all Whitlam could really do was grin and bear it.

And he had made some new enemies, too. The CIA were unhappy about a number of Whitlam’s policies, starting with leaving Vietnam two years before the US did, and including both his reaching out to establish diplomatic relations with China¹³before Nixon did the same and the possibility that Whitlam would not extend the lease on the Pine Gap facility¹⁴Pine Gap is a secretive intelligence base in central Australia, believed to be a part of its early warning system for nuclear missiles and a listening post for communications in South East Asia and Oceania. In theory, it is a joint operation between the US and Australia, in practice, US personnel greatly outnumber Australians in the base, and little sharing of intelligence seems to take place. Australian citizens are stopped by military police before they can even reach the gates, and whatever walks there walks alone..

John Kerr had ties to the CIA – nothing overt, but enough to be more than merely coincidental. He sat on the board of a foundation supported by the CIA, and he was known to be staunchly pro-American and pro-British alliances for Australia. The CIA also had ties to the Nugan Hand Bank, which was involved in some of the scandals that plagued the Whitlam government. Nothing can be proven, of course, but it is notable that in 1977 the US Secretary of State pledged to Whitlam that the US intelligence agencies would not interfere in the government of Australia again (emphasis mine). Whitlam himself later stated that he did not believe the CIA had been involved in his dismissal, for what that’s worth. On the other hand, CIA whistleblower Christopher Boyce was adamant that learning of the CIA’s role in the dismissal was a major factor in him deciding to become a whistleblower.¹⁵The film “The Falcon and the Snowman” is a dramatisation of Boyce’s story, and includes that moment. Wikipedia has a pretty decent article about the whole mess.

The crunch came when the Whitlam government attempted to pass its budget in 1975. The lack of ALP replacements in the Senate meant the Fraser now had the upper hand: the Coalition refused to pass the budget (referred to most commonly as ‘blocking supply’). On October 16, the budget bills were deferred by the Senate – which would continue to defer them for the next month. Later that night, Whitlam and Kerr met with the Prime Minister of Malaysia who asked about the deadlock. Whitlam said that if it came to it, it would be a matter of which of them (Whitlam or Kerr) could get the Queen on the phone first to sack the other. Whitlam has always maintained that this was a joke (and it is in character with his sense of humour), but Kerr took it as a threat. Unbeknownst to Whitlam, Kerr had been investigating the reserve powers of the Governor-General, and was in frequent contact with the Queen’s Private Secretary Martin Charteris – contacts that would only become more urgent over the next few weeks. Kerr had spoken directly to the Queen and Prince Charles about the possibility of dismissing Whitlam as early as September of that year.¹⁶We know this because the correspondence between Kerr and Charteris was made public in 2022, after the Royal Family spent years trying to prevent their release. Whitlam, Fraser, Kerr and Charteris were all dead by then. In general, the attitude of Charteris (and the royals) was that Kerr did indeed possess the power to dismiss Whitlam, but that it was his decision – or at least, that’s what the documents all say. What was said off the record remains a matter of conjecture.

Remembrance Day
By November 11, Whitlam had hit upon a solution to the deadlock in the Senate: he would hold a half-Senate election, and then try again. He arranged to meet with Kerr on that day to get the wheels in motion for this election.

Unfortunately for Whitlam, Kerr had also hit upon a solution, which was to dismiss Whitlam, appoint Fraser to run a caretaker government¹⁷a caretaker government is nominally in charge, but cannot legislate or make changes – its function is to keep everything going until an election can be held, and a regular government installed, and declare a double dissolution.

Whitlam had no idea what was waiting for him when he entered the Governor-General’s residence at Yarralumla that day. Fraser did, though – Kerr had summoned him and told him of the plans. In fact, Fraser had arrived earlier than Whitlam (which was not Kerr’s plan), and he and his car had to be hidden when Whitlam arrived to avoid tipping him off.

Kerr did not even listen to Whitlam’s plan, he simply informed him of his decision. Had he listened, he would likely not have sacked Whitlam, as he would have been honour-bound by his position to support Whitlam’s plan.¹⁸Fun Fact: the intended date of Whitlam’s planned half-Senate election was December 13, the same date that the double dissolution election would be held on instead.

Whitlam was not best pleased by this turn of events, and later that day, he gave a speech on the steps of Parliament that remains one of, if not then, most legendary in all of Australian political history:

Aftermath
Whitlam did not win the 1975 election, and Malcolm Fraser became the Prime Minister, a position he would hold until 1982. Whitlam led the ALP in the 1977 election, with the campaign slogan “Maintain Your Rage” (referring to the reaction many Australians had had to the dismissal), but lost again. He left Parliament after that. Kerr and Whitlam both wrote books on the events, titled Matters for Judgement and The Truth of the Matter respectively. Kerr was frequently harassed in public after 1975, and after stepping down as Governor-General became something of a pariah. He had achieved a place in the history books, but it was as a Judas. Whitlam, on the other hand, became and remains the martyred saint of the Australian Left (although no on thinks he will return in Australia’s hour of greatest need).

Fraser was a fairly average Prime Minister, and although Whitlam refused to speak to him for years afterwards, the two eventually put aside their differences in the early 2000s, where they campaigned jointly against Australian involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – much to the displeasure of then Prime Minister John Howard, who had been Treasurer in the Fraser government years earlier.