Today, Rememerance Day, marks the 30th anniversary of the dismissal. For those non-Australian readers, I'll summarise the story for you.
In 1974/75 the Labor government of the time was seeking overseas loans for major projects (around 500 million dollars). In 1975 this blew up into a major political scandal with a resultant lack of confidence in the ability of the government ot govern. The Oppostion of the time (Liberal Party...think Republican/Conservative) had the majority in the Senate and therefore had the ability to block the Government's budget, which they did. It was a major, major political crisis...the country running out of money, the Liberal leader refusing to pass the budget until the Labor leader called a general election and the Labor leader steadfastly refusing to call an election. A stalemate of the worst kind ensued.
At this point, in steps the Governor-General, Australia's titular head of state, who under the Australian Constitution has the right to dismiss the Prime Minister of the day if said Prime Minister can be said to be governing without the support of the people.
On November 11th 1975 the Governor General of the time, Sir John Kerr, did exactly that. He dismissed/sacked the Prime Minister, made the Opposition Leader a caretaker Prime Minister until an election could be called and forever landed in the history books as either a hero or a villain, depending on which side of politics you stand.
The election was called for December 13th 1975 and the Labor party suffered the greatest political landslide in Australian history. The Liberals won the election in something like 95 seats to 30.
BTW, Australian readers...if you are watching the replays of Gough Whitlam's famous "Kerr's cur" speech on the steps of Parliament House, have look behind Gough's shoulder and you'll spot another *famous* Australian politician...one Paul Keating to be precise (he was sworn in about a month before the dismissal and was Rex Connor's protege. Rex Connor was one of the politicians mixed up in the Loans Affair which caused the downfall of the Whitlam government).
At the time, the ex-Prime Minister, called on the Australian people to "maintain the rage" at the great injustice done to him and to his government (and quite possibly democracy). This has not happened and it is my guess that most people under the age of 40 don't really have any idea what the dismissal was all about - except for sad people like me. Gough Whitlam (the PM who was sacked) will be interviewed this morning on the Today show...he's now approaching 90 and has long come to terms with the events of 1975, except for the role of Sir John Kerr, whom he describes as a "contemptible person". Sir John was eventually hounded out of Australia and lived in exile in England until his death in 1991.
I was five at the time of the dismissal, but I remember it quite clearly. It was my blooding in, in politics, and a topic about which I know quite a lot.
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