The events themselves are still contested : the performance and decisions of the Whitlam Government; the role and constitutional power of the Senate; the role of the Opposition; the decisions of key State players; the reserve powers of the Governor-General and the role of the Queen. The release in July of the Palace Letters —correspondence between Governor-General Kerr and Buckingham Palace—and other archival material has provided fresh insight into these events. The period of the Whitlam Government was tumultuous: the Government was elected on 2 December and returned at the 18 May double dissolution election.
The dismissal was the culmination of three years of political conflict, with the pivotal crisis occurring between 16 October and 11 November The stage for this conflict was a Parliament in which the Government did not hold the majority in the Senate.
Although focus has been on the blocking of Supply by the Opposition in the Senate in and , it was the rejection of Government bills that paved the way for the dissolution of both Houses of Parliament. This Flagpost touches on a few key events of the Whitlam Government culminating in the dismissal.
It does not explore the Whitlam legacy or legal reforms. From the its election in December the Labor government's legislative program met resistance in the Senate, where half of the membership had been elected in November and half in November The conflict also highlighted the importance of constitutional conventions in the Australian system. The Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, took an active interest in the crisis, talking to both Fraser and Whitlam at various points during the period following October At one point, Fraser offered to pass Supply, provided an election was called by the middle of On November 11, , Whitlam proposed calling an immediate half-Senate election, but the Governor-General rejected this advice and instead dismissed Whitlam from office.
Later, Kerr issued a statement of reasons for the dismissal. Fraser was offered a commission as caretaker Prime Minister which he accepted , and immediately sought a double dissolution election for 13 December. In the meantime, the Senate passed the Supply Bills, with the Labor senators unaware that their government had been dismissed. The House passed several motions of confidence in the Whitlam Government and instructed the Speaker, Gordon Scholes, to relay this to Kerr.
The Governor-General refused to see the Speaker until after he had dissolved the Parliament. Scholes subsequently wrote to the Queen and received a letter in which the Queen indicated there was no place for her involvement in an Australian political conflict. The dismissal remains a controversial subject in Australian history. The story of the Whitlam years is the story of a political system tested to its limits.
It remains a story of relevance to contemporary politics. This section provides an overview of what happened on November 11, and why it remains a significant event in Australian political history.
He grew up in Canberra and entered Parliament in , becoming deputy leader of the ALP in and leader in Whitlam won office in , was re-elected in , dismissed and defeated in , and rejected by the electorate again in The way was now open for opposition leader Malcolm Fraser to do what he had promised to do if 'extraordinary and reprehensible circumstances' existed: block the passage of money bills through the Senate.
Whitlam tried to tough it out but Kerr stepped in on November 11 and withdrew Whitlam's commission to form a government. He installed Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister and called for a full election of both Houses of Parliament on December
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