This Realm of New Zealand by Alison Quentin-Baxter & Janet McLean

Author:Alison Quentin-Baxter & Janet McLean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Law, Politics
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Published: 2017-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

An Australian Governor-General dismisses the Prime Minister

The dismissal of Gough Whitlam

In 1975 the Governor-General of Australia succeeded in changing his Prime Minister in circumstances that, on their face, came a fair way towards complying with the conditions laid down before the turn of the century by Lord Ripon and others. Was the Governor-General vindicated by the fact that the government led by the new Prime Minister he had appointed, after dismissing his predecessor, won a victory at the ensuing general election?

A dispute had arisen in the Australian Federal Parliament in 1974. In the Lower House, the Labor Government, led by the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, had majority support, but the Opposition parties, led by Malcolm Fraser, had the support of a majority in the Upper House. There, the Opposition refused to allow a vote on the supply Bills. With a recent election mandate behind him, the Prime Minister declined to act on the Governor-General’s repeated suggestions that he should advise a double dissolution of both Houses of Parliament. The government was forced to plan for reductions in public services and makeshift arrangements for the payment of public servants when supply ran out.

Without taking Whitlam into his confidence but after communication with the Queen, the Governor-General had secretly prepared a letter dismissing Whitlam from office. When Whitlam again refused to act in accordance with the Governor-General’s request that he advise a double dissolution, and asked for the use of the telephone35 — clearly with the intention of advising the Queen to recall the Governor-General — Sir John Kerr presented him with the signed letter of dismissal. Kerr then appointed Fraser as the Prime Minister. As the leader of a minority government, Fraser advised an immediate dissolution which Kerr granted. In due course, Fraser and his supporters won the general election and he was then able to form a majority government.

Did the Governor-General’s startling and subsequently much debated action demonstrate that in an extreme case, a Governor-General may be able to change his or her advisers without putting at risk the constitution itself? We think not. Many Australians were deeply disquieted by the Governor-General’s dismissal of a Prime Minister whose government commanded the support of a majority in the House of Representatives. It was argued that Kerr was justified in preparing secretly to dismiss Whitlam because Whitlam would otherwise himself have acted first, and advised the Queen to recall the Governor-General.36 But many Labor supporters saw Kerr as having acted in support of the Opposition’s unjustified action in withholding supply from a government which retained majority support.

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