The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also called the Dismissal, culminated with the dismissal of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Sir John Kerr, the governor-general of Australia, on 11 November 1975. Kerr then commissioned the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party, as prime minister on the condition that he advise a new election. It has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history.
The Labor Party under Whitlam came to power in the 1972 federal election, ending 23 consecutive years of Liberal–Country Coalition government. Labor won a majority in the House of Representatives of 67 seats to the Coalition's 58 seats, but faced a hostile Senate. In May 1974, after the Senate voted to reject six of Labor's bills, Whitlam advised governor-general Sir Paul Hasluck to call a double dissolution election. The election saw Labor re-elected, with its House of Representatives majority reduced from nine to five seats, although it gained seats in the Senate. With the two houses of Parliament still deadlocked, pursuant to section 57 of the Australian Constitution, Whitlam was able to narrowly secure passage of the six trigger bills of the earlier double dissolution election in a joint sitting of Parliament on 6–7 August 1974, the only such sitting held in Australia's history.
Whitlam's tenure in office proved highly turbulent and controversial, and in October 1975, the Opposition under Fraser used its control of the Senate to defer passage of appropriation bills needed to finance government expenditure which had already been passed by the House of Representatives. Fraser and the Opposition stated that they would continue to block supply in the Senate unless Whitlam called a fresh election for the House of Representatives, and urged Kerr, who had been appointed governor-general on Whitlam's advice in July 1974, to dismiss Whitlam unless he acceded to their demand. Whitlam believed that Kerr would not dismiss him as prime minister, and Kerr did nothing to make Whitlam believe that he might be dismissed.
On 11 November 1975, the crisis came to a head as Whitlam went to seek Kerr's approval to call a half-Senate election in an attempt to break the parliamentary deadlock. Kerr did not accept Whitlam's request, and instead dismissed him as prime minister and appointed Fraser as caretaker prime minister on the understanding that he would immediately call a general election. Acting quickly before all ALP parliamentarians became aware of the change of government, Fraser and his parliamentary allies were able to secure passage of the supply bills through the Senate and advised Kerr to dissolve Parliament for a double dissolution election. Fraser and his Liberal–Country Coalition were elected with a massive majority in the federal election held the following month.
The events of the Dismissal led to only minor constitutional change. The Senate retained its power to block supply, and the governor-general the power to dismiss government ministers; however, these powers have not since been used to force a government from office. Allegations of CIA involvement in Whitlam's dismissal have been made, but these were denied by both Kerr and Whitlam. Kerr was widely criticised by Labor supporters for his actions, resigned early as governor-general, and lived much of his remaining life abroad.
Background
Constitutional background
As established by the Constitution of Australia, the Parliament of Australia is composed of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate, together with the monarch. The monarch is represented through the governor-general, whom the monarch appoints (and therefore may remove) on the advice of the prime minister. Formally, the governor-general may exercise all of the Commonwealth's executive power; however, in practice they are generally bound by convention to act only upon the advice of the prime minister and the government. The limited number of powers that may be exercised without advice and according to the governor-general's own discretion are known as the reserve powers. These powers are also governed by convention. For example, the appointment and dismissal of a prime minister is a reserve power, but convention dictates that ordinarily only somebody who has the confidence of the House of Representatives may be appointed.
As in most Westminster system parliaments, Australia's government is ordinarily formed by the party enjoying the confidence of the lower house of parliament, the House of Representatives. Australia's Parliament also has a powerful upper house, the Senate, which must pass any bill initiated by the House of Representatives if it is to become law. The composition of the Senate, in which each state has an equal number of senators regardless of that state's population, was originally designed to attract the Australian colonies into one Federation. Some at the time of Federation saw the contradiction in the Constitution between responsible government, in which the executive owes its existence to the legislature or one dominant house of the legislature, and, federations with the houses of bicameral legislatures operating independently and possibly deadlocking. Certain delegates predicted that either responsible government would result in the federation becoming a unitary state or federalism would result in an executive closer to federal theory. For instance, delegate Winthrop Hackett stated at the 1891 Convention that as a result of the combination of a strong Senate with responsible government, "there will be one of two alternatives—either responsible government will kill federation, or federation in the form in which we shall, I hope, be prepared to accept it, will kill responsible government".
Constitutionally, the Senate is unable to originate or amend a money bill coming from the House, although it may return the bill to the House with requests for amendment; or, as with any other bill, it may reject the bill entirely. Whether there was nevertheless a convention that the upper house should not reject money bills from the lower house was a key issue in the dispute. During and after the crisis, Whitlam argued for the existence of this convention; however previously as Leader of the Opposition he had supported the blocking of supply, stating of a budget bill: "Let me make it clear at the outset that our opposition to this Budget is no mere formality. We intend to press our opposition by all available means on all related measures in both Houses. If the motion is defeated, we will vote against the Bills here and in the Senate. Our purpose is to destroy this Budget and destroy the Government which has sponsored it."
The Senate had never blocked supply before 1975, even when it had been controlled by the opposition. However, the Parliament of the state of Victoria had done so in 1947, in response to the federal Chifley government's attempt to nationalise the banks. The coalition-controlled upper house blocked the state budget in order to force a premature election. Labor premier John Cain called a snap election and was defeated.
Prior to the 1975 crisis, the governor-general's power to dismiss a prime minister against the incumbent's will under section 64 of the Constitution had never been exercised. Twice since Federation, conflicts between state premiers and state governors, who perform analogous functions to the prime minister and governor-general respectively at the state level, had resulted in the departure of one or the other. In 1916, New South Wales premier William Holman was expelled from the Australian Labor Party for supporting conscription. He managed to hold on to power with the aid of opposition parties and consulted the governor, Sir Gerald Strickland, proposing to pass legislation to extend the term of the lower house of the state legislature by a year. When Strickland objected, stating that such a course was unfair to Labor, Holman had him replaced. In 1932 the New South Wales Labor premier, Jack Lang, refused to pay money owed to the federal government, which froze the state's bank accounts, causing Lang to order that payments to the state government be only in cash. The governor, Sir Philip Game, wrote to Lang to warn him that this was unlawful. Game further warned Lang that if Lang continued, he would have to sack Lang to obtain ministers who could carry on government within legal bounds. Lang replied that he would not resign, and Game dismissed his government and commissioned the leader of the opposition, Bertram Stevens, to form a caretaker government pending a new election, in which Labor was defeated.
Among the powers granted to the governor-general is the power to dissolve both houses of Parliament under section 57 of the Constitution in the event that the House of Representatives twice passes a bill at least three months apart and the Senate refuses to pass it. In both instances where those circumstances arose prior to the Whitlam government, in 1914 and 1951, the governor-general dissolved Parliament for a double dissolution election on the recommendation of the prime minister.
Political background
Gough Whitlam's Labor government was elected in 1972 after 23 years of rule by a coalition formed by the Liberal and Country parties. The ALP Government enjoyed a nine-seat majority in the House of Representatives, but did not control the Senate, which had been elected in 1967 and 1970 (as Senate elections were then out of synchronisation with House of Representatives elections). In accordance with pre-election promises, it instituted a large number of policy changes, and offered much legislation. The opposition, which still controlled the Senate, allowed some government bills to pass the Senate, and blocked others.
In April 1974, faced with attempts by the opposition under Billy Snedden to block supply (appropriation bills) in the Senate, Whitlam obtained the concurrence of the governor-general, Sir Paul Hasluck, to a double dissolution. Labor was returned at the election on 18 May with a reduced House majority of five seats. The Coalition and Labor each had 29 Senate seats, with the balance of power held by two independents. Snedden later told author Graham Freudenberg when being interviewed for the book A Certain Grandeur – Gough Whitlam in Politics: "The pressure [to block supply] was on me from [Doug] Anthony. We thought you had a chance of getting control of the Senate at the half-Senate election or at least enough to get a redistribution through. With a gerrymander, you'd be in forever."
Hasluck had been governor-general since 1969, and his expected term was shortly due to expire. Whitlam wanted him to remain a further two years, but Hasluck declined, citing the refusal of his wife, Alexandra, to remain at Yarralumla longer than the originally agreed five years. Whitlam offered the post to businessman Ken Myer, who turned it down. Whitlam then offered the position to his treasurer, Frank Crean, and his own deputy, Lance Barnard, neither of whom was keen to move on from parliament. Finally, Whitlam turned to his fifth choice, Sir John Kerr, the chief justice of New South Wales. Kerr was reluctant to give up the chief justiceship, in which he intended to remain another ten years, for the governor-general's post, which traditionally lasted five years. At Kerr's request, Whitlam informally agreed that if both men were still in office in five years, Kerr would remain governor-general for another five years. Whitlam also secured legislation to address Kerr's financial concerns about the position, including authorising a pension for the governor-general or his widow. The leader of the opposition, Billy Snedden, was enthusiastic about the appointment and also agreed to keep on Kerr in five years, were he prime minister at the time. Kerr then agreed to take the post, was duly appointed by Queen Elizabeth II, and was sworn in on 11 July 1974.
Six of the bills that had been the subject of the double dissolution were introduced in Parliament a third time and, as expected, were again rejected by the Senate. Section 57 of the Constitution provides that, after a double dissolution election, if bills that had been rejected twice by the Senate in the previous parliament were again passed by the House and again rejected by the Senate, they could then be put to a joint sitting of both houses. On 30 July, Whitlam gained Kerr's agreement for a joint sitting, which was set for 6–7 August 1974. The joint sitting, the only one in Australia's history under section 57, passed all six bills, including the enabling legislation for Medibank.
Controversy and vacancies
In December 1974, Whitlam was anxious to find new sources of money to finance his development plans. After a meeting at the prime minister's residence, The Lodge, Whitlam and three of his ministers (Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Jim Cairns, Attorney-General Lionel Murphy, and minister for minerals and energy Rex Connor) signed a letter of authority for Connor to borrow up to US$4 billion. This letter was described by author and journalist Alan Reid as the "death warrant of the Whitlam ALP government".
Connor and other ministers had made contact with a hitherto obscure Pakistani financier, Tirath Khemlani, as early as November 1974. Khemlani was said to have contacts in the newly enriched Arab oil nations. None of the efforts to secure a loan, whether through Khemlani or by other routes, bore fruit, but, as information about the "Loans Affair" trickled out, the government lost support.
In February 1975, Whitlam decided to appoint Murphy a justice of the High Court of Australia, even though Murphy's Senate seat would not be up for election if a half-Senate election were held. Under the Senate's electoral system, Labor could win three of the five New South Wales seats, but if Murphy's seat was also contested, it was most unlikely to win four out of six. Thus, appointing Murphy would almost certainly cost the ALP a Senate seat at the next half-Senate election. Whitlam appointed Murphy anyway. By convention, senators appointed by the state parliaments to fill casual vacancies were from the same political party as the former senator. The New South Wales premier, Tom Lewis, a member of the Liberal Party, argued that this convention only applied to vacancies caused by deaths or ill-health, and arranged for the legislature to elect Cleaver Bunton, former mayor of Albury and an independent.
By March 1975, many Liberal parliamentarians felt that Snedden was doing an inadequate job as leader of the opposition and that Whitlam was dominating him in the House of Representatives. Malcolm Fraser challenged Snedden for the leadership on 21 March, and defeated him by 37 votes to 27. At a press conference after winning the leadership, Fraser stated: