Australia's Governor-General Dismisses the Whitlam Government

The Deadlock

Gough Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to government in December 1972 and was re-elected in May 1974. The government did not control the Senate. In October 1975 the Opposition, led by Malcolm Fraser, used its Senate numbers to defer the budget bills that provided money for government spending, which are called supply. Fraser said that the government should call an election because of controversy over a plan to borrow money from overseas, known as the loans affair. Whitlam refused, and said the Senate could not remove a government that had a majority in the House of Representatives.

November 11

Governor-General Sir John Kerr, who had been appointed by Whitlam in 1974, had sought legal advice, including from Sir Garfield Barwick, the Chief Justice of the High Court. On the morning of November 11 Whitlam went to Government House to ask for an election for half of the Senate. At about 1 p.m. Kerr handed him a letter ending his commission as Prime Minister, citing section 64 of the Constitution. Kerr then commissioned Fraser as caretaker prime minister on the condition that he secure supply and call an election.

The Afternoon

Fraser's government secured supply in the Senate, and in the House of Representatives, where Labor held a majority, the House passed a motion expressing no confidence in Fraser and asking for Whitlam to be recalled. The Speaker asked to see the Governor-General to pass on the House's motion, but Kerr signed the dissolution of both Houses of Parliament first. Kerr's official secretary, David Smith, read the proclamation on the steps of Parliament House. Whitlam then spoke to a crowd and criticized the Governor-General's action.

The Election and the Debate

In the election of December 13, 1975, the Liberal-National Coalition under Fraser won a large majority, taking 91 of the 127 seats in the House of Representatives. Kerr resigned as Governor-General in 1977. Constitutional experts have continued to debate whether the Governor-General may use the reserve powers in this way. In 2020 the National Archives of Australia released correspondence between Kerr and the Queen's private secretary, known as the Palace letters, after a High Court ruling in a case brought by the historian Jenny Hocking.

The Constitutional Provisions

Under the Australian Constitution the Governor-General appoints ministers, who hold office during the Governor-General's pleasure, and section 64 is the provision Kerr cited. The Constitution does not set out when that power may be used, and the powers of the Governor-General that are not written down are known as reserve powers. Fraser remained prime minister until 1983. Whitlam died on October 21, 2014, and Kerr died in 1991.