Doing His Duty

The dismissal on November 11, 1975, of the intransigent Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, remains one of the most controversial events in Australian political history. In 1974, Whitlam had appointed Kerr to the position of the Queen’s representative as formal head of state, a decision the Labor luminary regretted until his death.

In his newly published Villain or Victim? A Defence of Sir John Kerr and the Reserve Powers, Peter O’Brien clearly explains the constitutional basis for Kerr’s decision to dismiss Whitlam and invite Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser to form a caretaker government. This was “subject to a number of conditions, which included that [Fraser] now grant Supply and immediately advise a general election”. Had Kerr not done so, if the Senate had continued to remain obdurate (which it almost certainly would), Supply would have run out.

This review appears in October’s Quadrant.
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