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Was the Dismissal of Gough Whitlam the Will of the People?
principles of responsible government a Prime Minister who cannot obtain supply… must either advise a general election or resign.” (Sir John Kerr’s Letter of Reasoning) Prime Minister Whitlam did neither; he was not going to be bullied into an election by a party who could not accept democracy. “Governments are made and unmade in the House of Representatives, in the people’s House… We faced the people in December 1972. We were blocked by the Senate. We faced the people again in May 1974 and the people returned us to office. How often must the Government face the people before Opposition Senators accept that there has been a change of Government? The people have twice made their decision. It is not the Government that is running away from the people’s verdict. It is the Opposition.” (The Age, 30 October 1975)
Due to the Senate stopping supply – the Whitlam Government no longer had any money for Government spending, which meant that public service salaries, pensions and Government expenditures could not be paid for. The Opposition had put, not only the parliament, but the entire nation in a state of discombobulation. The job of the Parliament is to protect the interests of the nation, not to subject them to uncertainty. Thousands of workers went of strike and many thousands more were faced with the prospect of unemployment or working without pay. “We demand that the Opposition cease its ruthless blackmail and destructive tactics and pass the bills.” (Mr V.B. McMullen – The Age, 8 November 1975) Prime Minister Whitlam met with Mr Fraser (leader of the opposition) on November 11 1975 to advise him that unless the opposition backed down that he would hold a snap election for half of the Senate. When no agreement was reached, Prime Minister Whitlam then met with the Governor General to discuss the snap election. However, during this meeting Sir John Kerr advised Mr Whitlam of the dismissal of his Government and the impending double dissolution.
The Governor-General’s main reason for dismissing the Whitlam Government was to permit the people of Australia to decide on the outcome of the deadlock. However, Labor still held the majority in the House of Representatives – the peoples house.
It remains unclear to me why such drastic measures were taken when a snap election would most probably have fixed the problem. Also, the Australian Constitution states that “If the House of Reps passes any proposed law, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, after an interval of three months the House of Representatives again passes the proposed law and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, the Governor-General may dissolve the Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously. If after such dissolution the House of Representatives and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, the Governor-General may convene a joint sitting of the members of the [next page]