Contrary to subsequent mythology, however, The Age was not an uncritical supporter of Whitlam, and played a leading role in exposing the Loans Affair, one of the scandals which contributed to the demise of the Whitlam government.

The Whitlam government first introduced a Bill to Parliament ; however, this lapsed upon the dismissal of the government in 1975.

There were, however, some instances of microeconomic reform before the 1980s, notably including the Whitlam government ’ s 25 per cent tariff cut.

The Opposition stated that they would continue to do so unless Whitlam called an election for the House of Representatives and urged Kerr to dismiss Whitlam unless he agreed to their demand.

In 1970, Whitlam, as Leader of the Opposition, had stated of a budget bill, " Let me make it clear at the outset that our opposition to this Budget is no mere formality.

" Kerr saw the statement as a threat ; Whitlam later stated the comment was " flippant " and designed to turn the conversation to another subject.

Kerr later stated that were Whitlam to seek his dismissal, it would involve the Queen in politics.

Kerr later wrote that at this point, Whitlam got to his feet, looked at the office's phones, and stated, " I must get in touch with the Palace at once.

Both accounts agree that Kerr then stated that they would both have to live with this, to which Whitlam replied, " You certainly will.

Whitlam later stated that it would have been wiser for Scholes to take the appropriation bills with him, rather than having them sent ahead.

" In 1991, Whitlam stated that no future Governor-General was likely to act as Kerr did lest he also become the subject of " contempt and isolation ".

Cairns has since stated that he felt there were ulterior motives at play on the part of Gough Whitlam ; namely that Whitlam wished to be rid of Cairns because Cairns did not agree with a policy of economic rationalism and that Whitlam felt that Cairns was a threat to his leadership.

In a speech delivered at the Blacktown Civic Centre, on 29 April 1974, Whitlam stated:

On 21 October, Kerr phoned Whitlam regarding the Ellicott opinion, and asked, " It's all bullshit, isn't it?

On 22 October, Whitlam had asked the Attorney-General, Kep Enderby, to have a paper drafted rebutting the Ellicott opinion for presentation to Kerr.

Seeking confirmation of his decision, he contacted the Chief Justice, Sir Garfield Barwick, met with him and asked for his views of a dismissal of Whitlam.

According to Fraser, Kerr asked him whether, if he were commissioned Prime Minister, he could secure supply, would immediately thereafter advise a double-dissolution election, and would refrain from new policies and investigations of the Whitlam Government pending the election.

After Whitlam left, Kerr called in Fraser, informed him of the dismissal, and asked if he would form a caretaker government, to which Fraser agreed.

Fraser's new government suffered repeated defeats in the House, which passed a motion of no confidence in him, and asked the Speaker, Gordon Scholes, to urge the Governor-General to recommission Whitlam.

The Queen chose not to intervene during the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, in which Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the Labor government of Gough Whitlam, on the basis that it was a matter " clearly placed within the jurisdiction of the Governor-General ".

On this occasion the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the government of Gough Whitlam when the Senate withheld Supply to the government, even though Whitlam retained the confidence of the House of Representatives.

that may give a head of state or their representative additional powers in unexpected circumstances ( such as the dismissal of Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam by Governor-General Sir John Kerr.

Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr appointed Malcolm Fraser as caretaker prime minister after dismissing Gough Whitlam.

* 1975 – Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam, appoints Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister and announces a general election to be held in early December.

He briefly became Minister for the Northern Territory in late October 1975, but lost that post when the Whitlam Government was dismissed by Sir John Kerr on 11 November 1975.

* During the 1975 constitutional crisis, on 11 November 1975, the governor-general, Sir John Kerr, dismissed the Labor Party's Gough Whitlam as prime minister.

Despite Labor holding a majority in the House of Representatives, Kerr appointed the Leader of the Opposition, Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker prime minister, conditional on the passage of the Whitlam government's Supply bills through the Senate and the calling of an election for both houses of parliament.

An illustrative example is the Australian constitutional crises of 1975, when the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on his own reserve power authority and replaced him with Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser.

** Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister.

* Dismissal — some constitutions allow a Head of state ( or their designated representative, as is the case in Commonwealth countries ) to dismiss a Head of government, though its use can be controversial, as occurred in 1975 when then Australian Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in the Australian Constitutional Crisis.

He denounced the dismissal of the Whitlam government by Sir John Kerr, and unsuccessfully stood for an Australian Capital Territory Senate seat at the 1975 election as an independent.

It culminated on 11 November 1975 with the removal of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party ( ALP ), by Governor-General Sir John Kerr.

Whitlam believed that Kerr would not dismiss him, and Kerr did nothing to disabuse Whitlam.

Though Kerr, who died in 1991, continues to be reviled in some quarters, Whitlam and Fraser later reconciled.

Whitlam then turned to Sir John Kerr, the Chief Justice of New South Wales.

At Kerr's request, Whitlam informally agreed that if both men were still in office in five years, Kerr would be reappointed.

Although Whitlam later alleged that he never contemplated dismissing Kerr during the crisis, on 16 October, while speaking with Kerr and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, he told Kerr that if the crisis continued, " It could be a question of whether I get to the Queen first for your recall, or whether you get in first with my dismissal.

In February 1975, Whitlam decided to appoint Senator 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.

I generally believe if a government is elected to power in the lower House and has the numbers and can maintain the numbers in the lower House, it is entitled to expect that it will govern for the three-year term unless quite extraordinary events intervene ... Having said that ... if we do make up our minds at some stage that the Government is so reprehensible that an Opposition must use whatever power is available to it, then I'd want to find a situation in which ... Mr. Whitlam woke up one morning finding the decision had been made and finding that he had been caught with his pants well and truly down.

The Coalition took the position that Kerr could dismiss Whitlam if the Government could not secure supply.

Whitlam's former solicitor-general Robert Ellicott, now a Liberal member of the House, issued a legal opinion on 16 October stating that the Governor-General had the power to dismiss Whitlam, and should do so forthwith if Whitlam could not state how he would obtain supply.

Ellicott indicated that Whitlam was treating Kerr as if he had no discretion but to follow prime ministerial advice, when in fact the Governor-General could and should dismiss a ministry unable to secure supply.

He believed nothing he said would influence Whitlam, and feared that if Whitlam perceived him as a possible opponent, the Prime Minister would procure his dismissal from the Queen.

After the meeting, Fraser proposed a compromise: that the Opposition would concede supply if Whitlam agreed to hold a House of Representatives election at the same time as the half-Senate election.

The Opposition leader told him that if Kerr did not dismiss Whitlam, the Opposition planned to criticise him in Parliament for failing to carry out his duty.

In October, during his policy speech for the 1969 federal elections, Opposition leader Gough Whitlam declared that, if elected, the ALP would make sure that all Australian troops in Vietnam would be home ' by Christmas '.

Calwell would later write in his autobiography that he believed that the party could have won the 1961 election if Ward had been his deputy instead of Whitlam.

The problem for Kerr was that if he had made any threat to dismiss Whitlam, if the latter did not manage to solve the crisis facing Australia over the stalemate in parliament and the loss of supply could have been followed by a request by Whitlam to the Queen of Australia to dismiss Kerr and so pre-empt his own dismissal.