Gough Whitlam elected as prime minister in 1972 and dismissed on 11 November 1975. In December 1972 the Labor party had won sixty-seven seats and Liberal won fifty-eight, so the long reign of the Liberal party came to an end and so Gough Whitlam took his place as prime minister of Australia. Even though Labor had won seventy-two elections it failed to gain control of the senate. So during 1973 the senate delayed or rejected it’s legislation causing a big problem for Whitlam’s government.
Then in May 1974 the prime minister asked the governor general for a double dissolution which ended up evenly balancing the senate. The end result was that Labor had twenty-nine senators, Liberal had twenty-nine senators and there were two independents, therefore Labor still didn’t control the senate. After the 1974 elections the popularity of Whitlam’s government started to decline rapidly. One of the greatest problems for Whitlam’s government was that it came to office at a time when there was a serious downturn in the world’s economy. This recession caused two huge problems mounting unemployment and rising inflation. Within the government a number of ministers were forced to resign which was also a problem for the president.
For example Whitlam replaced his original treasurer Frank Crean with Dr Jim Cairns, who was then again replaced due to misleading parliament. A very famous case was the loan affair which referred to Rex Connor also misleading parliament, which lead to his dismissal. In July 1974 Sir Paul Has luck retired and Sir John Robert Kerr was sworn to parliament after was Whitlam’s approval. Then the Liberal party voted to remove their leader Billy Sneddon and replace him with Malcolm Fraser. The party needed someone more ruthless and strong willed and they found that man in Malcolm Fraser.
The Term Paper on Political Parties Labor Party
The Labor Party The labor Party is made up of men and women who do and do not have jobs. They believe themselves to be the keepers of the American dream, providing opportunity and justice. They believe that every American has the right to a decent paying job and a good place to live, that by joining the union there should be no fear of getting fired, to free, quality public education for ...
Then there was a very big problem that faced Whitlam’s government which was the blocking of supply by the senate. This blocking of supply created the most serious constitutional crises in Australia’s history. During this crisis John Kerr discussed this matter with both Whitlam and Fraser. He then went to seek advice from Sir Garfield Barwick who told the governor general that he had both the power and the duty to dismiss a government that could not secure supply. This was wrong of John Kerr because he wasn’t allowed to act on advice from anyone other than the prime minister. So following these events on 11 November 1975 the governor general called on the reserve powers to dismiss the Whitlam government.
Whitlam was called to the government house in Canberra and dismissed.
