The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. Governor-General Sir John Kerr commissioned the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, as caretaker Prime Minister. It has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history. The events of the Dismissal led to only minor constitutional change. The Senate retained its power to block supply, and the Governor- General the power to dismiss government ministers.
About 1975 Australian constitutional crisis in brief
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. Governor-General Sir John Kerr then commissioned the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party, as caretaker Prime Minister. It has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history. The events of the Dismissal led to only minor constitutional change. The Senate retained its power to block supply, and the Governor- General the power to dismiss government ministers. However, these powers have not since been used to force a government from office. In 1970, as Leader of Opposition, John Cain blocked the budget in order to force an early election. Prior to the crisis, the upper house of the Parliament had never blocked supply before 1975, even when it had been controlled by the opposition. In 1947, Victoria Premier John Cain called a snap election and defeated the budget, but this was defeated and the crisis was defeated. The Constitution forbids the Senate from originating or amending a money bill, but places no limitation on the Senate’s ability to defeat a budget bill. As in most Westminster system parliaments, Australia’s government is ordinarily formed by the party enjoying the confidence of the lower House of Parliament, the House of Representatives. But Australia’s Parliament also has a powerful upper house, the Senate, which must pass any legislation initiated by the house of Representatives if it is to become law. The monarch is represented through the Governor General, who has the executive power granted in the Constitution, as well as rarely exercised reserve powers.
The Governor-general can be removed by the Queen on the advice of theAustralian Prime Minister and the Queen has no power to remove him. The Australian Constitution was originally designed to attract the Australian colonies into one Federation. The composition of the Senate in which each state has an equal number of senators regardless of that state’s population, was originally intended to attract each state to join the federation. In the early 1970s, the opposition leader of the Labor Party, Bill Shorten, stated that he would not back any budget bill that could not be passed by the Senate. As a result of the 1975 crisis, no budget bills were passed by either house of Parliament. The crisis led to the formation of the Coalition government, which was led by Whitlam and Fraser. Fraser and his government were elected with a massive majority in the election held the following month. Whitlam’s government introduced many new policies and programmes, but it was also rocked by scandals and political miscalculations. In 1975, Whitlam intended to call a half-Senate election in an attempt to break the deadlock. When he went to seek Kerr’s approval for the election, Kerr instead dismissed him as Prime Minister and shortly thereafter installed Fraser as caretakers. Kerr was widely criticised by Labor supporters for his actions, resigned early as Governor- general, and lived much of his remaining life abroad. In 1979, Kerr dissolved Parliament for a double dissolution election.
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