Canberra, November 11

In a move that has stunned Australia, the Labor Prime Minister, Mr Gough Whitlam, was today dismissed from office and Parliament prorogued by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr.

Sir John, who until now has refrained from intervening in the five-week-old constitutional crisis, appointed the Opposition leader, Mr Malcolm Fraser, as caretaker Prime Minister. A general election is expected to be held on December 13 although no formal announcement has yet been made.

The Governor-General’s action - unprecedented in Australian history - came after Mr Whitlam told Parliament that he would hold an election for half the Senate. However, when he formally advised Sir John of his intention , the Governor-General refused to issue the necessary writs and according to Mr Whitlam, dismissed him without any further explanation.

Today’s announcement produced extraordinary scenes throughout the country. Thousands of civil servants in Canberra stopped work in protest. Later, there was a huge and spontaneous demonstration in support of the Labor administration outside Parliament House.

The Guardian, 12 November 1975.

In Melbourne and Sydney other large demonstrations sprang up in the city centres opposing the Governor-General’s action. In Melbourne, dockers staged a protest against it, and in Sydney young Labor supporters demanded that Sir John should be dismissed.

When Sir John’s proclamation dissolving Parliament was read in Canberra , Mr Whitlam said: “Well may he (Sir John) say ‘God save the Queen’ - because nothing will save the Governor-General.”

The crisis had developed when the Liberal-Country Party group insisted on blocking budgetary Supply Bills in the Senate, where they can outvote Labor.

Mr Fraser, who has been the Opposition leader since May this year, was attacked in Canberra when he tried to enter his Commonwealth car. Beer cans were thrown and civil servants battered on windows and doors in perhaps the most bitter and emotional demonstration ever seen here.

Labor Ministers and MPs were angry at the unexpected dismissal. On nationwide television tonight, former Minister after former Minister attacked Sir John. “This is the first time such action has been taken in a country with a Westminster-style of government for 20 years,” the former Prime Minister told a press conference.

The dismissal came ironically at a time when the Opposition’s stock was at its lowest ebb. For days there has been speculation that Mr Fraser, 45, would have to back down in the crisis.

Although Mr Fraser has so far made no announcement, he is expected to plump for a full election of both Houses in December. It is impossible to say which side will emerge the winner from what promises to be the most acrimonious campaign in Australia’s history.

Last week the Opposition, though losing support, still had a 4 per cent majority in opinion polls, but major fluctuations are likely within the next four weeks. But even if Mr Whitlam does lose, the eccentricities of the electoral system could give him control of the Senate with the Liberal-Country Party having a majority in the Lower House - the exact reverse of the present situation.

In a long statement the Governor-General said that he had been forced to act when it became clear that the Opposition would continue to use its numbers in the Senate to block the annual $A21,000 millions budgetary supply bills.

“Because of the principle of responsible government, a Prime Minister who cannot obtain supply must either advise a general election or resign. If he refuses, I have the authority, indeed the duty, under the Constitution to withdraw his commission. No other decision was open to me,” said Sir John.

The caretaker Government will not have the power to pass legislation or make new appointments until the general election. Within an hour of the announcement, the Opposition Senators quietly and without debate formally voted to pass the Budget Supply Bills.

This afternoon angry Labor MPs voted for a motion of no confidence in Mr Fraser as Prime Minister. Using their unchallenged majority in the House of Representatives, they also passed a motion calling on the Speaker to advise the Governor-General that Mr Whitlam still held the confidence of the House and should be re-appointed.

But when the harassed Speaker tried to see Sir John at the Governor-General’s Canberra mansion, he was unable to do so and was effectively snubbed. This action has caused another controversy in a day racked by controversy. As it stands, Mr Fraser was voted out by the Lower House in its last act before being prorogued. This constitutional nicety has, however, been buried by larger developments.

Australia, once one of the world’s most politically stable countries, now does not have a Government at all. It will take at least a month to organise an election. Because of the intricacies of the voting system, it will probably take at least another three weeks before the new one is finally known sometime in January.

It took four weeks to count the last votes in the election of May 1, 1974.

The effect on the economy and the administration generally will be catastrophic, although civil servants can be paid now that the supply measures have passed the Senate.

The extraordinary day began with the first meeting between Mr Fraser and Mr Whitlam since the crisis began. It was held in the former Prime Minister’s parliamentary offices. Mr Fraser said he would not back down and Mr Whitlam then told him that he would call an election for half the Senate in December. Hysteria grew after Mr Whitlam announced the decision to his Cabinet and then drove off to meet the Governor-General.

After his dismissal, Mr Whitlam returned to a frantic party meeting and then walked into the House of Representatives, where the then Opposition leader was on his feet proposing a motion of no confidence in the Labor Government. Mr Fraser was called out shortly before lunch.

When the House resumed its sitting, politicians on both sides shouted and screamed at opponents. Many members were swearing at each other. Even after Mr Fraser finished reading his commission from Sir John, the Labor MPs refused to vacate their green leather government benches in spite of a suggestion from the Speaker.

Tonight, Labor leaders throughout the country vowed that if the Government was not returned they would paralyse the Fraser Government. In a country with the highest level of unionism in the world such a threat is not taken lightly and, whatever happens, as one MP said, Australian politics will never be the same again.

· A Labour MP had this message for the Prime Minister last night: “You should be warned by events in Australia that unless you act quickly over the House of Lords, the Queen may soon be tapping on your shoulder, showing you the way out.” Mr Gwilym Roberts, who has tabled a Commons motion on the implications of the constitutional crisis in Australia added: “If Mr Wilson doesn’t do the House of Lords, the House of Lords will do him.”