Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: A6180, 13/11/75/46.

The dismissal: 50^th anniversary

11 November 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Whitlam Labor Government’s dismissal. This decision by Governor-General Sir John Kerr arguably remains the most dramatic and controversial episode in Australia’s constitutional and political history. The events themselves are still contested, including: the performance and decisions of the Whitlam Government; the role and constitutional power of the Senate; the role of the Opposition; the decisions of key players; the reserve powers of the Governor-General and the role of the Queen.

The July 2020 release of correspondence between Governor-General Kerr and Buckingham Palace (known as the Palace Letters) and other archival material provided fresh insight into these events.

Having been elected on 2 December 1972 and returned at the 18 May 1974 double dissolution election, the Whitlam Government was a tumultuous period. Indeed, the dismissal was the culmination of 3 years of political conflict, with the pivotal crisis occurring between 16 October and 11 November 1975.

The stage for this conflict was a Parliament in which the Government did not hold a Senate majority caused in part by two casual vacancies that were filled in the months before the crisis.  Against convention, state governments appointed non-Labor nominees to fill two Labor vacancies in the Senate. Although many commentators focus on the Opposition blocking Supply in the Senate in 1974 and 1975, it was the rejection of Government bills that paved the way for the dissolution of both Houses of Parliament.

A few key events

From its early stages, the Whitlam Government's legislative program met resistance in the Senate, where half its members were elected in 1970 and half in 1967. In 1974 the Opposition made the Senate’s passage of money bills conditional on the Government calling an election. Prime Minister Whitlam secured a dissolution of both Houses in April 1974 after the Senate twice rejected bills to establish Medibank, ensure ‘one vote one value’ House of Representatives elections, and introduce Senate representation for the Territories. The Government considered 6 bills fulfilled the constitutional requirements (section 57) to be treated as double dissolution bills.

At the 18 May 1974 election, the Government was re-elected with a majority in the House but not in the Senate. The Medibank and electoral bills were then passed at the first (and to date only) joint sitting of both Houses of the Parliament held on 6–7 August 1974.

After heated debate about the Khemlani loans scandal and the state of the economy, the Liberal Party used its numbers in the Senate to defer Supply. This escalated on 16 October 1975, when the Opposition announced that it would not grant Supply unless the Prime Minister agreed to a new House of Representatives election. Whitlam refused, declaring that it was unconstitutional for the Senate to decide who should hold government.

From July 1974, when the 29th Parliament commenced, to November 1975, 21 bills were regarded as fulfilling the section 57 requirements, having been twice rejected by the Senate. This deadlock continued until 11 November 1975.

On 10 November 1975, Governor-General Sir John Kerr obtained formal advice from the High Court’s Chief Justice Garfield Barwick, confirming Kerr’s right to dismiss the Government. On 11 November 1975, the Governor-General sacked Whitlam for refusing to resign or advise an election after failing to obtain Supply.

Governor-General Kerr immediately commissioned Opposition leader Malcolm Fraser to form a caretaker government to secure Supply pending a general election. Acting on the advice of caretaker Prime Minister Fraser, who did not have majority support in the House, Kerr dissolved both Houses of Parliament. In the ensuing double dissolution election on 13 December 1975 the Coalition, led by Fraser, won a landslide victory, winning majorities in both Houses of Parliament.

A rare successful referendum in 1977 amended the Constitution to ensure a Senate casual vacancy should be filled by a person of the same political party.

As Opposition leader, Whitlam contested the 1977 election but Labor was again defeated. He stood down from the ALP leadership and resigned from Parliament in July 1978. Notably, Whitlam and Fraser formed what seemed an unlikely friendship in their later years.

Most of the key players in the dismissal have since died: Sir John Kerr in March 1991, Gough Whitlam in October 2014 and Malcolm Fraser in March 2015.

Further reading

Much has been written on the dismissal: a number of books and numerous articles which analyse different aspects of the events.

The National Archives of Australia provides access to records, including Cabinet documents, for the period of the Whitlam Government.

Whitlam's account of these controversial events is given in The Truth of the Matter and in Abiding Interests. In 1985, on the tenth anniversary of the dismissal, he published The Whitlam Government 1972–1975.

Malcolm Fraser published his account in Malcolm Fraser: the political memoirs. Sir John Kerr provided his account in Matters for judgment: an autobiography. An account of the events of 11 November 1975 was also written by the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, Sir David Smith.

This FlagPost was initially written for the 45th anniversary of the dismissal. In the intervening years further commentary has demonstrated continuing historical, academic and legal interest, including how the dismissal’s anniversaries shape public memory and meaning. The Museum of Australian Democracy (MOAD) and the Whitlam Institute have commemorated the Whitlam Government’s 50th anniversary and the dismissal by publicising and expanding the Prime Ministerial collection and gathering stories of the government’s impact.