This is a video of The National’s coverage of the tenth anniversary of the Whitlam Dismissal.
In 1985, the ABC had replaced its nightly television news and current affairs half-hour with a bizarre program called The National, which attempted to combine news and analysis in one package. Naturally, it didn’t last.
The National didn’t manage to secure an interview with Gough Whitlam, even though he gave multiple interviews to other networks and programs.
However, they did speak with the former senator, Albert Patrick Field, the man whose appointment to the Senate by the Bjelke-Petersen government in 1975 tipped the numbers in favour of the coalition and made the blocking of Supply possible. Field was 75 and would die by his own hand in 1990.
- Watch The National (19m)
