On the 30th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam Government, the Prime Minister, John Howard, has again defended the actions of the then Governor-General, Sir John Kerr.
Speaking on ABC radio, Howard said: “It was a product of the clash of political wills between two sides of politics and they knew that at the time and this retrospective attempt to paint John Kerr as the dark evil doer of terrible deeds has just been so unfair and one of the great historical distortions of my life.”
The man acknowledged as a comic genius by his peers, Graham Kennedy, has died, aged 71, in Bowral, NSW.
Kennedy compered In Melbourne Tonight (IMT) on Channel 9. Later, he compered the Drive program on Melbourne’s 3LO, now known as 774, with Richard Combe.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Kennedy hosted a game show, Blankety Blanks, and a late-night news program.
Kennedy also had a keen interest in politics. In 1972, the Whitlam government had appointed a Minister for the Media, Senator Doug McClelland, father of the current ALP shadow minister for Defence and Homeland Security, Robert McClelland. In a rare expression of political opinion, Kennedy launched into McClelland on April 17, 1975, calling for McClelland to be sacked and the portfolio to be dropped.
SBS Television has broadcast a significant interview with Gough Whitlam.
The interview, conducted by the ALP Senate Leader, John Faulkner, was an 84-minute production culled from over 20 hours of discussion conducted over 3 days.
The interview came on the eve of three anniversaries:
Sir John Kerr died in Sydney on April 7, 1991.
During the Condolence motion in the House of Representatives, the then Treasurer, Paul Keating, intervened in the debate after hearing the Opposition Leader, Dr. John Hewson, speak.
The complete 92-minute video of Four Corners, broadcast on November 11, 1985, the tenth anniversary of The Dismissal.
Gough Whitlam addressed the National Press Club on November 11, 1985, ten years to the day since he was dismissed from office by Sir John Kerr.
The occasion also coincided with the launch of Whitlam’s new book, The Whitlam Government 1972-1975.
Whitlam had returned to Australia, on leave from his position in Paris as Australian Ambassador to UNESCO, the post to which he had been appointed by the Hawke government in 1983.
In his speech, Whitlam canvassed a wide range of issues, including the constitutional crisis of 1975. He damned Kerr for hid handling of what Whitlam said was a “political crisis” that was likely to resolve itself within days, if not hours.
The video of this National Press Club appearance is notable for its portrayal of Whitlam ten years after his government ended and seven years after he left parliament.
The Gillies Report was a golden moment on Australian television in the 1980s.
This is Il Dismissale, the segment satirising the Whitlam Dismissal. It was first broadcast in 1983.
The main roles are all played by Max Gillies, but look for John Clarke, Wendy Harmer, Patrick Cook and others.
This is an interview Gough Whitlam gave to Derryn Hinch on Melbourne radio station 3AW on November 11, 1980.
It was five years to the day since Whitlam was dismissed. After leading the ALP to another election defeat in December 1977, Whitlam left Parliament in 1978.
Hinch began the interview by discussing reports of US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involvement in the Dismissal but Whitlam preferred to focus on Sir John Kerr’s contact with Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick and an unnamed “intermediary” between Kerr and Fraser.
Whitlam was 64 years old at the time of the interview.
Gough Whitlam and former Senator Jim McClelland both addressed the NSW Labor Lawyers at a dinner in Sydney on July 4, 1980.
Following the 1974 federal election, McClelland was Whitlam’s Minister for Manufacturing Industry and then Minister for Labour and Immigration. First elected to the Senate in 1970, McClelland had retired on July 21, 1978, just ten days before Whitlam also resigned.
McClelland was appointed by the NSW Wran Labor government as the first Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court. He would go on to head the 1984 Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests. He died in 1999 at the age of 83.
Whitlam appeared at the National Press Club to launch his book on the dismissal, The Truth of the Matter.
It was a classic Whitlam appearance, replete with witticisms and barbs at his opponents.