Front cover of Nation Review, May 3, 1974: "Labor Loss Looms".
Posts published in “Whitlam Government”
The Whitlam Labor Government faced the electorate on May 18, 1974, just 18 months after taking office, in a double dissolution election.
Whitlam delivered his policy speech at the Blacktown Civic Centre, calling for a “fair go” for his government and a chance to carry out “the program”.
- Listen to Whitlam’s Policy Speech – 8.30pm April 29, 1974 (30m)
- Listen to ABC Radio news, reporting the speech – 10pm, April 29, 1974 (4m)
- Listen to ABC Radio’s AM report on the policy speech – 8am, April 30, 1974 (7m)
Transcript of the Policy Speech delivered by the Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam, at the Blacktown Civic Centre, NSW, on April 29, 1974.
Men and Women of Australia,
Just 17 months ago, I stood here, and from this place and from this city I asked you to choose for Australia a new team, a new program, a new drive for equality of opportunities. You gave us a clear mandate to go ahead with our program for the next 3 years. For 17 months we have driven ourselves to carry out your mandate, to carry out the program I placed before you. Now the government you elected for 3 years has been interrupted in mid-career. Our program has been brought to a halt in mid-stream.
Audio of Opposition Leader Bill Snedden's Address to the Nation following the calling of the 1974 double dissolution election.
Following the Gair Affair and the Opposition’s decision to block Supply, Whitlam called a double dissolution election for May 18, 1974. He had been in office for 17 months.
On Tuesday April 16, at 7.30pm, pre-empting the ABC’s nightly current affairs show, This Day Tonight (TDT), Whitlam made an Address to the Nation.
In it, he put the argument that his government was being frustrated by a Senate that was elected 3 and 6 years earlier. He quoted his Liberal predecessor, Sir Robert Menzies, and described this as “a falsification of democracy”.
The Twenty-Eighth Parliament was dissolved after only 18 months as a result of the controversy over the appointment of the DLP Senator Vince Gair as Australian Ambassador to Ireland.
The subsequent announcement by the Federal Opposition Leader, Bill Snedden, that the coalition parties would block the goverment’s Supply Bills in the Senate caused Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to respond by calling a double dissolution election for May 18, 1974.
- Listen to the Governor-General’s Official Secretary, David Smith, read the dissolution proclamation on the steps of Parliament House at noon on April 11, 1974:
Governor-General’s Proclamation dissolving both Houses of Parliament on April 11, 1974.
PROCLAMATION
By PAUL HASLUCK, the
Governor-General of AustraliaWHEREAS by section 57 of the Constitution it is provided that if the House of Representatives passes any proposed law, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, and if after an interval of three months the House of Representatives, in the same or the next session, again passes the proposed law with or without any amendments which have been made, suggested, or agreed to by the Senate and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, the Governor-General may dissolve the Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously:
Following Whitlam’s announcement of the double dissolution, The Age decried the circumstances that had led to the election.
In particular, The Age saw that the Opposition tactics could put future governments at threat: “Now the way is open for majority Senate Oppositions in the future to attach Catch 22 conditions to any money bill, any time. Of course they will not refuse Supply. They will simply not deign to talk money until the Government hands in its resignation.”
Front page of the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial reporting Whitlam's announcement of the May 18, 1974 double dissolution election.
The debacle over the Gair Affair and the Coalition’s threat to block Supply led Gough Whitlam to call a double dissolution election for May 18, 1974.
The double dissolution superceded the half-Senate election that was due by June 30.
After a week of turmoil and speculation over the fate of the government’s Supply bills, Whitlam rose in the House of Representatives just before 8.30pm on April 10 to announce that the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, had agreed to a double dissolution. This is Hansard’s record of the announcement:
History was made in Canberra on April 4, 1974 with the announcement by the Liberal opposition that they would block two of the Whitlam government’s Supply Bills.
The announcement came as Gough Whitlam’s ploy to appoint former DLP leader Senator Vince Gair as Ambassador to Ireland unravelled.
This is a selection of radio and television reports on the day’s events.
The appointment of the former DLP leader, Senator Vince Gair, as Ambassador to Ireland was broken in the Sun by Laurie Oakes on April 2, 1974.
Gair had grown disgruntled with his colleagues. His appointment was based on the idea that his resignation from the Senate would create an additional vacancy in Queensland. With a half-Senate election scheduled for May 18, Whitlam’s hope was that the ALP could win 3 of the 6 vacancies and ease the government’s position in the Senate.