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Posts tagged as “Address to the Nation”

Address To The Nation: Gough Whitlam On Why The 1974 Election Was Called

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”.