Ten years after the Dismissal, Gough Whitlam returned to Australia to launch his new book on the Whitlam Government.
Whitlam was on leave from his posting as Ambassador to UNESCO, the job he was given by the Hawke Labor government after it won the 1983 election.
As part of the media coverage of the 10th anniversary of the Dismissal, Channel 9’s Sunday program devoted an entire program to reviewing the Whitlam years. The complete video of the program is available on this page.
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam maintained his refusal to call an election in separate Sunday commercial television appearances on October 19, 1975.
Whitlam appeared on Channel 7’s This Week and also on Channel 9. The transcripts of both addresses appear below.
Whitlam said he would not yield to Senate “blackmail”. He said: “There are two houses of the Federal Parliament. The government is that party or parties with a majority in the House of Representatives. There can’t be a Prime Minister or a Treasurer in the Senate. It is not the Senate’s function to decide who shall be the government of Australia.”