This is the audio of Country Party leader Doug Anthony’s policy speech for the 1975 Federal Election.
Anthony was Deputy Prime Minister in the caretaker Fraser administration, appointed following the Dismissal of the Whitlam government on November 11.
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The double dissolution superceded the half-Senate election that was due by June 30.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.