An overview of the events of October 15, 1975, the day that the Federal Opposition, led by Malcolm Fraser, decided to block the Supply bills in the Senate until such time as Prime Minister Gough Whitlam called an election.
Posts tagged as “Rex Connor”
Rex Connor, the Minister for Minerals and Energy, resigned from the Whitlam ministry on October 14, 1975.
Connor’s resignation was sought by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam after revelations in the Melbourne Herald newspaper that Connor had continued to seek overseas loans through the Pakistani intermediary Tirath Khemlani.
Connor’s behaviour constituted misleading parliament. In doing so, Connor had caused Whitlam to also mislead parliament.
Gough Whitlam recalled the House of Representatives from its winter recess for a one-day sitting to debate the Overseas Loans Affair.
The sitting took place on July 9, 1975, two days before Whitlam’s 59th birthday.
The morning newspapers around the country on July 9 were uniformly bad for the government. In South Australia, the Labor Premier Don Dunstan, facing an election three days later, attacked the Whitlam government. Dunstan suffered a 5.3% two-party swing, lost three seats and survived by forming a minority government.
Amidst this tense atmosphere, the sitting of the House began at 2.30pm and continued until the adjournment at 10.09pm.
Proceedings began with the announcement of the return of the writ for the Bass by-election. Following the ousting of Lance Barnard as Deputy Prime Minister, he was appointed Ambassador to Sweden, Norway and Finland, a by-election was held to replace him in his Tasmanian electorate. A 14.3% swing to the Liberals saw Labor lose the seat with just 39.7% of the two-party-preferred vote. Malcolm Fraser was entitled to believe he could now win a general election.
The sitting then offered condolences for Queensland ALP Senate Bert Milliner, who had died on June 30. Milliner’s death allowed Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen to further alter the balance of power in the Senate by the appointment of a non-Labor replacement, Albert Patrick Field. Earlier in the year, following the appointment of the Attorney-General, Senator Lionel Murphy, to the High Court, the NSW government of Premier Tom Lewis had also refused to appoint a Labor replacement.
The Australian editorialised about the Loans Affair and letter of authority given to Tirath Khemlani by the Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex Connor.