Like Whitlam, Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser did the rounds of the Sunday television shows on Sunday, October 19, 1975.
He defended the blocking of Supply on Channel 7’s This Week program. The program was hosted by Brian Naylor. The interview was conducted by Dan Webb and Tom Worland.
Fraser argued that economic circumstances and the Loans Affair scandals justified the blocking of Supply.
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.”