The political and constitutional crisis which culminated in the dismissal of the Whitlam Government on 11 November 1975 is the most dramatic event in Australian political history. It had profound political implications: it enhanced the influence of the Senate; significantly affected public perceptions of the office of Governor-General, the role of constitutional conventions, and even the future of the monarchy; and arguably hardened political behaviour and contributed to public cynicism regarding government and politicians. However, while it is undoubtedly ‘one of the few genuinely interesting events in Australian history’, the suggestion that it had ‘more important implications for the conduct of a democratic state in Australia than federation itself’ is surely overstated. As Malcolm Fraser has noted, the conscription referendums of 1916–17 and the Australian Labor Party Split in the 1950s had more profound political effect than ‘the Dismissal’.

Outline of the events

The Whitlam Labor Government was elected on 2 December 1972, the first Labor Government for twenty-three years. Its majority in the House of Representatives was 9 seats, but it was in a minority of 26 to 34 in the Senate. Since the DLP and one Independent generally supported the Coalition and two Independents generally supported the Government, the Coalition enjoyed an effective Senate majority of at least 4 (32:28). The general election of December 1949, which brought the Menzies Coalition Government to power, had also faced a hostile Senate, being in a minority of 26 to 34.