Реферат на тему Whitlam Essay Research Paper Was the Governor
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Whitlam Essay, Research Paper
Was the Governor General right to argue that he had the constitutional authority
to dismiss the Whitlam Government or was Whitlam correct in arguing that the
principle of responsible government should prevail?
On the 11th November 1975, the Australian Governor General, Sir John Kerr,
dismissed the federal Government of Gough Whitlam and commissioned
Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister. The dismissal and the
events leading to it clearly demonstrated the friction between constitutional
authority and responsible government. In a spiral of events, responsible
government and the overall concept of democracy was blatantly ignored, and
technicalities within the constitution abused, leading to the dismissal of a
democratically elected Prime Minister. While the Governor General s decision
was constitutionally allowed, it was certainly not the responsible or democratic
action that should have been taken.
Despite their victory in the double-dissolution election of 1974, the Labor Party
found themselves once again without a majority in the Senate, deadlocked with
the Liberal/National coalition at 29 seats each, with 2 going to the
independents.1 They received a further blow with the death of one Labor
Senator and the resignation of an other. In this particular situation, according to
the Constitution, under Section 15, such vacancies were to be filled by the state
from which the former senator came from by a nomination from a joint sitting in
the House of Parliament. However in the principal of responsible government
and democracy, unwritten convention had developed that the casual vacancy
should be filled by a member of the same political party, in this way maintaining
the representation of the previous election. Both the New South Wales and
Queensland governments broke with this convention and the two vacancies
were not filled by the Labor Party s nominees. Even at this early point the tension
between written and unwritten constitution was starting to take effect. As a
result of the actions of the State governments, Whitlam faced a Senate where
the Opposition could block its legislation. Only two years later, the Fraser
government successfully sponsored a Constitutional amendment to change the
written Constitution so that the Senators are replaced by someone of their own
political party. This is somewhat ironic since it was only after Fraser had used this
technicality to give him majority that he acknowledged that responsible
government would have been the more democratic and sought to change it. It
also brings to light the fact that Fraser at times was willing to ignore responsible
government if it was to his advantage.
Malcolm Fraser used this majority in the Senate to announce that the Senate
would delay the government’s supply bills until Whitlam called an election.
Constitutionally this was possible since the Constitution did not explicitly state
that the Senate can not block supply. However, Whitlam rightfully believed that
the Senate’s action in refusing to pass his government’s supply bill was in direct
contradiction to the conventions of responsible government as it was interfering
with representative democracy. In the Senate s position as a “house of review”,
it may certainly refuse to pass bills, whether they be supply bills or otherwise to
protect states interests or if it objects to the contents of the bill. However in this
unprecedented decision, the Senate had candidly blocked supply solely for the
political reason that it objected to the Government. If the Senate could exercise
these powers in such a way they would be able to bring down a democratically
elected Government whenever they seeked supply.
These events proceeding the dismissal serve as an example of the tension that
had existed between the written and unwritten constitution and have already
demonstrated the need for responsible government.
The Governor General in trying to solve the supply problem consulted the Chief
Justice of the High Court, Sir Garfield Barwick, who advised him to sack the
Government. He then consulted Fraser with out the knowledge of Whitlam. The
Governor-General at this point appointed him as a caretaker Prime Minister and
announced a double dissolution of the two Houses of Parliament. The Senate
now acting in support of the new Fraser caretaker government passed the
supply bills.
The Constitution in theory, gives the Governor General sweeping powers. He is
able to appoint and dismiss whole governments, and Sir John Kerr had acted
within his formal constitutional powers in dismissing Gough Whitlam. As specified
in Section 64 of the Constitution, The Governor-General may appoint officers to
administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the Governor
General in Council may establish. Such officers shall hold office during he
pleasure of the Governor General. 2 The Governor General and Chief Justice
Barwick had justified the dismissal on the grounds that Whitlam had lost the
confidence of the Senate when it blocked the supply bill. They argued that
confidence was needed from both houses of parliament and since they didn t
have this they were under obligation to resign or call a general election.
This move by the Governor General however was in direct contradiction to the
basic principal that the person appointed should be supported by a majority in
the House of Representatives.
The Governor General further broke with convention in failing to follow advice
from the Prime Minister. As a representative of the Queen, the British Foreign
Office and the Commonwealth Crown Law Office had been advised that
whatever his formal powers may be , they should only be used in accordance
with the PMs advice. Therefore the Governor General had broken the guidelines
provided by the people he was supposed to be representing.
Kerrs argument that Whitlam had failed to obtain supply was also flawed. At the
time Kerr dismissed the Whitlam Government, the Government still had enough
money to run the country for another 19 days. Should he have given him more
time and had Fraser not felt the Governor General s support in the matter, it is
possible that the Senate would have passed supply in time. Given this time,
Liberal Senators themselves could have turned against them for their unethical
approaches. They also had to consider public opinion which was already
turning sour and would only have intensified had the supply bill continued to be
blocked. It seemed very unlikely that the Senate could block the supply for
much longer. And even if it had come to that, Whitlam could still raise loans
from the major banks to pay for Government expenses. This certainly
undermines Kerrs dismissing Whitlam on the count of a financial crisis, since they
had not reached that point and it didn t seem likely that they would. Not only
was it against responsible government for the Governor General to dismiss the
Government for failing to obtain supply, but the Whitlam Government had not
incontrovertibly failed to obtain supply.
The Governor General also failed to give any warning that he intended to
dismiss Whitlam. Even if the Governor Generals reasons were justified, he did not
give Whitlam the opportunity to modify the way he was dealing with the
situation. Had he been given warning it may have changed Whitlam s own
solution to the stalemate, which was to call a half dissolution of the Senate.
In fact he seems to have deliberately kept his intentions secret, and told
everyone other than Whitlam of his plans. He sought the advice and support of
Chief Justice Barwick, with out Whitlams knowledge, and in a even more
controversial move he even discussed his plans with Opposition Leader
Malcolm Fraser. These do not seem the actions of a man with legitimate reasons
for his actions.
The Constitution is not perfect. There are parts that are ambiguous, as
demonstrated in the Senate interpretation of section 53 in the blocking of the
supply bill, and it can at times can be very misleading, since it fails to mention
the Prime Minister at all and gives the appearance of wide ranging powers by
the Governor General. It is also restricted by the fact that it can not incorporate
all situations. It is for this particular reason that responsible government is so vital.
In order to fulfill the fundamental principals which the Constitution stands for
sometimes we need to move beyond the words of the text. The fact that some
conventions are unwritten should not make them any less important.
The Constitution can be manipulated if taken completely literally, creating
results that are against the democracy it stands for, as was the case in the
dismissal of Whitlam. The Governor General did have the Constitutional authority
to dismiss the Whitlam Government. However responsible government and the
democracy the Constitution stands for should not have allowed it.