Whitlam had just led the Australian Labor Party to victory after 23 years of Coalition rule. Historically, when Labor won government, the caucus elected the members of the ministry, with Labor Prime Ministers only having the right to allocate portfolios. Although Labor's victory was beyond doubt, counting was scheduled to continue until 15 December, two weeks after the 2 December election.
In accordance with longstanding Australian constitutional practice, the outgoing Prime Minister, William McMahon, advised the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, that he was no longer in a position to govern. Whitlam then advised Hasluck that he could form a government with his new majority. Normally, McMahon would have stayed on as a caretaker until the final results were known. However, Whitlam was unwilling to wait that long. Accordingly, soon after advising Hasluck that he could form a government, Whitlam had himself and his deputy leader, Lance Barnard, sworn in as an interim two-man government until the full ministry could be chosen. For the next two weeks, Whitlam and Barnard held 27 portfolios between them. It is the smallest ministry in Australian history.
Whitlam, who died in 2014, was the last surviving member of the first Whitlam ministry, having outlived Barnard by 17 years.
Achievements
The duumvirate made 40 significant decisions in its brief tenure, including the immediate release of all draft resisters, the removal of troops from Vietnam and the recognition of Communist China.[2]
Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), of which he was the longest-serving. He was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive administration that ended with his controversial dismissal by the governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 constitutional crisis. Whitlam is the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office by the governor-general.
John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the federal executive government. Under the principles of responsible government, the prime minister is both responsible to and a member of the Commonwealth Parliament. The current prime minister is Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party, who assumed the office on 23 May 2022.
Sir John Grey Gorton was an Australian politician, farmer and airman who served as the 19th prime minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, having previously been a senator for Victoria. He was the first and only member of the upper house of the Parliament of Australia to assume the office of prime minister.
Sir William McMahon was an Australian politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Australia from 1971 to 1972. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. He was a government minister for over 21 years, the longest continuous service in Australian history.
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Sir John Kerr, the Governor-General who then commissioned the leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party, as prime minister. It has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history.
Sir John Robert Kerr, was an Australian barrister and judge who served as the 18th governor-general of Australia, in office from 1974 to 1977. He is primarily known for his involvement in the 1975 constitutional crisis, which culminated in his decision to dismiss the incumbent prime minister Gough Whitlam and appoint Malcolm Fraser as his replacement, which led to unprecedented actions in Australian federal politics.
Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck, was an Australian statesman who served as the 17th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1969 to 1974. Prior to that, he was a Liberal Party politician, holding ministerial office continuously from 1951 to 1969.
John Douglas Anthony PC was an Australian politician. He served as leader of the National Party of Australia from 1971 to 1984 and was the second and longest-serving deputy prime minister, holding the position under John Gorton (1971), William McMahon (1971–1972) and Malcolm Fraser (1975–1983).
Lance Herbert BarnardAO was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1974 and held senior ministerial office in the Whitlam government, most notably as the third deputy prime minister of Australia from 1972 to 1974.
The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 federal election, ending a record 23 years of continuous Coalition government. It was terminated by Governor-General Sir John Kerr following the 1975 constitutional crisis and was succeeded by the Fraser government—the sole occasion in Australian history when an elected federal government was dismissed by the governor-general.
The 1974 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 18 May 1974. All 127 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam defeated the opposition Liberal–Country coalition led by Billy Snedden. This marked the first time that a Labor leader won two consecutive elections.
The 1972 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 2 December 1972. All 125 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, as well as a single Senate seat in Queensland. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister William McMahon, was defeated by the opposition Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. Labor's victory ended 23 years of successive Coalition governments that began in 1949 and started the three-year Whitlam Labor Government.
In Australian political and constitutional terminology, a caretaker government is a government of Australia from when the House of Representatives is dissolved by the Governor-General prior to a general election to a period after the election, until the next ministry is appointed. A caretaker government is expected to conduct itself in accordance with a series of well-defined conventions administered by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, but there is no law compelling the caretaker government to do so.
The Gorton government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Gorton. It was made up of members of a Liberal-Country Party coalition in the Australian Parliament from January 1968 to March 1971.
The Holt government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Harold Holt. It was made up of members of a Liberal-Country Party coalition in the Australian Parliament from 26 January 1966 to 19 December 1967.
The McMahon government was the period of federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister William McMahon of the Liberal Party. It was made up of members of a coalition between the Liberal Party and the Country Party, led by Doug Anthony as Deputy Prime Minister. The McMahon government lasted from March 1971 to December 1972, being defeated at the 1972 federal election. Writing for the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Julian Leeser describes McMahon's prime ministership as "a blend of cautious innovation and fundamental orthodoxy".
The Liberal Party of Australia held a leadership spill on 10 March 1971. Prime Minister John Gorton called for a vote of confidence in his leadership, which was tied, prompting Gorton to resign. William McMahon subsequently defeated Billy Snedden for the leadership, and was sworn in as prime minister on the same day. Gorton was elected as his deputy, defeating Malcolm Fraser and David Fairbairn.
The Shadow Ministry of Gough Whitlam was the opposition Australian Labor Party frontbench of Australia from 8 February 1967 to 5 December 1972, opposing the Liberal-Country Coalition government.
The Shadow Ministry of Billy Snedden was the opposition Liberal shadow ministry of Australia from 21 December 1972 to 21 March 1975, opposing Gough Whitlam's Labor ministry. From 1974, it also included members of the Country Party.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
