Imbroglio in Canberra

After several days of Machiavellian intrigue and counter-intrigue, Australia's first Labor Party government in 23 years came to an abrupt end last week, less than halfway through its three-year term. Prune Minister Gough Whitlam had Parliament dissolved and called for new elections. Ironically, Whitlam brought on the crisis by a political maneuver intended to consolidate his strength, not to provoke a showdown with the opposition.

At first Whitlam's fateful move seemed like a master stroke. During his 16 months in office, his legislative program has been frustrated by an opposition coalition of the Liberal and Country parties, which, with the support of the small Democratic Labor Party, controls the Australian Senate by 31 seats out of 60; Whitlam's Labor Party has a majority of nine seats only in the 125-member House of Representatives. In an attempt to capture control of the Senate, Whitlam last month appointed a longtime foe, Senator Vince Gair, former leader of the Democratic Labor Party, as Ambassador to Ireland. The government figured that it would win Gair's vacant seat in Queensland at the May 18 elections, when half of the Senate's 60 seats are voted on. That could be just enough to tip the balance in the Senate in Labor's favor.

Unrivaled Cynicism. As soon as the significance of Gair's appointment became clear, Whitlam's ploy provoked bitter complaints from both opposition politicians and the press. Billy Snedden, leader of the Liberals, complained that Whitlam's move was "the most shameful act by any government in Australia's history." His coalition colleague, Country Party Leader Doug Anthony, charged Whitlam with "an act of cynicism unrivaled in the political life of this nation." The independent Melbourne Age editorialized: "It is one thing to have grudging admiration for ratlike cunning. It is another to be pleased about having a pretty tricky Prune Minister."

As the furor mounted, opposition leaders tried to sabotage Whitlam's stratagem. The Country Party premier of Queensland, Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, noticed that by some oversight Gair had not yet officially resigned from the Senate, and immediately published midnight election writs for his seat. This meant, according to the constitution, that the seat would be filled by the Queensland government--therefore by a non-Labor nominee--until the next general election in December 1975. Whitlam's efforts to pick up an extra Senate seat were thus stymied.

Then the opposition made a blunder of its own. Sensing Whitlam's embarrassment over the Gair affair, it attempted to use its Senate majority to bring down the government. Recklessly, it decided to vote down a money-supply bill essential for the day-to-day workings of the government.

That threatened action, unprecedented in Australia's history, aroused its own storm of protest. The Melbourne Age warned that Australian governments have always been based on a majority in the lower house of Parliament, not in the Senate. Echoing this argument, Whitlam angrily declared: "Senators are proposing to sign the death warrant of the Senate. They must not be allowed to sign the death warrant of Australian democracy."

Bowing to the pressure, the Senate then moved to defer consideration of the money-supply bill. But Whitlam took up the challenge: he said that he would treat a Senate deferral as a refusal of supply. He therefore sought the dissolution of Parliament and called for general elections to be held on May 18. Frustrated by his defeat in the Gair imbroglio and the Senate's long-term obstruction of his program, Whitlam had only one means of gaining control in the Senate--to take the risk of a new election.

In the campaign to come, the opposition will no doubt blame the government for Australia's 14% inflation rate; it will almost certainly gain ground in rural areas where farmers are upset at Labor's abolition of longstanding tax concessions. But Whitlam can effectively argue that Labor's social program has been blocked by an obstreperous Sen ate, while in foreign affairs the country has gained a stronger and more independent voice. Whitlam, 58, is also a more popular and commanding figure than the untried Snedden, 47, a former Perth newsboy who took over as Liberal leader after the 1972 elections. The race will be close. But most observers feel that the government, having recovered well from the Gair affair, starts out as a slight favorite to retain office.

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