The Governor General's Coup d'Etat

In days when monarch ruled as well as reigned, sacking a Prime Minister was a well-exercised royal prerogative. Things are supposed to be different nowadays--at least within the British Commonwealth--but it did not seem so in Australia last week. There the personal representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Governor General Sir John Kerr, seemingly seized with the spirit of George III, fired Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, leader of the Labor Party, and installed Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as head of a caretaker government. Invoking constitutionally questionable powers never before exercised in Australia, the Governor General also dissolved Parliament and proclaimed new elections for Australia's House and Senate on Dec. 13. From one end of the continent to the other, the public was stunned--and Whitlam's Labor Party supporters were outraged. In Canberra, the federal capital, Kerr's action was being assailed as a "legal coup d'etat" that could trigger the most bitter election campaign in Australian history.

As word of Whitlam's ouster spread through Canberra, a crowd of his sympathizers gathered in front of Parliament House chanting: "Shame, Fraser, shame!" and "We want Gough!" Responding to their cries, Whitlam, whose election in 1972 had ended 23 years of rule by conservative parties, emerged to greet the demonstrators and lead them in a chorus of Solidarity Forever, international unionism's anthem. In Melbourne, hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Fraser's Liberal Party, stoned it, and smashed its windows. Melbourne union leaders proclaimed Friday "Stop the State Day," calling on 500,000 workers to strike for four hours and attend a pro-Whitlam rally.

Soaring Shores. Sporadic strikes closed slaughterhouses, steelworks, wharves and construction sites across Australia. When Fraser and his Cabinet arrived at Government House to be sworn in, they came in private cars; government drivers had stopped work to demonstrate for Labor. Warned John Halfpenny, militant secretary of the metalworkers union: "We do not accept Fraser as Prime Minister. It is a dictatorship, and we will not cooperate with it." Bob Hawke, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, however, urged workers to remain calm. At week's end, nonetheless, police tightened security around Fraser after he had received several anonymous threats on his life.

Not all of Australia was behind the deposed Prime Minister. In the trading pits of the stock exchanges, word of Whitlam's ouster was greeted with ear-splitting cheers and a 17-point jump in the Sydney Stock Exchange's index of shares, bringing it to a high for the year. In Brisbane, a woman telephoned a radio station to stress that "for all those in the streets, there are many more in their homes quietly celebrating Whitlam's departure."

The man who sparked the crisis, Sir John Kerr, 61, is a former judge and was appointed Governor General by Whitlam nearly two years ago. As the representative of the British Crown and the symbol of executive authority in Australia--with power to "summon, prorogue and dissolve" Parliament--the Governor General has always acted only on the advice of the leaders of the party commanding a majority in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Australian Parliament. Since his Labor Party holds 65 of the 127 seats in the House, Whitlam certainly could expect that the Governor General would take orders from him. Nonetheless, Sir John, who was an active member of the Labor Party until 1956, decided to move against the Prime Minister. The reason: Whitlam appeared unable to end a month-old political stalemate that had brought the country to the brink of financial paralysis (TIME, Nov. 10). The Senate, narrowly controlled by a conservative coalition of Eraser's Liberals and the National Country Party, had invoked a never-before-used right and refused to pass the Prime Minister's budget.

Fraser vowed that the Senate would tie up the budget bill until Whitlam called for new elections. Whitlam stood firm. Meanwhile, the budget bill remained in limbo, and the treasury began to run dry. The crisis was due to come at the end of November, when there would be insufficient funds to meet the $26 million weekly payroll for the country's 70,000-member armed forces. To avoid this, the Governor General, without consulting Queen Elizabeth, decided to act.

Terse Letter. Last week, Whitlam called on Sir John at his residence, Yarralumla. After the Prime Minister said he would not recommend a general election, Sir John handed him a terse, four-paragraph letter stating: "I hereby determine [withdraw] your appointment as head of government [and] the appointments of all the ministers in your cabinet." The Governor General then received Fraser, who had been waiting --unknown to Whitlam--in an anteroom. After agreeing that he would not institute new policies or dismiss government officials, Fraser was directed by Kerr to form a caretaker Cabinet that will govern until the elections.

In a statement to the press, Sir John defended his unprecedented action as a "democratic and constitutional solution to the current crisis." The new elections, he argued, will enable "the people to decide the issue which the two leaders have failed to settle." Meanwhile, the Senate majority, under orders from Fraser, approved the budget and adjourned, thus ending the fiscal impasse.

At week's end the election campaign was beginning to take shape. Whitlam will obviously try to capitalize on the public's anger at what it considers to be Kerr's usurpation of power; he hoped to gain a large sympathy vote by hammering away at the theme that Fraser gained office shamefully. As he told a press conference last week, "Clearly the great issue, almost the sole issue of this campaign will be whether the government which the people elect with a majority in the House of Representatives will be allowed to govern from now on." The Labor Party will also stress the social reforms instituted by Whitlam's Cabinet: abolition of fees at universities, a national health insurance scheme, increased welfare payments, no-fault divorce and wide-ranging consumer protection laws.

Fraser is expected to base his campaign on themes he has been pounding at for months: the scandals involving some of Whitlam's close aides, Labor's antibusiness attitude and the mismanagement of the economy that has led to a current 16.9% annual rate of inflation and the worst unemployment since the 1930s.

Shabby Scandals. "Ultimately, the election will be decided by the 10% of the voters, mostly of the middle class, who swing from party to party," reported TIME Correspondent John Dunn. "It is doubtful if the sympathy they today feel for Whitlam will last the month until they reach the ballot box. By then, they are more likely to be influenced by the problems of the economy and recollection of the shabby scandals. Thus Eraser's coalition may just retain the government that came its way so surprisingly this week."

Even if the Liberal-Country Party coalition carries the House of Representatives, there is a chance that Labor will win in the Senate, which could mean a replay of the budget impasse that caused the current crisis. This possibility makes it almost certain that no matter who wins, the authority of the Senate will be trimmed; and if Whitlam wins, Sir John may well be forced to resign. When his secretary finished his proclamation to Parliament with the traditional "God save the Queen," Whitlam had an angry riposte. "Well may we say God save the Queen," he shouted, "because nothing will save the Governor General!"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.