Gough Whitlam’s Dismissal was a watershed moment for Australia – but it could have been worse. Photo: National Library.
On the 50th anniversary of the sacking of Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, it’s hard not to see parallels to the recent US Government shutdown.
Gough Whitlam remains the only Australian Prime Minister to have been sacked, which led to a constitutional crisis and decades of political review.
While the longest shutdown in US history is now over, for weeks, public servants were furloughed and its citizens unserved.
What draws these two historic events together is that they share a single root cause: the (in)ability of the government to fund its activities.
It’s a wake-up call for Australians looking to reignite the republic movement.
To claim government in Australia, a political party has to demonstrate that it can pass laws to approve the federal budget, also known as “guaranteeing supply”.
Generally, one of the easiest and simplest roles of government, but in 1975, Gough Whitlam was mired in controversy and difficulty.
During his stint as Prime Minister, budget bills were passed in the House of Representatives, led by the left-leaning Labor Party; however, they hit a roadblock in the Senate, courtesy of the right-leaning Liberal and National parties.
Switch left and right, and this exact scenario has played out in the United States.
A government funding bill was passed in the House of Representatives, but a right-leaning Republican majority in the Senate then blocked it.
Although the left-leaning Democratic Party does not hold a simple majority in the Senate, to pass an appropriations bill, the Republicans required 60 of 100 votes.
While the politics played out, US citizens were in limbo, waiting for airports to resume normal operations and welfare services to restart. But even now, as the wheels grind slowly into action after eight Democrats crossed the floor, it won’t make up for the missed meals of many.
Where these events differ is how these deadlocks were ultimately resolved.
The machinations between the opposition leader and the governor-general behind the infamous sacking of Whitlam remain controversial and wild conspiracies of a US coup remain unanswered.
Within hours of the Whitlam sacking, the new prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, worked to guarantee supply and restart the government. While Governor-General John Kerr remains a controversial figure in Australian history for sacking Whitlam, it was Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam who were unable, through ordinary measures, to guarantee supply and, ultimately, services, for the Australian public.
What Kerr did was make a very unpopular choice to take extraordinary action that unstuck the wheels of government, keeping Australia moving forward. What remains a wild and turbulent event from a historical perspective did not hinder the Australian government’s ability to serve its people.
In contrast, as an Australian with close family ties to the United States, I had firsthand experience with those who were at risk of losing access to food programs and job support programs.
With recent announcements of reduced flights, members of my family were questioning whether airports would be open for Christmas.
And while my own family pulled together to support one another, others were not so fortunate. All of this is because the US Constitution does not include the same circuit breaker that Australia takes for granted. For those in Washington, the impacts of political games remain distant, without the risk of Dismissal, allowing negotiations to drag on.
Living in Australia 50 years after the Dismissal, we can feel the shadow of the monarchy cast over us again.
It is serendipitous that Princess Anne is visiting Australia at the same time that former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has lost his title. A quarter century on from the failed republic referendum, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II has reopened the discussion of an Australian head of state. As an Australian republican, deeply in support of an Australia where my own son has the right to become the leader of his country, this discussion is bound to restart.
We cannot let the scars of the Dismissal blind us to what we want in a future Australian head of state.
The role of governments everywhere is to serve their people, and in turbulent post-COVID times, this is more important than ever.
Government shutdowns are not a uniquely American phenomenon; shutdowns have also impacted Britain and European nations in recent years. In contrast, Australians are fortunate to live in one of the world’s most stable nations.
Without the extraordinary and sometimes controversial powers to step in and force government action, it is not those at the top who suffer, but those at the bottom who must deal with the impacts of failed negotiations.
As the Australian republican movement regains momentum, we must fight for a future Australian head of state who retains the great power and great responsibility to prevent government deadlocks and keep Australia moving.
Samuel Spencer is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra. You can follow him on his Substack, Mostly Quadrants.
