Word: frasers
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...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...
...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...
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...
...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...
...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...