Word: whitlam
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When Australia's Governor General Sir John Kerr fired Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam last month for failing to get his budget funded by the conservative-controlled Senate, it appeared that Whitlam might easily get his job back. For one thing, there seemed to be some truth to Whitlam's protest that he had been the victim of a ruthless power play. Then again, Kerr had named as caretaker Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, 45, the tough but untested leader of the conservative coalition composed of his own Liberal Party and the rural National Country Party...
...within a week of each other. This week Australian voters go to the polls to resolve the constitutional crisis created when Malcolm Fraser, head of the Liberal-National Country Party coalition, was named by Governor General Sir John Kerr to form a caretaker government, replacing Labor Party Leader Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister (TIME, Nov. 24). Australia's Labor Party, like New Zealand's, was accused of economic mismanagement in office. Though voting patterns in the two countries often diverge, the fate of Rowling's party was still not a hopeful omen for Whitlam...
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...
...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...