Word: whitlam
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...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...
...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...
...Whitlam's government is unquestionably vulnerable. Mishandling of the domestic economy helped produce the highest unemployment (5.1%) in more than 30 years and a 16.9% inflation rate. Then came the scandal that gave Fraser his immediate issue: two Cabinet ministers were forced to resign from Whitlam's government on charges of misleading Parliament about covert negotiations for "overseas loans" through questionable channels to develop Australian energy resources. Between May 1974 and last month, Whitlam's approval rating in the polls dropped from...
...Whitlam, a crowd-pleasing orator, is at his best in a fight, and in recent weeks he has been drawing his largest audiences in years. No Australian government has been subjected "to such utter cussedness and harassment," he said. If Whitlam is not inclined to duck the present face-off, neither is Fraser, particularly after picking up the public support last month of respected former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies...
...interviews with TIME, both Fraser and Whitlam reaffirmed their mutual obstinacy. Said Fraser: "Our resolve is complete, absolute." The Prime Minister put it more bluntly: "One side has to crumble...