Auspol Explained

The Constitutional and Legal Issues of the Dismissal with Professor Anne Twomey

50 years ago the nation was rocked by the dismissal of the Gough Whitlam Labor government by the Governor-General John Kerr because the Coalition in the Senate had prevented the passage of supply. Malcolm Fraser was appointed prime minister, supply was passed, and a double dissolution was called. This remains one of two times the reserve powers have been explicitly used to dismiss a government in Australia, and the only time done on a federal level to dismiss a prime minister. Naturally, this controversial moment is steeped in all sorts of issues involving the Constitution, legal questions about how people acted, and also breaches of convention that contributed to the downfall of the Whitlam government.So, to unpack all that I sat down with Professor Anne Twomey to discuss what happened, what the reserve powers are, and the constitutional and legal basis for dismissal as well as how other actions surrounding the dismissal went against the constitution, the law and convention.Anne Twomey also has a YouTube channel! The Constitutional Clarion where she delves into various aspects of the Australian Constitution. You should watch it to learn more about both the dismissal as well as the Constitution in general: https://www.youtube.com/@constitutionalclarion1901Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

A History of The Dismissal with Professor Jenny Hocking

November 1975: Australia was in a crisis. The Whitlam Government had passed a supply bill in the House of Representatives but the Coalition, led by Malcolm Fraser, was blocking its passage in the Senate. The Senate had never impeded the Government like this before and by the end of November the money the Government could spend would run out. Public servants would not be paid unless the impasse was resolved. The Coalition wanted an early election. Whitlam wanted the Senate to capitulate and accept the mandate of the Labor Government that had been elected in 1972 and re-elected in 1974 and let it continue to govern.On 11th November 1975, Gough Whitlam drove to Government House in Yarralumla to advise the Governor-General John Kerr to hold a half-Senate election. Whitlam believed that if the Senate was stopping supply from passing then they should be the ones to face the judgment of the people. However, Kerr had a different resolution to the crisis in mind. Kerr exercised the reserve powers, dismissed Whitlam and appointed Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister. Fraser called for a double dissolution election and Whitlam, despite a majority in the House of Representatives, went to the election as the Leader of the Opposition instead of Prime Minister. This event has gone down in history known simply as "the dismissal." It's steeped in controversy, speculation, and even to this day as some mystery as not everything in the National Archives relating to Kerr has been released.But we do know plenty more than we used to thanks to Professor Jenny Hocking, a historian and author who went to the High Court to secure access to the Palace Letters (communication between Kerr and the Palace while he was Governor-General). She's written multiple books about the life of Gough Whitlam so I decided to interview her about her views on the history of the dismissal and the events that led up to it.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Ranking Prime Ministers' Graves by the Quotes on Them

Prime Ministers! Australia has had 31 of them. 23 are dead (as of recording) which means there's a bunch of ways they've been memorialised - plaques, statues, suburbs in Canberra and of course the good old classic tombstone. but not all graves are equally as interesting. So, as a post-election treat, I decided to rank the graves of former Australian prime ministers based off how interesting the quotes on their graves are. Enjoy!Support the channel on patreon here:   / auspolexplained   [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnR6cnhEMWsyM0YyQlJOUkx4YUVoMF9KQmpMd3xBQ3Jtc0ttYjMtNGdnQWRjYXRRQXhvNDF3SVZTWWR6M3ZYUlpFMmZYeURCbmdtV096TW02emkxUHgwS1JacDR5TVN3SXo1QWRRMHdjN2M1RnA1aWt3MTVjcFVtTUFTOEt0YUlSMjRFWTNUTFNnVGl3RGxoV0NaNA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.patreon.com%2FAuspolExplained&v=QxMdx8NQhi0]Follow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplai... [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbVRvVVVXakhtQmJBSnVYeVgza1BDMFp6NWVTZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsaUpUZDlIUTJMRkhuOGh4dUpIbHByQTAyTGc5ZDBRQ0cxU0gtcEx0TDdLN3Awd1B1ZzlzbjhrVmRYem9WN2ptUzlXNHp5LWtYU3JOVGxPWXFfRVpZZTl1XzZOcFlFeVlvM0FDWG1rSDRBbEpmYUQ4MA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fauspolexplained.bsky.social&v=QxMdx8NQhi0] Follow me on Instagram:   / auspolexplained   [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbTBJS0NlWkdUVFNPc1I5ZllvSWE4QlptdGwyUXxBQ3Jtc0tsTFpxeU5pa0UtQjk0bm1EbHZkc1d2LXdvMmJlQUI4ZG1lcXFmUlZfQkZmYmRtajB4Qm4xazVTQWJMS3RDYml4Vl9ZNTVLNW01cmFobkI0VmYzcGZXcEo4Z3VQVFdvcUdaUUJMeHl1SExnLWtGNks4bw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fauspolexplained%2F&v=QxMdx8NQhi0] Like Auspol Explained on Facebook:   / auspol-explained-107892180702388   [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbDMyMVJfSFZPbmdHWmRSUHdUTXZQTkZFSWtRd3xBQ3Jtc0tueTFxODN2NHdOUmVrUFdWLXhGUXRLLXgtSE1NcWVXRGgxRzVqOWtPQndibUp4R1RXMUc5emZLaDVwR2tYczVkY1Zyb0JWTE1VZHZJZHc4cXdMeGJTM3NFQmQwTHFrZjBXZm5HOFNKVXY0eVhaZzV6cw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAuspol-Explained-107892180702388&v=QxMdx8NQhi0]Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

What does the AEC do? (and what it doesn't)

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) runs federal elections and referendums. But what else? Every election there are complaints to the AEC about candidates saying un-truths and misleading things but it actually has no power to regulate what candidates say and for a good reason - it's there to independently and apolitically run elections. But that doesn't mean the commission has no role outside of simply printing off a ballot paper and then counting the votes at the end of it - so I decided to sit down with someone from the AEC to ask them about the AEC's role, what it does, and also what it doesn't do.Of course, visit the AEC website to learn more about how elections are run in Australia: https://aec.gov.au/Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

The Biggest Election Victories: State and Territory Edition

What's the BIGGEST election victory in Australian history? It's not for the federal Parliament - it's for a state or territory. So here's a list of the largest government majorities for each Australian state and territory parliament going all the way back to federation!Listen to my previous episode on biggest federal election victories here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3hOoyJsEjclECmrhmK04Xb?si=GsAZugzeTeWVWcLbb4E7rQSupport the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.