November 11, 2015
by Anne Miller
Forty years ago, something remarkable happened in Australia … an elected government was replaced without an election, and an Opposition Leader promoted to Prime Minister.
Some Australians would have been thinking about Remembrance Day (or perhaps, the anniversary of the hanging of Ned Kelly), but most people’s thoughts were firmly fixed on the drama unfolding in Canberra.
I was in a Year 11 chemistry class when the news came through that Whitlam had been sacked by the Governor-General. The lesson immediately stopped and a debate about the Constitutionality of the action began (we were a pretty geeky class!).
Forty years later, I don’t want to debate again the rights or the wrongs of what came to be known as The Dismissal.
But I want to pause and encourage everyone to think back to that remarkable day, and the absolutely incredible things it says about the strength of Australian democracy and the basic decentness of most Australians.
Sure there was anger. There was screaming. There were calls for a general strike. There were some rowdy demonstrations.
But that’s it …
There were no masked protesters tossing molotov cocktails at police crouching behind shields, there were no hastily constructed road blocks manned by partisans, there were no rioting youths overturning cars and setting them alight, there were no AK47s being brandished or fired wildly in the air.
No blood stained the wattle.
Most Australians just went about their business while journalists and the political class chattered loudly on television.
Can you imagine this happening in any other country? An elected government deposed by just one man, and almost no reaction on the streets?
It wasn’t that people didn’t care. From my memories of the time, it was the topic everyone was talking about, in the weeks before and the months after November 11.
People, families (even school chemistry classes) were split over the “Constitutional crisis”.
But the body politic remained calm. Talking, not fighting, defused tensions.
There was an election. Life went on.
Australia in 1975 had a lot to celebrate, not the least of which was the leadership and restraint shown by politicians and opinion-shapers – including the media, union leaders and big business – as the crisis unfolded.
People expressed their opinions loudly but the debate was kept within civil boundaries.
An element of this civility was captured by the TV cameras at the critical moment on November 11, 1975, ie. Gough Whitlam’s “Nothing will save the Governor-General” speech on the steps of Parliament House.
Amongst the reporters jostling with their microphones was Norman Gunston, “the little Aussie bleeder”, filming a segment for a comedy TV show.
Gunston was the “Chaser team” of his time and one of his popular stunts was to doorstop famous people while posing as a journalist and ask them inane questions.
Only in Australia could this be allowed to happen while a major political crisis was unfolding.
The message to everyone that day was simple: “Don’t take yourself too damn seriously”.
And that’s something to celebrate!
(Hmm … but I wonder what would happen today if a similar political crisis erupted?)
