“Well may we say ‘God Save the Queen’, because nothing will save the governor-general”.
This is arguably the most famous line in Australian political history, but Gough Whitlam’s reaction to John Kerr sacking him as prime minister wasn’t what The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald highlighted as the mastheads covered the dismissal a day later.
On the front cover of both newspapers on November 12, 1975, Whitlam’s assessment of Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as “Kerr’s cur” got top billing, after Fraser accepted Kerr’s request to lead an interim government.
The front page of The Age on Wednesday, November 12, 1975. Credit: The Age
The Sydney Morning Herald on November 12, 1975.Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald
The words of Kerr were given pride of place on both front pages: “It has been necessary for me to find a solution to the current crisis which will permit the people of Australia to decide as soon as possible what should be the outcome of the deadlock over supply.”
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There was also intense focus, in both the Herald and the Age, on the double dissolution election set for December 13.
The Herald editorialised: “What this election is about is not the means used to procure it. It is about the Government’s record”.
Whitlam was quoted as saying: “The great issue, almost the sole issue of this campaign will be whether the government which the people elect will be allowed to govern from now on. The whole of this system is under challenge”.
“The decision of the Governor-General was, we believe, a triumph of narrow legalism over common-sense and popular feeling. We believe he was wrong,” the Age editorialised.