Australian Constitutional Crisis 1975 POD

Melvin Loh

I'm considering writing an AH story, if I have the time, on a POD revolving around the Nov 1975 Aust Constitutional Crisis when Gov-Gen Sir John Kerr, under his power vested in him as the Queen's representative in Aust, to dismiss the PM of the day, Sir Gough Whitlam, after the Senate had twice blocked the new bills which the PM had proposed in Parliament. Thus, the ruling Labour govt fell, and there was a great deal of political turmoil at the time as the result of this political manouevre, with many Whitlam supporters arguing that the Gov-Gen had acted outside his power, and there was even talk of fullscale civil disturbances and rioting in the streets. Eventually the furor over the PM's sacking died down, but WI there had been civil strife to a great enough extent which warranted the deployment of the army in the streets to keep order, which many ppl had feared ? How would Aust hist, and our relations with the US (including based on speculation that the CIA was behind the whole affair in orchestrating a coup against the left-leaning Labour govt) have been affected by the army being called out by the Gov-Gen ?

Any of you guys may feel free to take up this POD if you feel so inclined. I think I'll need to do some additional research myself if I am to stand a chance of writing this particular AH story.
 

Mark Ford

Whitlam's dismissal by Kerr was a pivital event in our history and it was driven by the egos of those involved. I was in Singapore when the Straits Times was dilivered to our door on the 12th of November with photographs and headlines that seem to point to revolution. But I don't think that was at all possible myself because the events were considered so incredible. Even Whitlam himself said that such a thing had only ever happened once before in the 1780s when the King dismissed the British Prime Minister of the day. The outrage felt by Labor supporters was so strong that they/we were blinded to the fact that the mail was still delivered, the TV was still working, the Pubs were still open and the Windies were still loseing. When an election was called on the same day, Labor people thought that they would be returned to office riding a wave of rightous indignation. The problem was that the indignation was only felt by the 42% of the population that represented Labor's traditional support, the rusted on. As far as points of divergence go there were several possiblities in which the dismissal could have been avoided altogether, I personaly find those more interesting to contemplate.
 
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