Long-running ‘Palace letters’ case seeks release of secret letters between the Queen and governor general about John Kerr’s dismissal of Whitlam government
The ghosts of the dismissal of the Whitlam government 43 years ago were on display at an appeal hearing before the full bench of the federal court last week: Gough Whitlam, the deposed prime minister; Sir John Kerr, the governor general who dismissed him; Malcolm Fraser, the leader of the opposition appointed by Kerr to replace Whitlam; and David Smith, the governor general’s official secretary.
The star attraction in this star-studded political line-up was the Queen in both her royal personae – the Queen of Australia and the Queen of the United Kingdom – and the arcane relationships between the Palace and Government House, and between the monarch and the governor general. It was a fascinating if momentary window on a now unrecognisable time, a memory of the subservient, colonial expectations that still, despite our apparent independence, govern vice-regal practice in Australia.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2KWItG8
via
0 Comments