Sir John Kerr
Life Overview
September 14, 1914
Born Balmain, Sydney. Attended Fort Street High School and Sydney University.
1938
Admitted to the NSW Bar.
1953
Became a King's Counsel.
1956
Resigned from the ALP
1966
Appointed Judge of the Commonwealth Industrial Court.
1969
Jailed Clarrie O'Shea, Victorian Secretary of the Tramways Union, for contempt of court.
1972
Appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales.
August 1973
Approach by Whitlam about appointment as Governor-General
February 27, 1974
Appointment as Governor-General announced.
In office
11 July 1974–8 December 1977
Died
In Sydney in 1991
Kerr’s Career
-Born In Balmain, a working class suburb in Sydney
-Farther was a boiler maker
-Entered a prestigious selective high school (fort street high school)
-Won scholarships to the university of Sydney
-Graduated in law with first class homers
-Married in 1938 to Alison Worstead
-Had 3 Children
-In 1946 became principal of Australian School of Pacific Administration
-In the same year he became the first Secretary-General of the South Pacific Commission.
-Kerr returned to the bar in 1948 and became a lawyer representing the trade Union and a member of the ALP
-Intended to seek labour endorsement for a parliamentary seat at the 1951 election but withdrew in favour of another candidate
-In the 1960’s Kerr became on of Sydney’s leading industrial lawyers
-In 1964 he was one of a group of lawyers (which also included future NSW Premier Neville Wran)
-In 1966 Kerr was appointed a judge of the Commonwealth Industrial Court and, later, to several other judicial positions
-During this period his political views became more conservative. He joined the Association for Cultural Freedom, a conservative group and became a friend of Sir Garfield Barwick the Liberal Attorney-General who became Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia in 1964.
-In 1966 Kerr was the first chairman of the Law Association for Asia and the Western Pacific and served as chairman of that organization until 1970
-In 1972 Kerr was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales (. Prior to Sir Paul Hasluck's retirement as Governor-General in July 1974, the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, offered Sir John the post.)
- on 11 July 1974 Kerr took office
-On the 10th of September 1974 his wife Alison (nee Worstead) died. Later, during his term of office, he married Mrs Anne Robson
Kerr As Governor General
-In may 1974 The Whitlam Government had won a second term but failed to win control of the Senate
-During 1975 the government was enveloped by a series of ministerial scandals (the "Loans Affair")
-By 1975 the office of Governor-General had come to be seen by most as almost entirely ceremonial . Nevertheless, the Australian Constitution gave the Governor-General wide-ranging reserve powers
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The 1975 Crisis
-In October 1975 the Liberals used their Senate majority to defer voting on the supply bills until Whitlam agreed to hold an election for the House of Representatives, and a political crisis resulted.
-Whitlam refused to back down and call an early election, Fraser also would not back down and allow the budget bills to pass.
-For this reason he was keen to bring the crisis to an early climax. The most expeditious way for this to happen would be for the Governor-General to intervene.
-Opposition backbenchers began calling on Kerr to dismiss Whitlam during October: it is not clear if they had Fraser's approval for these remarks.
-On 16 October, however, a Liberal frontbencher, Robert Ellicott (a former Commonwealth Solicitor-General) published with Fraser's approval a legal opinion which he had prepared for the Shadow Cabinet, arguing that the Governor-General had both the right and the duty to dismiss the government if it could not obtain supply
-On 17 October Whitlam told an interviewer that the Governor-General could not intervene in the crisis because he must always act on the advice of his Prime Minister.
-Kerr saw himself as an active player in the unfolding political drama. He made it clear in several conversations with ministers that he did not accept the view that the Governor-General could play no role in the crisis until supply actually ran out
-. On 30 October he proposed a compromise solution to Whitlam and Fraser, which would have in effect meant a backdown by Fraser (Kerr suggested Fraser pass the Budget in return for Whitlam abandoning plans to call an early Senate election), but Fraser rejected this
-On 2 November Fraser offered to pass the budget if Whitlam would agree to call an election before the middle of 1976, but Whitlam in turn rejected this
-It becomes clear that Kerr had considerable discussions with Fraser against the specific advice of the Prime Minister. When Whitlam rejected Fraser's proposal, it seems, Kerr decided that Whitlam was being intransigent.
-Kerr's personal relationship with Whitlam by this stage was not strong, he had been upset by suggestions that the Federal Executive Council had acted improperly during the Loans Affair, and moreover he was suspicious that if Whitlam knew he was contemplating dismissing the Government, he (Whitlam) would react by immediately advising the Queen to dismiss Kerr instead.
The Dismissal
-On the 6th of November Kerr had another meeting with Fraser (with Whitlam's approval. . At this meeting Fraser increased the pressure on Kerr, advising him that the Opposition would not back down and would not accept any compromise, and warning him that if he did not take action against Whitlam then the Opposition would begin to make direct public criticism of him, for having "failed in his duty." Fraser urged Kerr to bring about an election before the end of 1975.
-. Kerr therefore had five days to make up his mind. Fraser privately told journalists after this meeting that he was certain that Kerr would dismiss Whitlam.
-On 9 November Kerr consulted the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Garfield Barwick. Kerr asked Garfield to advise him on whether he had the constitutional power to dismiss Whitlam, and Barwick advised him, in writing, that he did.He also advised him that another High Court Justice, Sir Anthony Mason, concurred in this view.
-On 9 November Kerr appeared to have made up his mind to dismiss Whitlam.He did not advise Whitlam that this was his intention, indeed actively concealed his intention from Whitlam and his ministers. His justification for this was that he feared that Whitlam would advise Queen Elizabeth II (Australia's head of state) to terminate Kerr's commission as Governor-General if he gave any warning of his intention.
-On the morning of Tuesday 11 November, Whitlam phoned Kerr and arranged to see him in the afternoon, after the Remembrance Day ceremonies. He intended to advise Kerr to call an immediate half-Senate election as a means of breaking the deadlock. After this conversation Kerr phoned Fraser, and (according to Fraser's recollection) asked him whether, if he were commissioned as Prime Minister, he would
- Pass the budget bills,
- Call an immediate double dissolution election for both houses of Parliament,
- Make no appointments, initiate no new policies and conduct no inquiries into the previous government, before such elections.
-Fraser answered yes to all these questions
-The House of Representatives was suspended at 12:55 p.m. for the luncheon break. Whitlam arrived at Government House at 1 p.m. Fraser had already arrived and was shown into another room. Whitlam and Kerr met alone in Kerr's study, and each has given different accounts of what was said. This seems to be the most likely scenario: Whitlam began to tender his advice to Kerr that there be a half-Senate election. Kerr interrupted him and asked him directly whether he was prepared to advise an immediate House of Representatives election. When Whitlam answered "No," Kerr advised him that he was terminating his commission, and handed him a letter to that effect. From that moment Whitlam was no longer Prime Minister, and could take no action to frustrate Kerr's intention to commission Fraser and call an immediate double dissolution. In his memoirs Kerr claimed Whitlam then announced he would call the Palace and began frantically looking for a phone. Whitlam has always vigorously denied this.
-When Whitlam had left, Kerr summoned Fraser and again asked him the questions he had (according to Fraser) put to him on the phone that morning. When Fraser again answered affirmatively, Kerr then commissioned him as Prime Minister. Fraser returned to Parliament House. The House of Representatives resumed at 2 p.m. At 2:34 p.m. Fraser announced to the House that he'd been sworn in as Prime Minister, explained the circumstances, and then moved for an adjournment of the House.
-Kerr later put forward five propositions to justify his actions
-The Senate had the right under Section 53 of the Constitution to block supply.
- The Government had an obligation to obtain supply through Parliament.
- If the Government could not obtain supply, it had either to resign or call an election.
- If the Government refused to do either of these things, the Governor-General had a right and a duty to act to intervene.
- Since the Prime Minister could at any time advise the Queen to terminate the Governor-General's commission, the Governor-General had a right to dismiss the Government without advance warning of his intention to do so
After the Dismissal
-The news that Whitlam had been dismissed spread across Australia during the afternoon, triggering immediate protest demonstrations
-Over the following weeks Kerr was the subject of intense denunciations by angry Labor supporters, led by Whitlam who made a series of eloquent speeches attacking Kerr
-Kerr was not forgiven by many Australians. Countless demonstrations occurred against him for years. He found the personal attacks on him and his wife (whom Whitlam and others accused of having been a sinister influence) deeply wounding.
-For the rest of his term as Governor-General Kerr was rarely able to appear in public without encountering angry demonstrations against him.
-When he presented the 1977 Melbourne Cup, for example, he was visibly drunk.
-In December 1977 he cut short his five-year term and resigned leaving office
-In fact his resignation had already been proposed during the visit of The Queen as early as March 1977
-After leaving office Kerr lived mainly in Europe until his death in Sydney in 1991