Court grants access to Queen’s letters in storm over Whitlam

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN the Queen and her representative in Australia in the lead-up to the country’s only dismissal of a former prime minister can be made public, a court has ruled.

The Australian High Court overturned an earlier decision relating to the cache of letters that have remained sealed in the National Archives.

Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Labour prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 and replaced him with opposition leader Malcolm Fraser in one of the most controversial moments in the country’s political history.

The letters between Sir John and the Queen, inset, were deemed personal and confidential and were deposited in the National Archives of Australia and were intended to remain private until at least 2027.

The private secretary of the Governor-General and monarch at that time could also limit their release under an agreement, court papers said.

But Professor Jennifer Hocking made the case that the letters and telegrams should be released as they constituted “Commonwealth records”.

This would mean publication 31 years after creation, meaning they should have become public in 2006. However, the Federal Court accepted the National Archives’ argument they were “private and personal” to Sir John.

An appeals court upheld that decision but it was overturned by the High Court yesterday, which said the archives should reconsider Prof Hocking’s request to access the letters.

In an event which has since been referred to as The Dismissal, Mr Whitlam was removed from office by Sir John after the Labour leader failed to pass a budget and then opted not to resign or call an election.

The newly sacked Mr Whitlam famously said on the steps of Parliament House in Canberra: “Well may we say ‘God save the Queen’ – because nothing will save the governor-general.”

Sir John cut short his five-year term as governor-general and resigned in December 1977. He eventually moved to London.

The decision comes five years after the UK’s highest court ruled that secret letters sent by the Prince of Wales to government ministers should be published.