INSIDE SECRET LETTERS OF WHITLAM DISMISSAL

THE long-awaited release of secret royal letters exonerate the Queen of involvement in Australia’s greatest constitutional crisis — the sacking of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by Governor-General Sir John Kerr on November 11, 1975.

The historic correspondence between Sir John and the Queen, via her private secretary Sir Martin Charteris, show the monarch was briefed about the political crisis as Mr Whitlam was deadlocked with the Senate over passage of his budget, raising the prospect of the Labor government running out of money.

The letters, released by the National Archives, reveal she was aware the Governor-General had been considering dismissing Mr Whitlam for some months. However they also show that

Sir John told the truth when he claimed he did not inform the Queen about his plans to dismiss Whitlam beforehand because he wanted to keep her out of the political dispute, ending decades of conspiracy theories.

“I should say I decided to take the step I took without informing the palace in advance because, under the Constitution, the responsibility is mine, and I was of the opinion it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, though it is of course my duty to tell her immediately,” Sir John wrote to Sir Martin on the day of the dismissal.

He attached the letter of dismissal he gave to Mr Whitlam that same day, a supporting legal opinion from High Court Chief Justice Garfield Barwick and a letter from the Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser to Sir John written at the GG’s request.

On November 17, Sir Martin replied to Sir John: “If I may say so with the greatest respect, I believe that in NOT informing The Queen