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The former Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, who dismissed the Labor government in 1975, is giving his very first interview for the media since that time. Paul Murphy tries to pin him on the polarisation of Australia at that time but he won’t be drawn.
Curator’s notes
For those Australians who lived through the dismissal on 11 November 1975, seeing an interview with the man who dismissed the only Prime Minister of Australia ever to be deposed from office, is utterly riveting. Whether he reveals anything new is another issue.
Disappointment awaits those watching the program hoping to discover new information about the secret consultations with the opposition leader Malcolm Fraser or with the Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick, or the manner in which the Governor-General abruptly informed the Prime Minister that he had withdrawn his commission and then half an hour later appointed a caretaker Prime Minister.
It’s fascinating to watch Paul Murphy, already an experienced senior ABC television interviewer, dealing with an interviewee who is intent on saying absolutely nothing, but with lots of sangfroid.
