What happened in the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975?

Answer

The Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 is generally regarded as the most significant domestic political and constitutional crisis in Australia's history.

The crisis began in the upper house of the Australian Federal Parliament, the Senate, where the opposition Liberal-National Country Party coalition had a majority. The Senate deferred voting on bills that appropriated funds for government expenditure, attempting to force the Prime Minister to dissolve the House of Representatives and call an election. Such an action was unprecedented in Australian history, and has not been attempted since. The government, led by Labor's Gough Whitlam, dismissed such calls, and attempted to pressure Liberal Senators to support the bills while also exploring alternative means to fund government expenditure.

The impasse continued for some weeks, during which the threat of the government being unable to meet its financial obligations hung over the country. The crisis was resolved in a dramatic fashion on 11 November 1975 when the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Whitlam as Prime Minister and appointed his Liberal opponent Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. Kerr did so having secured an undertaking from Fraser that he would seek a dissolution of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, thus precipitating a general election.

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