#whitlamandfraser — Public Fediverse posts
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#Auspol #TheDismissal #WhitlamAndFraser #Kerr #Democracy
#MaintainingMyRage #11November1975 #WeHaveMorePowerThanTheyWantUsToBelievei don’t know where i was when kennedy was shot — we didn’t have a tv at home, and the radio in our house was strictly controlled by mother. kennedy’s assassination probably only rated a mention at school the next day because kennedy was a catholic. as an australian of a certain age, my kennedy moment was actually a dismissal moment.
on 11 nov 1975, i was working in a public service (key-to-tape) data centre with ?maybe 200 or so other data processors, and remember being shocked and outraged that a representative of the crown could/would sack a democratically elected government. i stood up and looked around, and my fellow workers seemed unconcerned. i asked one or two if they thought the dismissal was wrong, and they shrugged.
it took a very long time for details to seep out, and even longer for me to get a sense of how the dismissal had unfolded behind the scenes, so my sense of outrage at the time was probably due to a conviction that whitlam was the best thing since sliced bread as much as it was to a matter of principle… a sense that “they” are the reason we cannot have good things, and a feeling that “they” were unbeatable.
[i have since come to rely on the whitlam years as proof the system is not as rigged as “they” want us to believe. i draw immense hope from the fact whitlam’s government revolutionised life in australia, and after 50 years of desperately trying, “they” have still not managed to completely undo what he did, or completely return our expectations to a pre-whitlam baseline]
but the frogs in slowly boiling water metaphor makes a great deal of sense, and i fear australia could too easily become the USA — indeed, might already be the USA if not for the random accidents that gave us a different history
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Nikki Savva and David Solomon were closer to the action on the day of the dismissal, and in this article, discuss the events of that day;
“On whether a dismissal could happen again, both agree that while the same powers exist today, things have now changed. Solomon says:
All of the facts are still the same. It could happen. I don’t think it is likely […] I think the psyche of all the political parties was affected by what happened on November 11 and I think that they do not want it ever to happen again. It is one of those events that must be avoided at all costs.
In Savva’s view:It would also need people of similar character to the main figures of the time, like a Whitlam, a Kerr, a Fraser, a [Reg] Withers [Leader of the opposition in the Senate]. And do any people like that exist in parliament today or at Government House? I don’t think so.”
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imo there are few people in parliament today with whitlam’s vision, or determination to put their values before politics, and we are poorer for that.