From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir John Robert Kerr
(
24 September
1914
?
24 March
1991
) was the 18th
Governor-General
of
Australia
from 1974 to 1977. He is famous for dismissing
Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam
in
1975
. This is one of the most famous events in Australian history. Even though the Whitlam government was not voted back in after being dismissed, Kerr's actions divided opinion and he continued to be disliked by many people.
Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam
chose John Kerr to be Governor General in 1974. In 1974?75 the
Whitlam government
thought about borrowing US$4 billion in foreign loans. A Minister, Rex Connor, had secret discussions with a loan
broker
from Pakistan. The Treasurer,
Jim Cairns
, misled parliament about this. This made the new leader of the Opposition,
Malcolm Fraser
use the
Senate
to stop passing money for the government until there was an election. Whitlam refused. In 1975 the opposition, led by
Malcolm Fraser
, blocked government supply in the Senate. This meant that the government had no money. This was a big crisis in Australia. In order to end the crisis, John Kerr dismissed Whitlam and made Fraser the Prime Minister. Whitlam lost the election that was held a month later.
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