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In 1975 the British Queen instructed her representative the governor general to dismiss the Australian prime minister, dissolving the Australian parliament. ht
by sjducb 1y ago
In 1975 the British Queen instructed her representative the governor general to dismiss the Australian prime minister, dissolving the Australian parliament.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitution...
In principle this power still exists. Whether Charles could pull off the same trick depends on the political situation on the ground.
- ztetranz 1y agoI don't think the Queen instructed the Governor General to do that. He made the decision. I'm old enough to remember it and remember a statement from the palace saying something like "The Queen is watching events in Australia with interest" but I don't think she took an active part. I quick search reveals this. I don't know this site but if true then some letters seem to confirm the above. She told the GG to obey the Australian Constitution. https://constitution-unit.com/2020/07/16/palace-letters-show-the-queen-did-not-advise-or-encourage-kerr-to-sack-whitlam-government/ https://constitution-unit.com/2020/07/16/palace-letters-show...
- aspenmayer 1y agoThis is also relevant, if only to illustrate that the incident had more going on than it appeared on the surface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_CIA_involvement_in_the_Whitlam_dismissal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_CIA_involvement_in_the...
- nl 1y agoThe claim that the Queen actually _instructed_ the Govenor General to dismiss the PM isn't widely supported. It's true that the palace was involved in discussions with the GG to a greater extent than most Australians though was acceptable though. However this was before the 1986 Australia Act which cleared up the ambiguity around that.