The Dismissal (the Palace Letters Director's edition)

The Palace Letters – finally released to the public this week – detail the long road to one of the world’s great constitutional crises. On this Democracy Sausage, Mark Kenny is joined by Frank Bongiorno and Chris Wallace to discuss what we now know about The Dismissal.

On 11 November 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed from his role by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. Nearly 25 years later the correspondence between the Governor-General and the Queen’s Private Secretary is now public. The letters, dating back more than a year before that historic day and running to more than 1,000 pages, shed new light on a political and constitutional crisis. Joining Professor Mark Kenny to discuss what we’ve learned from the Palace Letters are historians Dr Chris Wallace and Professor Frank Bongiorno.

Dr Chris Wallace is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra. Entering the history profession after a first career as an economic and political journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery, her work focuses on political, international and global history with special reference to leadership. Her book historicising the 2019 Australian federal election, How To Win An Election, is expected in November of 2020.

Professor Frank Bongiorno is the Head of the School of History at ANU and an Australian labour, political, and cultural historian. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Mark Kenny is a Professor in the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.

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This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University.

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