Paul Keating says he advised Gough Whitlam to put John Kerr ‘under police arrest’ during dismissal saga | Gough Whitlam

Former prime minister Paul Keating said he advised Gough Whitlam to arrest then-governor-general Sir John Kerr at the height of the sacking saga, describing the incident as a “coup” from which Australian politics “never recovered”.

Keating, who had recently been promoted to a junior ministerial position in the Labor government after Prime Minister Whitlam was sacked on 11 November 1975, said Kerr should be arrested by law enforcement but admitted he was concerned about a possible conflict between the army and the police.

“My proposal was that Gough should ask the queen to accept her recommendation to appoint a new governor-general,” Keating said in an interview with journalist Niki Savva to mark half a century since his dismissal.

“I told Gough that if Kerr resisted he should be arrested by the police.”

Keating, himself prime minister from 1991 to 1996, served as minister for Northern Australia under Whitlam between October and November 1975. Recorded interview with SavvaAt the show played at the Old Parliament House as part of the anniversary celebrations of his dismissal, Keating described Kerr’s sacking of Whitlam as “an atrocity” and claimed the governor-general had “completely deceived” the prime minister.

Keating’s analysis dovetails with Anthony Albanese’s summation of the current prime minister’s impeachment on Monday night, which he described as a “calculated plot” to depose a democratically elected government through a partisan ambush rather than a constitutional crisis.

Keating described attending a meeting between Kerr and Whitlam at Government House, the governor-general’s residence, in Canberra, just five days before his dismissal. Giving no hint that Kerr was on the verge of sacking the Labor government, he said the two men were “more than friends” and had engaged in “loud banter” during the meeting.

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“We are at the penultimate point of the crisis. Either this problem was resolved between the two of them without my knowledge and they came to a joyful conclusion to it, or why should there be so much joy in such an event?” Keating described his thoughts at the time.

As he and Whitlam left the residence after the meeting, Keating said the prime minister commented on Kerr’s “lion’s mane” white hair.

“Gough got into the Mercedes, put his head back and I said ‘he looks good, Gough’,” Keating said.

“HE [Whitlam] ‘he’ said [Kerr] It is completely appropriate. He will do the right thing.’ I committed that to memory: ‘He’s totally right, he’s going to do the right thing.’”

Keating described Kerr’s sacking of Whitlam as “a coup in every respect”.

In the interview, Keating described visiting Whitlam in his office shortly after his dismissal and how the then-minister suggested Kerr be arrested.

Keating had previously told this story in other media interviews, but he told more in the Savva interview than in previous appearances.

“I told you [to Whitlam]’Let’s think about this… Kerr usurped the monarch’s kingly powers, that’s what happened here… He may have done this with the monarch’s knowledge, but he may not have done so.

“‘I think you have the right to say to the Queen that you recommend that a different and new governor-general be appointed, and your authority to recommend is that the House of Representatives has not voted no confidence in the appointed prime minister,'” Keating said.

“Even though this problem wasn’t caused by the queen, it was caused by the queen’s need to solve it.”

Regarding Keating’s suggestion that Kerr could be arrested by police if he resisted, Keating said Whitlam was not supportive.

“I said, ‘The only thing you need to be sure of, Gough, is that Kerr is technically the commander-in-chief of the troops, the chief of the defense force. Don’t fight the police,'” Keating said.

“In other words, you have to have the soldiers on your side to make this happen.”

“HE [Whitlam] he said: ‘Thank you for this advice, you know everything’… he had no intention of taking this advice. “He was a constitutionalist, Gough, not interested in blood and brutality.”

Savva asked: “Do you think there will be blood and brutality?”

Keating replied: “It depends on whether the army will side with Kerr against the police. If I were prime minister I would certainly do that.”

Keating said Whitlam said: “There’s something about you bastards in Sussex Street, you always want to put someone in jail.”