'We've been sacked': the 1975 Whitlam government dismissal Albanese will be NEXT
- Graham Healy
- Nov 9, 2025
- 1 min read
'We've been sacked': the 1975 Whitlam government dismissal Albanese will be NEXT interestingly the Lord told me 6 months ago that Albanese will be removed from parliament and a double dissolution called and a referendum of free speech For the first time in Australian history, a governor-general dismissed a prime minister and government. How did this constitutional crisis come about?
'Well may we say, "God save the Queen", because nothing will save the Governor-General.' This is one of the most famous lines ever uttered by an Australian politician. It marked an extraordinary moment in Australia's political and constitutional history – the dismissal of the Whitlam government on Remembrance Day 1975.
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam delivered his now iconic line as an off-the-cuff remark as he stood on the steps of Parliament House to hear the Governor-General's proclamation dissolving parliament. Read aloud by the Governor-General's Official Secretary, David Smith, it concluded with 'God save the Queen', prompting Whitlam's instantly famous response.
The Whitlam dismissal is the first and, so far, only time an Australian prime minister and their government has ever been dismissed. https://moadoph.gov.au/explore/democracy/weve-been-sacked-the-1975-whitlam-government-dismissal#:~:text=soon%20run%20out.-,The%20dismissal,after%20failing%20to%20obtain%20supply.
