Warrigal
SF VIP
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Discussion about repercussions caused by the shutdown of Congress has reminded me of a similar crisis in Australia back in 1975. It was over a supply bill that the Senate refused to put to the vote. Money to pay for national programs was held up and things were about to get rather desperate.
As most people are aware, Australia is a constitutionaldemocracy monarchy with the English monarch being the titular (and symbolic) head of state. The Governor General represents the monarch and appoints each government after every election and then the majority party selects the Prime Minister from their ranks.
To make a long story short, it turns out that the Governor General has a residual power to dismiss a government, something that not even King Charles can do.
What happened back then was very controversial. The GG, Sir John Kerr, a rather drunken sot of a man, dismissed the PM, Gough Whitlam, and appointed the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, to be Prime Minister on the condition that the supply bill pass through the Senate immediately, and after that a new election be held for every seat in the lower and upper houses of parliament.
The nation was in uproar with the right and the left of politics at each others throats but we had an election, everyone voted, and Malcolm Fraser became the next Prime Minister. The bitterness of those days has long since faded and all of the key players are now dead.
For anyone interested is this historical event a full account is available here: 1975 Australian constitutional crisis - Wikipedia
Take heart because it is a truism that "this too shall pass".
When the government lets the people down, the people must stick together and support the vulnerable, then punish the responsible politicians at the ballot box.
As most people are aware, Australia is a constitutional
To make a long story short, it turns out that the Governor General has a residual power to dismiss a government, something that not even King Charles can do.
What happened back then was very controversial. The GG, Sir John Kerr, a rather drunken sot of a man, dismissed the PM, Gough Whitlam, and appointed the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, to be Prime Minister on the condition that the supply bill pass through the Senate immediately, and after that a new election be held for every seat in the lower and upper houses of parliament.
The nation was in uproar with the right and the left of politics at each others throats but we had an election, everyone voted, and Malcolm Fraser became the next Prime Minister. The bitterness of those days has long since faded and all of the key players are now dead.
For anyone interested is this historical event a full account is available here: 1975 Australian constitutional crisis - Wikipedia
Take heart because it is a truism that "this too shall pass".
When the government lets the people down, the people must stick together and support the vulnerable, then punish the responsible politicians at the ballot box.
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