Gough Whitlam should have been given “warning”, says Peter Cosgrove

Former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove has weighed in on ‘contributing factors’ to soldiers committing alleged war crimes.

Former governor-general Peter Cosgrove. Picture: AAP

Former governor-general Peter Cosgrove has weighed in to the dismissal of former prime minister Gough Whitlam, saying he would have taken a different route to John Kerr’s “ambush”.

In his memoir You Shouldn’t Have Joined … , Sir Peter proffers an example of how he would have handled the “enormously controversial” decision, saying Mr Whitlam should have been warned.

“I wonder if, earlier in that week leading up to the Dismissal, it would have been appropriate for him (Sir John) to call in Mr Whitlam and, in expressing his concern about the impasse and its effect on the administration of the Commonwealth, crucially explain to Mr Whitlam that the governor-general would be moved to hand government to the opposition if no resolution was made by the end of the week,” Sir Peter writes. “This would have been in my mind a ‘warning’.”

Speaking at the launch of Sir Peter’s memoir in Sydney on Tuesday, The Australian’s editor-at-large Paul Kelly said the passage demonstrated that Sir Peter wouldn’t have followed the “Kerr method of dismissal by ambush” during the 1975 crisis, if he been governor-general at the time.

The memoir also offers a fresh perspective on the decision by Western powers to invade Iraq in 2003 in search of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, none of which was found.

The former Australian Defence Force chief’s memoir argues that political and military leaders are constantly forced to make critical decisions with imperfect information.

“If you lined up all politicians and military leaders, and decided to hang the ones who ever acted in such a manner without having comprehensive, 100 per cent reliable proof, then you’d have to hang the lot of us, me included.”

Former prime minister John Howard joined Sir Peter at the launch of the memoir, along with Qantas chief Alan Joyce.

A strong voice on the inquiry into alleged crimes in Afghanistan, Sir Peter said vicissitudes between tours of duty in war zones and time spent at home were part of several systematic factors that were having a detrimental effect on Australian troops.

“I theorise that getting yourself up for the operational tour, coming back, getting to reacquaint yourself with your loved ones, getting to practice some level of normality — and then, before you know it, you’re wanted for the next operational tour of duty, and here you go climbing the mountain again. This, to me, is a great stressor.”

However, Sir Peter denied the systematic impact of frequent tours reflected a failure of military leadership, despite 55 separate ­incidents being investigated by the Brereton inquiry, along with two inquiries into war crimes allegations launched by the AFP.