Buckingham Palace blasted by republicans for ‘misleading’ nation

The Australian Republic Movement has blasted Buckingham Palace for its ‘arrogant attempt’ at misleading Australians about the Whitlam dismissal.

Australian Republic Movement chairman Peter FitzSimons said he stood by every word of the body’s statement. Picture: Mark Wilson

The Australian Republic Movement has blasted Buckingham Palace for its “arrogant attempt” at misleading Australians about the nature of its involvement in the sensational dismissal of Gough Whitlam on November 11, 1975, declaring the nation is being treated “like idiots”.

The group rounded on a statement released by the Palace on Tuesday in which the Queen’s representatives disputed her involvement and argued the letters confirmed she had respected the “independence” and “primacy” of the Constitution.

“The release of the letters by the National Archives of Australia confirms that neither Her Majesty nor the Royal Household had any part to play in Kerr’s decision to dismiss Whitlam,” the Palace said on Tuesday.

But the Australian Republic Movement contends that the release of almost 200 letters between the Palace and Sir John Kerr proves otherwise.

“It is clear from the Palace Letters that Buckingham Palace was consulted and forewarned about Governor-General John Kerr’s likely decision to dismiss the Whitlam Government,” they said.

The group argues Sir John Kerr war-gamed scenarios with the Palace and Prince Charles in which he himself might be dismissed as Governor-General.

“Without the explicit assurances of the Palace, Sir John Kerr may not have acted,” the statement reads.

“To assert the Royal Household did not play any part is to mislead the Australian public.”

The group accused the Palace of seeking to rewrite history and said Australians should be “deeply disturbed” by the Palace’s ongoing commitment to suppressing the release of similar correspondence.

Constitutional law expert Anne Twomey said she did not think the letters showed the Queen had encouraged Sir John Kerr to dismiss Mr Whitlam.

“I actually think the opposite,” she said.

“It is peculiar there seems to be this assumption Sir John wanted to dismiss Mr Whitlam but there’s never been any evidence. It’s certainly not in the Queen’s interest to have that kind of controversy, because, to state the obvious, it encourages Republicanism.

“A lot of material suggests the Palace was trying to discourage him (Sir John) from acting.”

Australian Republic Movement chairman Peter FitzSimons said he stood by every word of the body’s statement, adding that the Palace “broadly congratulated him afterwards for essentially giving the Queen plausible deniability.”

The letters revealed Kerr did not give the Queen prior warning about his plans to dismiss Whitlam, but canvassed options with her private secretary in the weeks before November 11.

The national convener of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy David Flint argued the Australian Republic Movement’s explosive statement was merely an attempt to cover up the fact the letters had “found nothing.”

“This has been a complete waste of time and an enormous waste of public money and it had exploded in their face,” Professor Flint said.