The Latest Breaking News from John Kerr

Owner-occupier outbids developers to secure prime development site in Merewether for millions

The hotly-contested auction attracted 12 registered bidders.

Newcastle Herald · Sep 7

Thrown shoes, sabotaged launches and exposed affairs: the drama of Australian political publishing

The most striking example of performance politics in Joshua Black’s entertaining book comes when an audience member at a 2010 taping of the now-defunct ABC show Q&A throws a shoe at former prime minister John Howard. (It echoed a famous moment two years earlier, when an Iraqi journalist threw his…

The Conversation · Sep 1

Sir Anthony Mason, a jurist who shaped Australia, dies at 100

Sir Anthony Mason, the former Chief Justice of Australia and one of Australia’s greatest and most influential jurists, has died just shy of his 101st birthday. He was a man of sharp mind, strong principles, and a wicked sense of humour. His jurisprudence shaped Australia, from the recognition of native…

The Conversation · Mar 18

Gough Whitlam believed John Kerr’s wife played a key role in The Dismissal. Did she?

The Dismissal still looms as Australia’s greatest political crisis, 50 years on. The familiar story centres on four figures. Governor general Sir John Kerr – who, on November 11 1975, sacked prime minister Gough Whitlam. Malcolm Fraser, the opposition leader who blocked the budget to force the election he would…

The Conversation · Nov 9, 2025

How did the 10 prime ministers since Whitlam change Australia?

On November 11 1975, one of the most cataclysmic events in Australian political history unfolded when Governor-General John Kerr sacked the Whitlam Labor government.

The Conversation · Nov 9, 2025

Extraordinary and occasionally inept: before The Dismissal, the Whitlam government changed Australia forever

When Australians of a certain age imagine Gough Whitlam, they probably think of him standing on the steps of Parliament House, addressing the crowd after Governor-General John Kerr’s shocking decision to dismiss his government. The Dismissal marked an astonishing end to an extraordinary, occasionally inept, government.

The Conversation · Nov 9, 2025

In a world with democracy in decline, we have much to learn from those who rallied against Whitlam’s dismissal

In 1975, few Australians believed the dismissal of a democratically elected government was business as usual

The Guardian - AU · Nov 7, 2025

'Pandemonium': how Whitlam's sacking changed history

Insiders who had a front-row seat to the extraordinary political turmoil of the Whitlam dismissal have told their stories, 50 years on from the saga.

AAP · Nov 7, 2025

Grattan on Friday: November 11 1975 – watching history being made, from the best seats in the house

In his just-released memoir, historian and former diplomat Lachlan Strahan recalls being picked up from his Melbourne primary school by a neighbour on November 11 1975, the day Gough Whitlam was sacked as prime minister. His politically active mother “was so upset she didn’t trust herself behind the wheel”.

The Conversation · Nov 6, 2025

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Niki Savva and David Solomon on The Dismissal

Tuesday November 11 will be the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government by the then Governor-General Sir John Kerr. It was a dramatic day in our federal political history, with Malcolm Fraser appointed prime minister. Fraser then led the Coalition to a landslide victory in the subsequent…

The Conversation · Nov 4, 2025