I see Flint is still portraying those he doesn't like as "the elite", viz "the nation’s elites".

Come off it Flint. What can be more elitist than a hard right monarchist?

My question is, where was David Flint when all this was happening ?

Davo,
This is becoming more than a little boring, lets face the facts Fraser was going to find an excuse, any excuse, to force the Government to the third election in as many years, Kerr only helped to make aqn elected Government seem illegitimate. If the $4 billion were had at the time, and used for the benefit of all Australians, who knows how great this country may have become. As usual you tell half the story, [your half] as if it were the whole story.

Please go back into Allan Jones coat pocket, where you belong, and stop imagineing you have any credability, after your own time in the public spotlight, you should be the last hypocrite lectureing anyone on due process...remember cash for comment Davo...

About all one could expect from Prof. Flint; if you have republican tendencies, ipso facto you must be evil.

Whitlam's government brought about some wonderful changes to government and life in Australia (withdrawal from Vietnam and the outcomes of the Karmel Report spring to mind). Like all governments, however, they were guilty of hubris too, especially towards the end; but Flint's analysis is too heavily skewed by his neo-con bias.

A excellent article, David. As one of the first people to hear of Whitlam's dismissal (by accident), I will always cherish that memory. The failed attempt of Whitlam to stay in office in contempt of the Constitution should be a salutary reminder to all current politicians, but the spin that has been applied to the whole episode just shows the attitude that the current elite have to the Constitution (describing it as "broken") and demonstrates how little democracy or the opinions of the people count when they vary from those of the elite.

What the dismissal still highlights, just as the dismissal of Jack Lang does too, is that we need a vent for political steam, a method by which the slate of incompetence, corruption, and disregard for protocol can be washed clean. It has served us well, handing power directly back to the people, and thanks to a system which plucks someone who served in the hierarchies of our nation to represent our Queen in protecting these institutions and hierarchies.

The USA is in ways too democratic and in other ways too undemocratic. They have an unaccountable executive, yet a populist system of judicial appointment. Those unaccountable to us, such as the Crown in the figure of the Governor-General, have earned their stripes at our two hours of need. We have a long tradition of democracy and regulation of power, and it works perfectly well.