Dissecting the Dismissal

In our final Fifth Estate of 2015, Sally Warhaft is joined by the authors of The Dismissal, a new book on the abrupt, brutal end to the Whitlam era. One day shy of the 40th anniversary, journalists Paul Kelly and Troy Bramston shed new light on the crisis, discussing the true motivations of key players as well as the scale of collusion.

Australia has had four prime ministers in the last two years, thanks to a series of dramatic leadership spills and coups. Yet the dismissal of the Whitlam government on 11 November 1975 continues to stand out among the most divisive events in Australian political history. As far as political crises go, it remains in a class of its own.

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