Leigh Hatcher remembers his radio coverage of The Dismissal 50 years ago

Fifty years ago today the Whitlam Labor government was dismissed by the Governor General John Kerr for its inability to pass the federal budget and guarantee supply. It is one fo the few reasons an Australian government can be dismissed from government by the monarch’s representative, the Governor General.

Leigh Hatcher was a reporter for the Macquarie Radio Network that day. Radio was the first medium to break the news of the dismissal to the public after months of coverage of the Liberal dominated Senate not passing the budget bills and precipitating the ‘supply’ constitutional crisis.

Leigh tells radioinfo’s Steve Ahern how it all unfolded on the day from the moment his cadet burst through the door of his small radio press gallery office shouting ‘Gough sacked!”

Read more www.radioinfo.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.