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The dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General John Kerr in 1975 has sparked fierce controversy and discussion for decades. But what was going on in Kerr's mind at the time? What did the Queen and Buckingham Palace know of the dismissal before it happened? How did the Queen feel about Kerr's actions? In 2020 the so called Palace Letters were released from the national archives after a successful High Court challenge, providing us new insight into the dismissal and Kerr's decisions to sack the PM on 11 November. 212 letters were released, which is quite a lot to read - but thankfully I had the opportunity to talk to someone who's read them all and even written a book about their contents. Troy Bramston is a journalist, author and historian whose work covers multiple prime ministers but his most enduring focus has been Gough Whitlam and the dismissal. In 2020 he co-authored The Truth of the Palace Letters with Paul Kelly. He was gracious enough to sit down with me via Zoom to talk all about what's actually in the Palace Letters and what Kerr was like as a person.If you want to read the Palace Letters you can download them here: https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/kerr-palace-letters Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

How does voting work in Victoria? Here's an explainer all about how to fill in your ballots correctly. I won't be telling you who to vote for or analysing policy, that's up to you as a voter to decide for yourself. Instead, this episode explains why there are two ballot papers, how the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council of Victoria are different, when voting happens, how to fill in your ballot correctly, and what you shouldn't do. Have fun, and enjoy democracy, Victoria! Make sure you're enrolled to vote and your details are up to date so you can have your voice heard. Learn more about Victorian state and local elections, including early voting options, at the Victorian Electoral Commission website: https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/ Here's my longer explainer of how preferential voting works: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cEFXUNwMc0E22jChjDMNv?si=6zaCWBWeS8uvN-4VJI6SPA Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplained Follow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388 Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:19 Why you get two ballots 1:53 Voting for the Legislative Assembly 3:37 Voting for the Legislative Council 5:05 Above the line 6:06 Below the line 7:27 Outro

The federal government is one of the three levels of government in Australia. It has jurisdiction over all of Australia on a list of matters, and I really do mean list. The powers are determined by the Constitution, which has a numbered list, mostly in section 51, but also a few other sections in the document as well. While some powers are exclusive to the federal government, some responsibilities are shared with the states, but also the Constitution limits the federal government so to enact national policy sometimes it has to co-ordinate with the states and enable them to enact policy for it. It's called co-operative federalism and to summarise it here's a handy explainer for you!Also check out Constitutional Clarion's "Can treaties expand Commonwealth power?" video to learn more about the external affairs power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8goFs816a3k Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

State governments are one of the three tiers of government in Australia, but what do they do? There are 8 state and territory governments and parliaments in Australia and they all are responsible for a huge range of laws and services from emergency services to public infrastructure and way more. In this episode I'll not just give you a list of responsibilities/legislative powers of the states and territories but also explain why the list is significantly longer than is possible to contain in a video and also what the constitutional relationship is between states, local and federal power.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Local government is one of the three tiers of government in Australia, but what does it do? There are over 500 local governments in Australia and each can vary in its size, scope and responsibilities. They manage things like rubbish collection, local parks and libraries - but also way more! In this episode I provide a general overview of the various things local councils can be in charge of managing or making by-laws for, how local councils work, and their relationship with the state that they're within. Enjoy! Go find your local council's website and look up what's happening in your area!Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Typing! I'm doing it now. I'm recording words. But while the sands of time will one day erase them and no one will read this sentence in a few decades, the Hansard Record will endure for centuries. What is Hansard? It's the official record of parliamentary debates of course! Hansard reporters are a key part of how parliament works because they write down all the speeches, questions and debates of the chambers and their committees so that we have an official record.Read the federal Hansard record here: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

There are two chambers to the Australian Parliament where bills are debated: the Senate and the House of Representatives. But there's also only so much time in the day to get business done so how does Parliament make sure it can give opportunities to as many members as possible to give speeches and examine reports? Well in comes a THIRD room for this to happen: the Federation Chamber! In this episode I'll explain what the Federation Chamber is, when and why it started, how it works and all that jazz. You know what I'm like.Check out the Australian Parliament's website here: https://www.aph.gov.au/Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplained Follow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Amendments! What are they? Well, basically they're changes to a bill or law and are pretty regularly done to improve legislation and make sure it's up to date. In this episode I go over the process of how amendments are introduced, negotiated and passed as well as the limitations and requirements.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Parliaments around Australia make laws - be that for the entire country or for their respective state or territory. Here's an explainer about how bills pass through the federal Parliament to give you an understanding of the general idea, with a few of the important differences for state/territory parliaments mentioned at the end. Enjoy!Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

The future of Auspol Explained.... is coming. Because that's how linear time works. But let me fill you in on THREE things that I plan on doing going forward.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

17th December 1967 the Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a swim and never came back. This is his story.You can watch the memorial service for Harold Holt on the NSFA YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/-cSMQGXICWk?si=LmSXkZL_xC6E0Vha Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

50 years ago the nation was rocked by the dismissal of the Gough Whitlam Labor government by the Governor-General John Kerr because the Coalition in the Senate had prevented the passage of supply. Malcolm Fraser was appointed prime minister, supply was passed, and a double dissolution was called. This remains one of two times the reserve powers have been explicitly used to dismiss a government in Australia, and the only time done on a federal level to dismiss a prime minister. Naturally, this controversial moment is steeped in all sorts of issues involving the Constitution, legal questions about how people acted, and also breaches of convention that contributed to the downfall of the Whitlam government.So, to unpack all that I sat down with Professor Anne Twomey to discuss what happened, what the reserve powers are, and the constitutional and legal basis for dismissal as well as how other actions surrounding the dismissal went against the constitution, the law and convention.Anne Twomey also has a YouTube channel! The Constitutional Clarion where she delves into various aspects of the Australian Constitution. You should watch it to learn more about both the dismissal as well as the Constitution in general: https://www.youtube.com/@constitutionalclarion1901Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

November 1975: Australia was in a crisis. The Whitlam Government had passed a supply bill in the House of Representatives but the Coalition, led by Malcolm Fraser, was blocking its passage in the Senate. The Senate had never impeded the Government like this before and by the end of November the money the Government could spend would run out. Public servants would not be paid unless the impasse was resolved. The Coalition wanted an early election. Whitlam wanted the Senate to capitulate and accept the mandate of the Labor Government that had been elected in 1972 and re-elected in 1974 and let it continue to govern.On 11th November 1975, Gough Whitlam drove to Government House in Yarralumla to advise the Governor-General John Kerr to hold a half-Senate election. Whitlam believed that if the Senate was stopping supply from passing then they should be the ones to face the judgment of the people. However, Kerr had a different resolution to the crisis in mind. Kerr exercised the reserve powers, dismissed Whitlam and appointed Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister. Fraser called for a double dissolution election and Whitlam, despite a majority in the House of Representatives, went to the election as the Leader of the Opposition instead of Prime Minister. This event has gone down in history known simply as "the dismissal." It's steeped in controversy, speculation, and even to this day as some mystery as not everything in the National Archives relating to Kerr has been released.But we do know plenty more than we used to thanks to Professor Jenny Hocking, a historian and author who went to the High Court to secure access to the Palace Letters (communication between Kerr and the Palace while he was Governor-General). She's written multiple books about the life of Gough Whitlam so I decided to interview her about her views on the history of the dismissal and the events that led up to it.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Prime Ministers! Australia has had 31 of them. 23 are dead (as of recording) which means there's a bunch of ways they've been memorialised - plaques, statues, suburbs in Canberra and of course the good old classic tombstone. but not all graves are equally as interesting. So, as a post-election treat, I decided to rank the graves of former Australian prime ministers based off how interesting the quotes on their graves are. Enjoy!Support the channel on patreon here:   / auspolexplained  Follow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplai... Follow me on Instagram:   / auspolexplained   Like Auspol Explained on Facebook:   / auspol-explained-107892180702388  Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) runs federal elections and referendums. But what else? Every election there are complaints to the AEC about candidates saying un-truths and misleading things but it actually has no power to regulate what candidates say and for a good reason - it's there to independently and apolitically run elections. But that doesn't mean the commission has no role outside of simply printing off a ballot paper and then counting the votes at the end of it - so I decided to sit down with someone from the AEC to ask them about the AEC's role, what it does, and also what it doesn't do.Of course, visit the AEC website to learn more about how elections are run in Australia: https://aec.gov.au/Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.