Jenny Hocking

Recent articles by Jenny Hocking

JENNY HOCKING. High Court to hear bid to release the Queen's secret Whitlam dismissal letters.

As the Queen reels from one family crisis to another, Buckingham Palace would be looking on a little anxiously as the Palace letters case is heard by the full bench of the High Court next week.

PROFESSOR JENNY HOCKING I never had any doubts about the Palaces attitude: Sir John Kerrs Royal secrets exposed

Letters between Sir John Kerr and Buckingham Palace show that the Palace pressured Kerr to omit from his autobiography his secret exchanges with the Queens private secretary before his dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. This Royally sanctioned erasure is one of several crucial omissions from Kerrs autobiography, which raise key questions about the Palace letters between Kerr and the Queen leading up to the dismissal.

Brexit in the Antipodes

There is a growing air of desperation in the cross-party efforts to stymie British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons threat to by-pass parliament, and even to ignore a motion of no confidence against him and his government by the House of Commons, in order to force through a no-deal Brexit. It is remarkable that in all the analyses of this political rupture and how best to avert it, the one example of the successful use of the very strategy that Johnson has laid out has been entirely overlooked.

JENNY HOCKING. A tawdry distortion of history: How the Palace airbrushed Sir John Kerrs Memoirs

There have been dramatic revelations from the National Archives of Australia with the release of letters between the Governor-General Sir John Kerr and Buckingham Palace following Kerrs dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. These letters provide remarkable and disturbing new material on the dismissal of the Whitlam government and the role of the Palace. They not only confirm that Kerr was in secret contact with the Queens private secretary Sir Martin Charteris in the months before the dismissal, they also reveal that the Palace and Kerr then agreed to keep these exchanges with Charteris hidden from public view, and from...

JENNY HOCKING. The Palace letters case heads to the High Court

Professor Jenny Hockings long-running case against the National Archives of Australia seeking the release of the secret Palace letters about the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, stepped up again this week with the announcement of a Special Leave hearing in the High Court of Australia on 16 August.

A national humiliation. We are not allowed to read our own history: The Queens letters on Whitlams dismissal Remain Secret

As the media debated the political precedents for the Morrison governments historic defeat in the House of Representatives last week some pointing to the Bruce government in 1929, and others to the Fadden government in 1941 largely forgotten was the more recent, and far more compelling, example of the 1975 defeat of the Fraser government in a crucial vote in the House of Representatives. At 3.15pm on 11 November 1975, the newly installed Fraser government comprehensively lost a confidence vote - not a legislative vote as Morrison did but a formal want of confidence motion - by 10...

JENNY HOCKING. Historical myths die hard: What the Queen really knew about the dismissal of the Whitlam government

Historical myths die hard. And historical myths have plagued our understanding of the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975. Chief among these foundational myths is the claim that the dismissal was a solo act by Kerr, a lonely and isolated decision, that no other person was involved in its planning or knew of its execution. Not the leader of the Opposition, not the High Court justices, and certainly not the Queen.

JENNY HOCKING. The Best of 2018: Royal distortions of history: why the Queens secret Palace letters about Gough Whitlams dismissal should be released.

The long-running Palace letters case over the Queens secret correspondence regarding the 1975 dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam heads back to court on Wednesday 28 November, with an appeal hearing before the full bench of the Federal Court in Sydney.

JENNY HOCKING. Unmasking history: the Queen, the governor general and the Whitlam dismissal (The Guardian newspaper, 06.12.18)

The ghosts of the dismissal of the Whitlam government 43 years ago were on display at an appeal hearing before the full bench of the federal court last week: Gough Whitlam, the deposed prime minister; Sir John Kerr, the governor general who dismissed him; Malcolm Fraser, the leader of the opposition appointed by Kerr to replace Whitlam; and David Smith, the governor generals official secretary.

JENNY HOCKING. Royal distortions of history: why the Queen's secret "Palace letters" about Gough Whitlam's dismissal should be released.

The long-running Palace letters case over the Queens secret correspondence regarding the 1975 dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam heads back to court on Wednesday 28 November, with an appeal hearing before the full bench of the Federal Court in Sydney.

JENNY HOCKING. Bullying, betrayal and backstabbing: Can the Liberal party survive?

Scott Morrison is an unlikely Prime Minister. The day before the latest Liberal leadership change Morrison appeared in a memorable photo, arm casually draped around then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls uncomfortable shoulders, and proclaimed his support; This is my leader. Im ambitious - for him!. Two days later Morrison emerged from a rancorous party meeting, brought on by the failed plotter and would-be Prime Minister Peter Dutton and his vengeful side-kick the deposed Prime Minister Tony Abbott, to become the third Liberal Prime Minister in as many years. The image and its aftermath have defined our 30th Prime Minister as...

JENNY HOCKING. Archival Manoeuvres in the Dark

This months federal court ruling that the Palace letters, between the Queen and the Governor-General at the time of the Whitlam dismissal, are personal and not subject to the Archives Act means that this historic correspondence will remain under lock and key in the National Archives and embargoed on the instructions of the Queen, potentially indefinitely.

JENNY HOCKING. Snub over 'palace letters' underlines why Australia should ditch the Queen

On Friday the federal court handed down its judgment in my action against the National Archives of Australia seeking the release of the palace letters between the Queen and the governor general, Sir John Kerr, regarding the Whitlam dismissal. In a stark decision, Justice John Griffiths held that these historically significant letters, written at a time that he recognised as one of the most controversial and tumultuous events in the modern history of the nation, should remain secret. Although Griffiths noted the clear public interest in the content of the records, he found that the legal issues do not...

JENNY HOCKING. News release. The Palace Letters.

TODAY, Friday 16 March 2018, Justice Griffiths handed down his decision in the Federal Court actionJennifer Hocking vDirector-General, National Archives of Australia',in favour of the National Archives. Justice Griffiths has ruled that the Palace letters between the Queen and the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, at the time of the Whitlam dismissal are personal not Commonwealth records and donot come under the Archives Act. The Queen's embargo will continue and thePalace letters will notbe released. The decision has maintained the long-standingpractice of designating the Monarchs letters as personal rather than official Commonwealth records, ensuring the continued Royal secrecy over her...

JENNY HOCKING. Relics of colonialism: the Whitlam dismissal and the fight over the Palace letters

We will make better decisions on all the great issues of the day and for the century to come, if we better understand the past. Gough Whitlam The celebration of the Queens birthday in Australia is a perfect reflection of a fading, remnant, relationship. Commemorated in the Australian states as a public holiday on three different days none of which is her birthday and honouring an event of dubious significance, the Queens birthday reminds us that, despite our national independence, the symbolic ties of colonial deference remain.

JENNY HOCKING. The palace treats Australia as the colonial child not to be trusted with knowledge of its own history-A REPOST from September 11 2017

Forty-five years after Governor-General John Kerr dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, records of his communications with the British monarchy in the lead-up to that event are still withheld from us, the Australian people.

JENNY HOCKING. Pressure Builds on Turnbull Over the Secret Palace Letters on the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government -REPOST from June 16, 2017

Pressure is building on the Prime Minister to intervene in the long-running dispute over the release of the Palace letters, the secret correspondence between the Queen and the Governor-General Sir John Kerr in the months before Kerrs 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government. These letters are held by the National Archives in Canberra where they have been designated as personal not official correspondence and embargoed on the instructions of the Queen until at least 2027, with her private secretary retaining a final veto over their release even after that date. The reality is that we as Australians do not own...

JENNY HOCKING. An Australian republic inevitable as Turnbull disappoints again.

The republic is now emerging as a key election issue, with the Prime Minister a mere observer in its wake. In considering the powers of a president in a new Republic it is important to affirm that government can only be formed with the confidence of the House of Representatives.

JENNY HOCKING. Harold Holt: The legacy is evident, 50 years after his disappearance.

It was a quintessential Australian death. On 17 December 1967, Australias 17th prime minister, Harold Edward Holt, waded into the churning surf at Victorias Cheviot Beach, defying a swift current and a strong under-tow that left others in his party refusing to enter. Within minutes Holt was swept up and out, like a leaf so quick, so final, and never seen again.

JENNY HOCKING. A Royal Green Light: The Palace, the Governor-General and the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government

Contrary to the accepted story that the Queen was not involved in the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975, it is now clear that the Palace had a significant role in the process. Those involved, in Australia and in Britain, kept this involvement hidden from the Australian people in a process of collusion, deception and artifice.

JENNY HOCKING. Secret Palace letters not so secret after all and where is Malcolm?

The Federal Court case against the National Archives of Australia, seeking the release of the Palace letters which are embargoed by the Queen, concluded in Sydney last week. The case centres on the critical question of whether these letters, between the Queen and the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, at the time of the dismissal of the Whitlam government, are personal rather than Commonwealth records.

JENNY HOCKING. The palace treats Australia as the colonial child not to be trusted with knowledge of its own history

Its more than 40 years since the dismissal of the Whitlam government, but under instructions from the Queen the secret palace letters are still embargoed.

JENNY HOCKING. Why was Malcolm Fraser Hidden at Yarralumla When Sir John Kerr Dismissed Gough Whitlam?

Revelations from the secret correspondence between the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, and the Queen in the months before the dismissal of the Whitlam government have shed new light on a persistent puzzle. When Kerr dismissed Gough Whitlam at 1pm on 11 November 1975 why was the leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser already there, secreted at the other end of the Yarralumla corridor with the Governor-Generals private secretary, David Smith?

JENNY HOCKING. The Palace Letters Case: A Matter of our National History

Professor Jenny Hocking writes that the release of the palace letters will now be determined by an Australian Court and according to Australian Law - not by the Queen 'a foreign monarch' in the words of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

JENNY HOCKING. The Palace Letters.

Release the Palace letters! Why I am taking a Federal Court action against the National Archives to release correspondence between Sir John Kerr and the Queen. When the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, took the unprecedented and divisive action of dismissing the Whitlam government, he claimed to have acted alone, to have made up my mind on my own part. In this solo performance, as insistently and repeatedly presented by Kerr, he at no stage raised even the possibility of Whitlams dismissal with the Queen. By ensuring her ignorance, Kerr claimed, he had protected the Queen from getting involved. Nothing...

JENNY HOCKING. The Palace letters.

My name is Professor Jenny Hocking, I am a Monash University academic and Gough Whitlams biographer. I have launched an historic action against the National Archives of Australia to release the Palace letters' relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government, withheld from the Australian people at the behest of the Queen. (See https://chuffed.org/project/release-the-palace-lettersfor donation links.) The Palace letters, secret correspondence between the Governor-General Sir John Kerr and the Queen at the time of the dismissal, arethe final missing piece in the puzzle on the most controversial episode in Australias political history.

JENNY HOCKING. Parakeelia and Political Trust

If trust is at the centre of this election campaign, then journalists are looking for it in the strangest places. The 7.30s Leigh Sales finds it in the knifing by both leaders, Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull, of a former Prime Minister or, put more prosaically, that both supported a change of leadership and therefore of Prime Minister Shorten supporting first Gillard and then Rudd, and Turnbull supporting himself. Either way, knifing bears a tenuous connection to matters of political trust which, in the context of an election campaign, largely concern delivering on election promises. And yet the simplistic...

Jenny Hocking. The Governor-General, the Palace and the Dismissal of Gough Whitlam: The Mysterious Case of the Palace Letters

The dismissal of the Whitlam government by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, was marked by secrecy and collusion on a scale that has only recently been uncovered. Its history has been no different. From the outset we were treated to a carefully constructed narrative that masked the Governor-Generals secret collusion with members of the High Court, with the leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, and his acknowledged deception of Whitlam regarding the half-Senate election that Whitlam was set to announce on the afternoon of 11 November 1975. All of this, and more, has come to light only in recent...

Jenny Hocking. The Dismissal Forty Years Later: When Everything Old is New Again

Repost from 10/12/2015 The 40th anniversary last month of the dismissal of the Whitlam government by the Governor General Sir John Kerr met with the predictable flurry of breathlessly delivered revelations and history-making hyperbole. Among the excitable claims of dramatic new never before released material we were offered the charred remains of a burnt Liberal party memo showing surprise! dissension in the ranks [http://www.afr.com/news/politics/afr10featuresgraphic--20151110-gkvd2c ]; a found, lost, and found again hand-written note by Malcolm Fraser written during his conversation with the Governor-General on the morning of 11 November 1975 - first revealed in 1986 and reproduced...

Jenny Hocking. Why Didnt They Warn Whitlam?: Where Politics and Ethics Collide

Repost from 16/11/2015 On the 40th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government a remarkable thing happened - a Liberal Prime Minister finally acknowledged that the Governor-General Sir John Kerr was wrong. In a stark break with the coalitions long insistence that Kerr had saved the country by stepping in and appointing Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull repeated his consistently held view that Kerr should not have taken this unprecedented action of removing an elected government without first warning Gough Whitlam. There are few who would now disagree with Turnbulls assessment with the obvious...

Jenny Hocking. The Dismissal in History

Repost from 10/11/2015 This week marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most divisive and corrosive episodes in our history, the dismissal of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr. Kerrs action in removing the twice-elected Whitlam government and appointing the leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister on 11 November 1975 was an abject subversion of our political process and it continues to be vigorously contested. The dismissal was steeped in deception then and since and the history of it has been similarly flawed - incomplete, politicised and at times deliberately...

<