biography
| name: |
Kerr, Sir John (Robert)
|
pronunciation:
[kair]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1914–91)
|
| biography:
| Lawyer and administrator, born in Sydney, New South Wales, SE Australia. He studied at the University of Sydney, was admitted to the bar in 1938, and became a QC in 1953. He was made Chief Justice of New South Wales in 1972, and was appointed Governor-General of Australia in 1974. In 1975, his actions as governor-general made Australian constitutional history: the Coalition opposition had refused to pass the Labor government's budget bill unless a general election was called. To resolve this impasse he exercised the regal ‘reserve powers’ and sacked the elected prime minister, Gough Whitlam, asking leader of the Liberal opposition, Malcolm Fraser, to form a caretaker government and call a general election. Stepping down as governor-general in 1977, he was named Australian ambassador to UNESCO in 1978, but the ensuing controversy forced him to resign without taking up the appointment. |
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