The Truth of the Matter

Fiftieth anniversary edition with a new foreword from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Passionate, pithy, learned, witty, and vigorously combative, The Truth of the Matter tells the extraordinary political story of the only Prime Minister of Australia ever deposed from office.


On Remembrance Day 1975 the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, sacked Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. The Dismissal was the culmination of almost three years of political conflict, as Whitlam's progressive Labor government rammed home legislative reform in the face of implacable and increasingly bitter conservative resistance. The focus of the Opposition's scheming was the Senate, where its leaders blocked supply in order to force a political crisis.
Whitlam, famous for his 'crash through or crash' style, refused to compromise with his political enemies. At an election a month after the Dismissal, the conservatives were returned to office. Controversy and recrimination followed. Many Australians, including Whitlam himself, believed he had been the victim of a coup.
In 1979 Whitlam published his own account of the events of 1975, The Truth of the Matter, an instant bestseller.

About the Author

Gough Whitlam AC QC was born in Melbourne in 1916, and educated in Sydney and Canberra. A barrister by profession, he entered Federal Parliament as the Labor MP for Werriwa in 1952. He led the ALP to victory in the 1972 federal election, and his government's many reforms included ending Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, abolishing university fees, and introducing Medibank and no-fault divorce. He retired from politics in 1978, but has continued to play a significant role in public life. His other books include The Whitlam Government 1972-1975, Abiding Interests and My Italian Notebook.