Австралияның 18-ші генерал-губернаторы Джон Роберт Керр

18th Governor General of Australia

Sir John Robert Kerr, (24 September 1914 – 24 March 1991) was an Australian barrister and judge who served as the 18th governor general of Australia, in office from 1974 to 1977. He is primarily known for his involvement in the 1975 constitutional crisis, which culminated in his decision to dismiss the incumbent prime minister Gough Whitlam and appoint Malcolm Fraser as his replacement, which led to unprecedented actions in Australian federal politics. Kerr was born in Sydney to working class parents. He won scholarships to Fort Street Boys' High School and the University of Sydney, where he studied law. His legal career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served with the Australian Army's Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs (DORCA) and attained the rank of colonel. After the war's end he became the inaugural head of the Australian School of Pacific Administration. Kerr returned to the bar in 1949 and became one of Sydney's leading industrial lawyers. He joined the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was briefly an endorsed candidate for the 1951 federal election. He let his membership lapse after the party split of 1955. Kerr served terms as president of the New South Wales Bar Association and the Law Council of Australia. He was appointed to the Commonwealth Industrial Court in 1966, later serving on territory supreme courts and as Chief Justice of New South Wales (1972–1974). On the nomination of ALP prime minister Gough Whitlam, Kerr was appointed governor general in July 1974. The Whitlam government did not hold a majority in the Senate, and following a series of controversies in 1975, most notably the Loans Affair, the Liberal opposition leader Malcolm Fraser called on the Senate (where his coalition had a majority) to defer consideration of the supply bills in an attempt to force an early election. Kerr regarded the situation as untenable, believing the prime minister was obliged to either resign or call a general election, which Whitlam was unwilling to do. On 11 November 1975, Kerr used his reserve powers as governor general to dismiss Whitlam and his ministry, appointing Fraser to lead a caretaker government. He immediately granted Fraser's request for a double dissolution, leading to a federal election that saw Whitlam and the ALP defeated in a landslide. The dismissal of the government sparked demonstrations from Whitlam's supporters, with the anger directed at Kerr a major factor in his early retirement in December 1977 and subsequent withdrawal from public life. The propriety, legality and wisdom of his actions surrounding the dismissal have been subject to considerable debate and analysis.

Kerr was born in Balmain, Sydney, on 24 September 1914. He was the eldest of three children born to Laura May (née Cardwell) and Harry Kerr; his younger brother Dudley was born in 1917 and younger sister Elaine in 1926. Kerr's parents and maternal grandparents were Australian born, while his paternal grandparents came from Sunderland, England, arriving in Sydney in 1886. He came from a line of waterside workers—his father was a boilermaker, his grandfather was a stevedore, and his great grandfather was a shipwright. At the time of his son's birth, Kerr's father was employed at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. He was sacked three months later, but soon found work at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard, which were at full capacity due to the ongoing war. He was involved in the union movement, and participated in a number of strikes, including the 1917 general strike, during which he went without pay for two months. Work at the docks became irregular after the war's end, and he eventually rejoined the railways in 1925. For the first two years of his life, Kerr and his parents lived with his paternal grandparents in a weatherboard cottage in Balmain. They later rented cottages in Rozelle and Dulwich Hill, buying the latter outright only in 1949. Kerr began his education at the Birchgrove Public School. In deciding to pursue law as a career, Kerr found a role model in H. V. Evatt, a fellow Fortian who in 1930 became the youngest ever High Court judge; in the same year, Evatt completed a doctoral thesis on the royal prerogative. Kerr's father knew Evatt through his membership of the Labor Party, which Evatt would eventually lead, and had helped him on his successful campaign for the state seat of Balmain in 1925. Evatt became the first in a series of patrons who helped Kerr progress in his career despite a relatively humble background.

The news that Whitlam had been dismissed spread across Australia during the afternoon, resulting in angry protest demonstrations by his supporters. Over the following month, leading to the double dissolution election scheduled for 13 December 1975, Whitlam and ALP supporters constantly and intensely denigrated Kerr, no doubt in the belief that the electorate would prove sympathetic to the deposed Labor government. In the ensuing election campaign, the Australian Labor Party's focus was predominantly on the asserted illegitimacy of the dismissal (with the slogan of "Shame Fraser, Shame"), while the Coalition focused on criticism of Labor's economic management. Some expected a major backlash against Fraser in favour of Whitlam (who had launched his campaign by calling upon his supporters to "maintain your rage"), based on opinion polls in October and early November which had shown disapproval of Fraser's tactics. Once the election was called, however, the majority focused on the economy and responded to the Liberals' slogan "Turn on the lights". Despite the passion of Labor supporters, furious at what they saw as an establishment plot to destroy a Labor government, Labor suffered its greatest ever loss (7.4% down on its 1974 vote) at the hands of the Coalition, which continued to hold power until 1983. Labor supporters continued to voice criticism and demonstrate against Kerr. He found the personal attacks on him and his wife (whom Whitlam and others accused of having been a sinister influence) deeply wounding. For the rest of his term as Governor General, Kerr was rarely able to appear in public without encountering angry demonstrations. On one occasion his life was thought to be endangered when he was unable to leave a speaking engagement in Melbourne except by having his car drive through an angry crowd. Labor parliamentarians, federal and state, refused to accept his legitimacy as Governor General, shunning official functions where he was in attendance. Near the end of his term, he famously appeared drunk when he presented the 1977 Melbourne Cup.

Concern about his health may have been one reason why he cut short his five year term and stood down in December 1977. In fact, his resignation had already been proposed as early as March 1977, during the Queen's visit. Fraser denounced Kerr's detractors as "a hostile and bitter minority" whose actions were unjustified. He therefore moved to London "where he could be seen most days, usually the worse for wear, at one or other gentleman's club." In 1991, Kerr was confirmed to have died from a brain tumour at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney where he was in a coma, survived by his three children and his second wife. The family withheld announcement of the death until after Sir John's burial at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium, Macquarie Park, New South Wales. This ensured the then Labor government would not be put in the position of deciding whether to offer a state funeral, an honour that would normally be considered automatic for a former governor general. The second Lady Kerr died in 1997, survived by the two children of her first marriage. Kerr's children are: Gabrielle Kibble, a town planner and later NSW State Director of Planning; Kristin Johnson, a psychiatrist; and Philip Kerr, a solicitor.

Kerr was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on 1 January 1966 for services as President of the Law Council of Australia. This was done on the recommendation of the Australian Government, then led by Sir Robert Menzies. In 1972, the Prime Minister, William McMahon, had recommended Kerr for a promotion within the order to Knight Commander (KCMG), to be announced in the 1973 New Year's Honours. In view of the impending federal election scheduled for 2 December 1972 and the knowledge that the Labor Party's longstanding policy was not to support Imperial honours, Governor General Sir Paul Hasluck chose not to forward such recommendations to the Queen, pending the result of the election. After Gough Whitlam's election, Hasluck asked him if he were willing to endorse McMahon's recommendation for Kerr's knighthood, but he declined. Kerr was appointed KCMG in the New Years Honours of 1974, for services as Chief Justice of NSW, on the recommendation of the UK Foreign Secretary on behalf of the Premier of New South Wales, Sir Robert Askin. In 1974 he was made a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. On the establishment of the Order of Australia on 14 February 1975, as Governor General he was made Principal Companion of the Order (AC). When the category of Knight was added to the Order on 24 May 1976, he was made Principal Knight of the Order (AK). In 1976 he was elevated to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG). This award was made by the Queen during an official visit to Australia, and was conferred on board HMY Britannia in Fremantle Harbour. Kerr was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1977 on the instigation of Malcolm Fraser; this was another appointment he had unsuccessfully sought from Whitlam in 1974. In Whitlam's book The Truth of the Matter he claimed that Fraser also asked the UK Prime Minister, James Callaghan, to grant Kerr a peerage, specifically a viscountcy, but that Callaghan refused.