In this third episode of Pearlcast from John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations, we ask a confronting question: What role did foreign powers play in the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975?

To help unpack this extraordinary dimension of the story, Pearls and Irritations Editor Catriona Jackson speaks to two guests:

• Brian Toohey, veteran journalist and former Australian Financial Review columnist and National Times editor who has reported on intelligence and national security for over 50 years
• John Menadue, former head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Whitlam, and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Pearls and Irritations
  
  

Together, they explore the CIA’s long-standing hostility to the Whitlam government, the strategic significance of the Pine Gap facility, and the role of key figures within Australia’s own public service in facilitating foreign interference.

Toohey sets out evidence that US intelligence agencies drew up plans to remove the Whitlam government as early as 1974, viewing its election as a major crisis. He argues that senior Australian bureaucrats – including Defence Secretary Sir Arthur Tange – prioritised US intelligence interests over democratic accountability, withholding critical information from Whitlam while briefing the Governor-General.

Menadue, who was present at many of the key moments, recalls direct communications from the CIA to Australian intelligence and discusses the long arc of international interference in our political system.

This episode traces a disturbing theme: the vulnerability of democratic institutions when secrecy, strategic alliances and unelected power collide.

In this episode:

• The CIA’s premeditated plan to remove the Whitlam government
• Pine Gap’s secret role in the crisis
• Arthur Tange’s alleged deception of Whitlam, and briefing of Kerr
• Why Brian Toohey believes espionage charges should have been laid
• CIA involvement and a later apology from the Carter administration
  
  

Key quotes:

“The then head of the CIA wrote that the election of the Whitlam government was one of four crises he had inherited.”  Brian Toohey

“We’ve got a senior public servant misleading the prime minister of the country.”  John Menadue

“He should have been charged with espionage... he was doing it on behalf of the Americans.”  Brian Toohey

📬 Subscribe to Pearls and Irritations to get new episodes and analysis direct to your inbox.

Hosted by Catriona Jackson
Produced by Martyn Pearce