The Fraser Coalition won a record victory, with 91 seats in the House of Representatives to the ALP's 36, and a 35-27 majority in the expanded Senate.

Whitlam was again defeated in 1977, losing again by a large margin.

Malcolm Fraser had a 35 seat majority.

The Australian people decided the fate of Whitlam.

Sir John Kerr had taken the only reasonable step when the scandal-riven Whitlam government became unworkable.

Australians dismissed Whitlam, and that surely should have been the end of the matter.

The quest by academic Jenny Hocking to have access to papers that had remained secret was simply a desperate attempt by the republican mob to implicate The Queen in Australian politics.

The papers showed that the Australian Governor-General had made the call. That Australian Governor-General was an Australian nominee. Sir John Kerr was appointed by Gough Whitlam.

Sir John Kerr acted responsibly in Australia's interests. He should be remembered as a great Australian.

I lived through the Whitlam years as a young adult. It was a chaotic and threatening time with distressingly frequent strikes. The economy quickly raced out of control, wages increased rapidly, prices increased even faster, and finally, Whitlam resorted to a 25 per cent across-the-board tariff reduction to dampen wage demands. People felt that their jobs were now threatened.

One of my favourite memories of this chaos was the time I went to buy four new tyres for my Holden. The dealer had two in stock - shortages of goods were common - but the next batch was due in two days.

When it came time to pay, two were at the old price, and the other two were substantially dearer.

"My wholesale price for the two that arrived today was greater than the retail price I've charged for the other two," the salesman lamented. So quick were price rises that Whitlam enacted new regulations to stop dealers profiteering by selling old stock at the new price.

I have told the story before of building my new house in Goulburn. Building was almost finished as Whitlam came to power. I sold two years later when I was transferred. The house had doubled in dollar value in just two years.

It was a time when those with assets became better off. Buying a first home became a dream as prices skyrocketed. The rich became richer and the poor realised that they were becoming poorer, as happens when inflation is out of control.

I recall being in Young's shopping centre on the Thursday night when Malcolm Fraser gave his 1975 election policy speech. His speech had been delayed for a couple of days because Fraser had a cold, so there was some degree of tension as a crowd gathered around the colour television set at Young's major department store.

Fraser's call to "Turn on the lights" was greeted with murmurs of approval, and applause at the end showed clearly that Fraser was on track to win that election.

The three Whitlam years had been filled with scandal. The "Loans Affair" where Whitlam was accused of attempting to unconstitutionally borrow money from Middle Eastern countries via shady Pakistani banker Tirath Khemlani was the final straw.

Treasurer Jim Cairns, famous for sayings like "run the printing presses faster" when told the country was running out of money, had resigned earlier that year. With the economy out of control, the Australian public was glad to see him go.

Cairns blamed the press for the "Morosi Affair", forgetting that PM John Gorton had been subjected to similar scrutiny about Ainsley Gotto. Press speculation was right - in 2002 Cairns admitted his relationship with Junie Morosi had been sexual.

Then there was Al Grassby. The voters kicked him out at the first opportunity - the 1974 election.

Looking at Whitlam's ministers, names like Lionel Murphy and Rex Connor added to the public's distrust. Whitlam himself was a man who with better people at his side could have become one of Australia's great Prime Ministers.

Simply put, the Whitlam years were chaotic and scandal-ridden. Sir John Kerr did his duty, Australian voters made their judgement. End of story.