The letters between Sir John Kerr as Governor-General of Australia (1974-77) & Buckingham Palace will be release by @naagovau today. In the 1980s, I came to know Sir John Kerr very well, & he talked about the Palace correspondence. @TroyBramston @palaceletters #palaceletters 1/n

John Kerr made it clear that he wanted the correspondence made public. He also wrote this in his second, unpublished book; my foreword to it is in my book, "Constitutional Conventions and the Headship of State" @Cchsae2016 (2016). 2/n @TroyBramston @palaceletters #palaceletters

Kerr had published a detailed account of the events of 1975 in his autobiography, Matters for Judgment (1978), including details of conversations with Gough Whitlam in which, Kerr said, Whitlam acknowledged the Governor-General’s... 3/n @TroyBramston @palaceletters #palaceletters

Kerr said Whitlam acknowledged the Governor-General’s reserve power of dismissal, and also spoke of seeking the G-G’s dismissal instead of his own as PM. Whitlam disputed Kerr’s account in his book, The Truth of the Matter (1979). 4/n @TroyBramston @palaceletters #palaceletters

Sir John Kerr told me that the Palace correspondence would show that what he wrote in his book was essentially what he had written to Buckingham Palace at the time of the events In fact, I got the impression that he had used... 5/n @TroyBramston @palaceletters #palaceletters

...he had used the letters extensively in writing Matters for Judgment. The extracts from the letters which are already public (circulated by @TroyBramston) support this. The full release of the letters today will enable careful readers to assess 6/n @palaceletters #palaceletters

...will enable careful readers to assess the extent to which this is so, & may shed light on whether Kerr’s or Whitlam’s account of what happened is more credible./Sir John Kerr dismissed Whitlam because he believed this necessary...7/n @TroyBramston @palaceletters #palaceletters

...to maintain constitutional government when the Senate was denying supply (money needed to govern) to the Government,& the Govt was refusing to go to an election. The #palaceletters are unlikely to advance debate on this constitutional argument.8/n @TroyBramston @palaceletters

I have discussed this in @Cchsae2016 / In Matters for Judgement, Kerr wrote that he provided the Queen with “full reports on what was happening”. But he said: “I did not tell the Queen in advance that I intended to exercise these powers on 11 Nov @TroyBramston @palaceletters 9/n

... I did not ask her approval. The decisions I took were without the Queen’s advance knowledge.” The #palaceletters released today will enable careful readers to assess the full reports he gave the Queen, and this statement. It is clear... @TroyBramston @palaceletters 10/n

It is clear Sir John Kerr wanted the #palaceletters made public one day. That day is today. I think he expected the letters would be released by the Queen on the advice of the Australian PM. @TroyBramston @palaceletters 11/n

Instead, the #palaceletters are being released resulting from a @HighCourtofAus decision. Their careful study over time should help balanced consideration of Australia's most dramatic constitutional crisis & its resolution. 12/12 @TroyBramston @palaceletters