Former prime minister Paul Keating urged Gough Whitlam to have then governor-general Sir John Kerr arrested in the aftermath of his “destructive” dismissal in 1975.

On the 50th anniversary of the intervention that defined Australian politics, Mr Keating also claimed he told Mr Whitlam to go directly to Queen Elizabeth II to have Sir John sacked.

It came as Anthony Albanese maintained the Labor Party’s rage over the dismissal five decades on, declaring it was “entirely inappropriate” and “very unfair.”

Sir John had used his reserve powers on November 11, 1975 to break a growing constitutional deadlock after Labor’s failure to obtain supply in the Parliament.

He appointed then-opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker PM. It was the first and only time a government has been dismissed

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