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3 unusual facts about Gair Affair


Gair Affair

Snedden decried it as shameful and "worse than any Tammany Hall effort that has ever been made in the United States", and compared it with what he called the "very fine appointment" of Sir Garfield Barwick as Chief Justice of the High Court.

Gair was not the only non-Labor person in Labor's sights: they also offered the post of Ambassador to the Holy See to Frank McManus (he refused outright); and they had been considering offering Liberal senator Peter Durack a seat on the High Court, but never approached him.

On 21 March, Gough Whitlam advised the Parliament that he had obtained the concurrence of the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, to hold a half-Senate election on 18 May 1974, and the timing of the issue of the writs was a matter of discussion between the Governor-General and the state governors.



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