Quote Originally Posted by cherrypie7 View Post
Actually, Oz has this one spot on right. The Governor-general who is the Queen's representative does and did have the authority to dissolve government which he did. Whether there other factors in play which led to him doing so is not relevant to Oz's statement - effectively the Queen exercised her power and dissolved government which meant its Leader - Gough Whitlam was sacked.
No he hasn't got it right. The Queen as a constitutional monarch has no "power" to instruct any of the Governors-general who remain in situ. The instruction to dissolve any government where there is a Governor-general is the prerogative of the UK government and more particularly the UK Prime Minister of the day. The Queen is required to provide her assent, just as she is required to give assent to UK government bills, such assent has never been withheld in living memory.