AUSTRALIA: Utter Cussedness

There was no election scheduled or in sight, but Australia last week was ablaze with impassioned political rallies, complete with flesh pressing, placard waving and, of course, blunt "Strine" rhetoric. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was under attack by Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser, ostensibly for his government's involvement in a political scandal. "Either he knew everything that was going on, in which case he's a liar, or, alternatively, he's a fool," said Fraser. For his part, Whitlam castigated the opposition as "reactionary, conservative fascists [who] have stopped at nothing to destroy democracy."

Tricky Loophole. What Australians were so worked up about was the fact that the nation now faces its most serious constitutional crisis since independence in 1901. The trouble began when the House of Representatives approved Whitlam's budget bills and sent them on to the Senate, which is narrowly controlled by a conservative coalition of Fraser's Liberals and the National Country Party. Violating a traditional understanding for the first time in Australian history, the Senate blocked the budget by exercising its power to "withhold supply"—that is, cut off money essential to government operation.

Fraser was using a tricky loophole in the constitution in his effort to bring down "by far the worst government Australia has ever had." The Senate, which has ten members for each of Australia's six states, cannot render a no-confidence vote. Only the directly elected House has that power, and it is controlled by Whitlam's Labor Party 65-to-62. But Fraser's hope is that when money runs out by the end of November because of the blocked budget, Whitlam will be forced to call a general election.

Whitlam's government is unquestionably vulnerable. Mishandling of the domestic economy helped produce the highest unemployment (5.1%) in more than 30 years and a 16.9% inflation rate. Then came the scandal that gave Fraser his immediate issue: two Cabinet ministers were forced to resign from Whitlam's government on charges of misleading Parliament about covert negotiations for "overseas loans" through questionable channels to develop Australian energy resources. Between May 1974 and last month, Whitlam's approval rating in the polls dropped from 55% to 35%.

But Whitlam, a crowd-pleasing orator, is at his best in a fight, and in recent weeks he has been drawing his largest audiences in years. No Australian government has been subjected "to such utter cussedness and harassment," he said. If Whitlam is not inclined to duck the present face-off, neither is Fraser, particularly after picking up the public support last month of respected former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.

In interviews with TIME, both Fraser and Whitlam reaffirmed their mutual obstinacy. Said Fraser: "Our resolve is complete, absolute." The Prime Minister put it more bluntly: "One side has to crumble."