Gough Whitlam, the 21st Prime Minister of Australia (between 1972 and 1975), reportedly considered closing the base. Victor Marchetti, a CIA officer who had helped run the facility, who was also a proponent of the JFK Assassination by the CIA conspiracy theory, said that this consideration "caused apoplexy in the White House, [and] a kind of Chile [coup] was set in motion", with the CIA and MI6 working together to get rid of the Prime Minister. On 11 November 1975, the day Whitlam was scheduled to brief the Australian Parliament on the secret CIA presence in Australia, as well as it being "the last day of action if an election of any kind was to be held before Christmas", he was dismissed from office by Governor-General John Kerr using reserve powers, described as 'archaic' by critics of the decision. In 2020, previously confidential private correspondences between the Palace and the Governor-General were released, in one of the letters, John Kerr describes his alleged CIA connections as 'Nonsense of course', and assured the Queen of his continued loyalty.