It's time to scotch a rumour

The recent abdication of the representative in Australia of our head of state brought to mind the many and varied characters who've served in that position since Federation.
Without being immodest, I can say that I have known several of our nation's Governors-General on a personal basis.
This has been one of the results of spending most of my adult life in the service of governments of all political colours at both state and federal levels.
I met one recent G-G - perhaps the most controversial figure to serve in that post - under quite unusual circumstances.
It was in the lobby of the New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney. It was early in 1967.
Sir John Kerr - then plain old Mr Justice Kerr - had been appointed to the Commonwealth Industrial Court the previous year.
He was at the NSW Parliament House to attend a judicial conference. I was there with then Prime Minister Harold Holt who was taking the opportunity of a visit to Sydney to talk with NSW Premier Sir Robert Askin.
Holt had proposed to all premiers a plan to establish a national anti-corruption body - one that would crack down on kickbacks to public officials from organised crime, large gambling interests, as well as "smaller fish" such as SP bookmakers and the like.
Askin had proved to be a thorn in the PM's side on this particular issue and Holt, quite frankly, couldn't work out why.
As a senior adviser to Holt, I had judged it best to allow the PM and Askin some time in private to engage in a "full and frank" discussion of their respective positions.
Hence I was cooling my heels in the parliamentary lobby when Mr Justice Kerr bumped into me - quite literally.
I knew who he was but, of course, I had to introduce myself to him and explain my reasons for being there.
I sat down in an armchair and Kerr attempted to follow suit. Unfortunately, he missed the chair - by the best part of a metre - and ended up sitting on the floor.
I quickly got up and helped him onto a nearby lounge.
When he sat down he waved his arms in the direction of a door on which were the words "Members Only" before telling me: "They won't admit me to the bar."
This I found odd because I knew enough about him to remember he had become a King's Counsel in 1953, so he had to have been a barrister already.
We engaged in some small talk before the PM emerged ashen faced and I had to follow him to his car waiting outside.
I didn't cross paths with Kerr again until mid-1973 by which time he had moved up the ladder to become Chief Justice of New South Wales.
For my part, I was still a senior bureaucrat, Holt had disappeared and was presumed dead, John Gorton had come and gone as PM, Billy McMahon had led the Liberal-Country Party Coalition to defeat, and I had been seconded to the staff of new Labor Party Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.
I remember I was staying at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney while the PM was spending some time in the city at his official residence, Kirribilli House.
Shortly after finishing breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, I was crossing the foyer planning to return to my room and ring my good lady wife Devon in Brisbane.
I suspect she didn't like me being away from home, although she usually put on a brave face.
Without fail she would take the opportunity of my absence interstate to have one of her lady friends stay over at our house.
I must say every one of her friends was a perfect house guest and always helped out around the house. I knew this because whenever I returned home unexpectedly the bed in the guest room was always made while the one in our own bedroom was quite dishevelled. But I digress.
I had finished breakfast and was heading across the Wentworth Hotel's foyer towards the lifts when I spied Kerr coming in the opposite direction.
He didn't appear to be in the best of health and seemed somewhat unsteady on his feet. I thought perhaps he had been pushing himself too hard and was on the brink of exhaustion, even at such an early hour of the working day.
We sat down on some foyer lounges and he waved his arms in the direction of a door being guarded by a hotel doorman.
"They won't admit me to the bar," Kerr said to me plaintively.
Once again I found this somewhat odd because, since our previous encounter I'd discovered he had been admitted to the NSW bar in 1938.
I reminded him of our first meeting and he sparked up considerably when I told him I was staying at the hotel.
He insisted on escorting me to my room where we chatted for several minutes before I excused myself and headed to the bathroom to answer nature's call.
While I was in there he yelled through the bathroom door: "Got to go. See you later Rufus."
When I emerged he had disappeared.
As chance would have it, just a few weeks later - in August 1973 - Prime Minister Whitlam asked me to run my eye over a list of possible appointees for the soon-to-be-vacant post of Governor-General. Kerr's name was on it.
I recall the day because it was the same morning that a letter of demand arrived from the Wentworth Hotel asking me to pay $95 for "undeclared use" of my room's mini-bar during my brief stay. I dashed off a letter immediately telling them in no uncertain terms that I hadn't touched the mini-bar or its contents, and in fact I hadn't opened the fridge door at all.
In any event and after considerable correspondence, I settled the bill - a huge amount of money in those days - just to save my good name and that of the government I was serving. But I digress again.
I cannot even recall the other names on Whitlam's list of possible G-Gs because I immediately said to him: "I've met Kerr. He's the one."
I said so because I felt it would be handy to have someone at Yarralumla whom I knew. It would benefit both the G-G and the PM.
Mr Whitlam - who never really gave me the impression he regarded the vice-regal job as all that significant - took me at my word and soon made a formal offer to Kerr who quickly accepted.
After tidying up a few loose ends, his appointment was announced in February 1974 and he took over from the retiring Sir Paul Hasluck in July of that year.
As everyone is only too aware, the tenure of Sir John Kerr as Governor-General ended in controversy with his sacking of Mr Whitlam as Prime Minister.
This obviously still rankles Mr Whitlam.
I say that because in March last year, Mr Whitlam appeared on the John Laws wireless program in Sydney. He was asked to comment on what was then the early stage of the controversy embroiling former G-G Peter Hollingworth, and which was to lead to his resignation more than a year later.
During the interview with Mr Laws, Mr Whitlam said he should have made inquiries in the legal fraternity about Sir John before he was appointed.
"I should have asked other Supreme Court judges or senior counsel what he was like and they would have told me that Kerr had a drink problem," Mr Whitlam said to Mr Laws and his listeners.
I recognise that in public life, criticisms are to be expected. Peter Hollingworth came in for some severe personal attacks before he was forced to quit.
I know his dismissal by Sir John must continue to be a very sore point with Mr Whitlam, but I do not believe it excuses him for making up and spreading completely unsubstantiated stories about Sir John.

Rufus Badinage MBE, now retired, is one of Australia's leading experts on politics and public administration having worked as a senior bureaucrat for various state and federal governments.