Doug McClelland, the only surviving minister from Gough Whitlam’s first full cabinet in 1972, believes the dismissal of a prime minister by a governor-general exercising reserve powers without warning is unlikely to happen again because Australia has ­“matured” as a nation.

“I think it is most unlikely,” Mr McClelland, 99 years old, told The Australian. “The government of the day is elected by the voice of the people every three years and that is the very core of our democracy. The Australian people would be outraged if it happened again.

“Australia has grown up since then and I doubt that any ­governor-general appointed by a Labor prime minister or a Liberal prime minister, or any othe