Editing Gough Whitlam (section)

====Murphy raids====
{{Main|1973 Murphy raids}}
[[File:E1276-8 PM Australia Whitlam tone.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Whitlam with Richard Nixon|Whitlam visits US President [[Richard Nixon]], July 1973]]
In February 1973, the Attorney General, Senator [[Lionel Murphy]], led a police raid on the Melbourne office of the [[Australian Security Intelligence Organisation]], which was under his ministerial responsibility. Murphy believed that ASIO might have files relating to threats against Yugoslav Prime Minister [[Džemal Bijedić]], who was about to visit Australia, and feared ASIO might conceal or destroy them.{{sfn|Brown|2002|p=124}} The Opposition attacked the Government over the raid, terming Murphy a "loose cannon". A Senate investigation of the incident was cut short when Parliament was dissolved in 1974.{{sfn|Brown|2002|p=125}} According to journalist and author Wallace Brown, the controversy continued to dog the Whitlam government throughout its term, because the incident was "so silly".{{sfn|Brown|2002|p=124}}