Double dissolution

The trigger bill originated in the House of Representatives.

Three months elapsed between the two rejections of the bill by the Senate ("rejection" in this context can extend to the Senate's failure to pass the bill, or to the Senate passing it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree).

The second rejection occurred in the same as the first, or the subsequent session, but no later.

session

In 1914, the Commonwealth Liberal Party sought to abolish preferential employment for trade union members in the public service,^[2] resulting in a double dissolution on 30 July 1914. In the election on 5 September 1914 the government was defeated by the opposition, Andrew Fisher's Australian Labor Party,^[3] and the bill was not pursued.

Joseph Cook

In 1951, the Liberal–Country Party coalition government sought to reverse the proposed nationalisation of the banks put in place by the Australian Labor Party government led by Ben Chifley.^[4] The repeal was opposed by the Labor Party in the Senate. Parliament was dissolved on 19 March 1951. In the election on 28 April 1951, the government was returned with a reduced majority in the lower house, but now with a majority in the Senate. The Commonwealth Bank Bill was presented to Parliament again on 26 June 1951 and passed both houses.^[5][6]

Robert Menzies

In 1974, the Labor government was unable to pass a large number of bills through a hostile Senate. The government had announced a half-Senate election, but in the wake of the Gair affair, Whitlam decided to call a double dissolution on 11 April 1974, citing six bills as triggers.^{[note 2]} The bills included representation of the territories and for the setting up of Medibank. At the election of 18 May 1974, the government was returned, but still without a majority in the Senate. Sir Paul Hasluck's term as Governor-General ended on 11 July and the new Governor-General Sir John Kerr took office. The trigger bills were reintroduced and again rejected by the Senate and on 30 July Kerr approved Whitlam's request for a joint sitting. The coalition parties applied to the High Court on 1 August to prevent the joint sitting. One of the grounds was that the dissolution writs did not set out which "proposed laws" were the subject of the dissolution and that only one bill could be dealt with at a joint sitting. The court delivered a unanimous decision on 5 August 1974 and ruled that the sitting was constitutionally valid, that the joint sitting may deal with any number of trigger bills, and that provided the circumstances set out in section 57 had been satisfied then the Governor-General need not specify which "proposed laws" were to be the subject of a future joint sitting.^[1] The joint sitting took place on 6–7 August 1974, and it passed the 6 trigger bills.^[7] Thirteen months later, four states challenged the validity of various laws passed in the joints sitting. The High Court upheld the validity of the Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973,^[8] the Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2) 1973,^[9] and the Representation Act 1973,^[10][11] The Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973,^[12] was challenged on the grounds that there had not been the required 3 month gap between the Senate's first and second rejections of that Act. The High Court ruled that the Act was not eligible for the double dissolution process, as the Senate had not had sufficient time to "fail to pass" it.^[13]

Gough Whitlam

In 1975, the Whitlam government was again frustrated by a hostile Senate. The government had accumulated a total of 21 trigger bills, but did not call for a double dissolution. However, the Whitlam government was unable to obtain passage of appropriation bills through the hostile Senate, leading to the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. On 11 November 1975, in an attempt to break the deadlock, Whitlam intended to call a half-Senate election, but instead was dismissed by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, who then appointed Malcolm Fraser, the Leader of the Liberal-Country coalition Opposition, caretaker Prime Minister. The Fraser minority government immediately passed the Supply bills through the Senate before losing a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives. Kerr then dissolved both houses of Parliament on the advice of the new Prime Minister citing the trigger bills, even though Fraser had opposed the bills. Fraser remained the caretaker Prime Minister during the election campaign. In the election on 13 December 1975 the Fraser government was elected with a majority in both houses^[14] and the trigger bills were not brought up after the election.

[note 3]

On 3 February 1983, Malcolm Fraser called a double dissolution, citing 13 trigger bills. When Fraser called the election, he expected he would be facing Bill Hayden as the alternative prime minister. But unbeknown to Fraser, Labor had changed leadership from Hayden to Bob Hawke earlier that same morning. The Fraser coalition government was defeated by the Labor Opposition led by Hawke at the election on 5 March 1983,^[15] and the bills lapsed. Fraser is the only prime minister to have advised two double dissolutions (1975 and 1983).

[note 4]

On 5 June 1987, Bob Hawke called a double dissolution after the rejection of the . The government was returned at the election of 11 July 1987, but still without a Senate majority. The bill was reintroduced in September 1987, and a vote in the Senate was planned for 7 October. A retired public servant, Ewart Smith, said that the Australia Card Bill was unworkable because the implementation date would have needed to be the subject of a regulation, which would have required the concurrence of the Senate alone, which was hostile to the legislation. Even if the bill had been passed by the parliament at a joint sitting, the Opposition could still have prevented it from being implemented as long as it held a majority in the Senate. In these circumstances, Hawke decided to abandon the bill.^[16][17] Sir Ninian Stephen is the only Governor-General to have approved two double dissolutions (1983 and 1987).

Australia Card Bill 1986

On 8 May 2016, called a double dissolution election for 2 July 2016,^[18] citing three of the four available trigger bills.^{[note 5]} The trigger bills were reintroduced to parliament after the election and all were passed with amendments.

Malcolm Turnbull

Electoral system of Australia