A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the
Australian Constitution
The Constitution of Australia (or Australian Constitution) is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the ...
to resolve deadlocks in the
bicameral
Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...
between the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
(
lower house
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
) and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
(
upper house
An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...
). A double dissolution is the only circumstance in which the entire Senate can be dissolved.
Similar to the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, but unlike the
British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
, Australia's two parliamentary houses generally have almost equal legislative power (the Senate may reject outright but cannot amend appropriation (money) bills, which must originate in the House of Representatives). Governments, which are formed in the House of Representatives, can be frustrated by a Senate determined to reject their legislation.
If the conditions (called a trigger) are satisfied, the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
can advise the
governor-general
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
to dissolve both houses of Parliament and call a full election. If, after the election, the legislation that triggered the double dissolution is still not passed by the two houses, then a
joint sitting of the two houses of parliament can be called to vote on the legislation. If the legislation is passed by the joint sitting, it is deemed to have passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The
1974 joint sitting remains the only occurrence in federal Australian history.
Historically, a double dissolution election has been called in lieu of an early election, with the formal trigger bill not playing a significant role during the subsequent election campaign.
There are also similar double dissolution provisions in the
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
n state constitution.
Constitutional basis
Part of
section 57 of the Constitution provides:
If the House of Representatives passes any proposed law, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, and if after an interval of three months the House of Representatives, in the same or the next session, again passes the proposed law with or without any amendments which have been made, suggested, or agreed to by the Senate, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, the Governor-General may dissolve the Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously. But such dissolution shall not take place within six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by effluxion of time.
Section 57 also provides that, following the election, if the Senate a third time rejects the bill or bills that were the subject of the double dissolution, the Governor-General may convene a joint sitting of the two houses to consider the bill or bills, including any amendments which have been previously proposed in either house, or any new amendments. If a bill is passed by an
absolute majority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
of the total membership of the joint sitting, it is treated as though it had been passed separately by both houses, and is presented for royal assent. The only time this procedure was invoked was in the
1974 joint sitting.
Trigger event
The double dissolution provision comes into play if the Senate and House twice fail to agree on a piece of legislation (in section 57 called "a proposed law", and commonly referred to as a "trigger"). When one or more such triggers exist, the Governor-General may dissolve both the House and Senate – pursuant to section 57 of the Constitution – and issue writs for an election in which every seat in the Parliament is contested.
The conditions stipulated by section 57 of the Constitution are:
* 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
session as the first, or the subsequent session, but no later.
There is no similar provision for resolving deadlocks with respect to bills that have originated in the Senate and are blocked in the House of Representatives.
Though the Constitution refers to possible actions by the Governor-General, it had long been presumed that convention required the Governor-General to act only on the advice of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
. However, as the
1975 constitutional crisis demonstrated, the Governor-General is not compelled to follow the Prime Minister's advice. In these cases, he or she must be personally satisfied that the conditions specified in the Constitution apply, and is entitled to seek additional information or advice before coming to a decision.
Practice and misconceptions
As a High Court Chief Justice
Barwick observed in a unanimous decision in ''Cormack v Cope (Joint Sittings Case)'' (1974)
[.] (with emphasis added):
History
![Malcolm Turnbull visits Peter Cosgrove to request double dissolution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Malcolm_Turnbull_visits_Peter_Cosgrove_to_request_double_dissolution.jpg)
There have been seven double dissolutions: in
1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
,
1951,
1974,
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
,
1983,
1987 and
2016. However, a
joint sitting
A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose.
Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicamer ...
following a double dissolution pursuant to section 57 has only taken place once, in 1974.
* In 1914, the
Joseph Cook Commonwealth Liberal Party
The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fus ...
sought to abolish preferential employment for trade union members in the public service, 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
Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...
's
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
,
and the bill was not pursued.
* In 1951, the
Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
–
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
Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...
. 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.
* In 1974, the
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from 1972 to 1975. The longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1967 to 1977, he was notable for being the he ...
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
The Gair Affair was an episode in Australian political life in 1974, during the government led by the Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Whitlam offered the post of Ambassador to Ireland to a non-government senator from Queensland, Vince Gair, ...
, Whitlam decided to call a double dissolution on 11 April 1974, citing six bills as triggers. The bills included representation of the territories and for the setting up of
Medibank
Medibank Private Limited, better known as simply Medibank, is one of the largest Australian private health insurance providers, covering 3.7 million people in 2021. Medibank initially started as an Australian Government not-for-profit insurer i ...
. At the
election of 18 May 1974, the government was returned, but still without a majority in the Senate. Sir
Paul Hasluck
Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck, (1 April 1905 – 9 January 1993) was an Australian statesman who served as the 17th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1969 to 1974. Prior to that, he was a Liberal Party politician, holding min ...
's term as Governor-General ended on 11 July and the new Governor-General
Sir John Kerr
Sir John Robert Kerr (24 September 1914 – 24 March 1991) was an Australian barrister and judge who served as the 18th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1974 to 1977. He is primarily known for his involvement in the 1975 constit ...
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
A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose.
Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicamer ...
. 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.
The joint sitting took place on 6–7 August 1974, and it passed the 6 trigger bills. 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, the ''Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2)'' 1973, and the ''Representation Act'' 1973,
[.] The ''Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act'' 1973, 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.
[.]
* 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
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir Jo ...
. 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
Sir John Robert Kerr (24 September 1914 – 24 March 1991) was an Australian barrister and judge who served as the 18th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1974 to 1977. He is primarily known for his involvement in the 1975 constit ...
, who then appointed
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, holding office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Fraser was raised on hi ...
, 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
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
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 and the trigger bills were not brought up after the election.
* 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
William George Hayden (born 23 January 1933) is an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 1983, and served as ...
as the alternative prime minister. But unbeknown to Fraser, Labor had changed leadership from Hayden to
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...
earlier that same morning. The Fraser coalition government was defeated by the Labor Opposition led by Hawke at the
election on 5 March 1983, and the bills lapsed. Fraser is the only prime minister to have advised two double dissolutions (1975 and 1983).
* On 5 June 1987, Bob Hawke called a double dissolution after the rejection of the
Australia Card Bill 1986. 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
Ewart Smith OBE (1920–1991) was an Australian public servant. He was little known to the public during his working life, but in retirement he played a very significant role in the demise of the Australia Card proposal in 1987.
Career
Ewa ...
, pointed out 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.
Sir
Ninian Stephen
Sir Ninian Martin Stephen (15 June 1923 – 29 October 2017) was an Australian judge who served as the 20th governor-general of Australia, in office from 1982 to 1989. He was previously a justice of the High Court of Australia from 1972 to 198 ...
is the only Governor-General to have approved two double dissolutions (1983 and 1987).
* On 8 May 2016,
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Turnbull grad ...
called a
double dissolution election for 2 July 2016, citing three of the four available trigger bills. The trigger bills were reintroduced to parliament after the election and all were passed with amendments.
Summary
The following table is a summary of the relevant details:
Elections
A double dissolution affects the outcome of elections for houses of parliament using proportional representation over multiple elections, such as the
proportional voting system for the Senate where each state normally only elects half its Senate delegation, but following a double dissolution, each state elects its entire senate delegation. The outcome is affected in two ways:
# the
quota
Quota may refer to:
Economics
* Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country
* Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture
* Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe
* Indi ...
for a seat is lower making it easier for smaller parties to win seats; and
# Senators need to be allocated long-term and short-term seats.
Neither of these issues arise in relation to the two territories represented in the Senate as each elects its two senators to a term ending at the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
Quota
Under proportional representation, the more seats there are, the easier it is for smaller parties to win seat. A double dissolution increases the number of available seats because all seats are contested in the same election. The following calculations refer to the current arrangements of 12 senate seats per state since 1984, however the calculations are similar for the period from 1949 until 1983 when there were 10 senate seats per state. The quota for the election of each senator in each Australian state in a full senate election is 7.69% (
), while in a normal half-Senate election the quota is 14.28% (
).
While the threshold is lower for smaller parties, for more significant parties the distribution of candidates' votes as they are eliminated has a rounding effect. A double dissolution favours parties that have a vote significantly greater than a multiple of the required double dissolution vote and greater than a multiple of the normal quota. It disadvantages those that do not. For example, a party achieving 10% of the vote is likely to get one candidate out of six elected in a regular election (as minor parties' votes are distributed until they get to 14.28%) but the same party with the same vote is likely to have one candidate out of 12 elected during a double dissolution election (as their second candidate will be left with 2.31% and be excluded early in the count). A party with 25% is likely to achieve three candidates out of 12 during a double dissolution election (three candidates and 1.83% of the vote for their 4th candidate distributed to other candidates) and two out of six in a regular election (one candidate taking 14.28% and the second holding 10.72% remains standing until minor parties' preferences push the second candidate to a quota).
Since the abolition of
group voting tickets A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member electoral divisions with si ...
in the lead-up to the
2016 general election, it is no longer possible to create "calculators" that assess the senate election outcome with reasonable accuracy.
Antony Green
Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst.
Early years and background
Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gre ...
's working guide is that "if a party has more than 0.5 of a quota, it will be in the race for one of the final seats". His calculation of the percentage of primary-vote required for the first six full- and half-quotas at a double dissolution election are as follows:
Unlike the case of a normal half-Senate election, the newly elected Senate, like the House, takes office immediately. The Senate cycle is altered, with the next change of Senate membership scheduled for the third date that falls on 1 July after the election. The senators from each state are divided into two classes: the first class receive three-year terms and the second class receive six-year terms (both of these may be interrupted by another double dissolution). Thus for the Parliament elected in the
March 1983 double dissolution election, the next two Senate changeovers would have been due on 1 July 1985 and 1 July 1988, while the term of the new House of Representatives would have expired in 1986.
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...
decided to call
a regular federal election for December 1984 after only 18 months in office, to bring the two election cycles back into synchronisation.
Allocation of long-term and short-term seats
In order to return to the normal arrangement of half the state Senators being contested at each election, following a double dissolution,
section 13 of the Australian Constitution requires the senate to divide the state senators into two classes, with three-year and six-year terms. This has traditionally been done by allocating long terms to the senators elected earliest in the count. The
1984 amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act required the Australian Electoral Commission to conduct a notional recount as if only half the seats were to be elected, which was seen as producing a fairer allocation. This alternative allocation has not yet been used. Following double dissolution elections in
1987 and
2016, the order-elected method continued to be used, despite Senate resolutions in 1998 and 2010 agreeing to use the new method.
South Australian double dissolutions
Under section 41 of the South Australian constitution, if a bill is passed by the
House of Assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level.
Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...
during a session of Parliament and in the following Parliament after a general election for the lower house is rejected by the
Legislative Council on both occasions, it is permitted for the
Governor of South Australia to either issue a writ for the election of 2 additional members of the Legislative Council or to dissolve both houses at the same time to elect an entirely new Parliament. As the upper house consists of 22 members, with 11 elected statewide at each general election for an 8-year term at a quota of 8.33%, this would result in an election for all 22 members at a quota of 4.35%.
Although it has been threatened, this South Australian double dissolution procedure has never been used.
See also
*
Electoral system of Australia
The Australian electoral system comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Parliament of Australia, Australian Parliament and is governed primarily by the ''Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918''. The system presently ...
Explanatory notes
References
{{Politics of Australia , state = autocollapse
Australian Senate
Federal elections in Australia
Parliament of Australia
Political terminology in Australia