Section 5 of the Constitution of Australia
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Section 5 of the Constitution of Australia empowers the
Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.prorogue Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the peri ...
the
Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-g ...
, thereby bringing the current legislative session to an end. Prorogation clears all business pending before Parliament and allows the Houses to be called back on a particular date without triggering an election. The date for the new session of Parliament may be specified either in the proroguing proclamation or when the Governor-General summons the Houses to meet again.


Text

The full text of the section is:
The Governor-General may appoint such times for holding the sessions of the Parliament as he thinks fit, and may also from time to time, by Proclamation or otherwise, prorogue the Parliament, and may in like manner dissolve the House of Representatives. Summoning Parliament After any general election the Parliament shall be summoned to meet not later than thirty days after the day appointed for the return of the writs. First session The Parliament shall be summoned to meet not later than six months after the establishment of the Commonwealth.


20th century prorogations in Australia

Prior to 1977, it was common for the
Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...
to have up to three sessions, with Parliament being prorogued at the end of each session and recalled at the beginning of the next. This was not always the case, for instance the 10th Parliament (1926-1928) went full term without prorogation. The practice of having multiple sessions in the same Parliament gradually fell into disuse, and all Parliaments from 1978 to 2013 had a single session. Between 1961 and the turn of the century, prorogations only occurred three times - in 1968 to allow a new ministry to be formed following the death of
Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in ...
, and in 1974 and 1977 to allow Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
to officially open a new "session" of Parliament. Since 1990, it has been the practice for the Parliament to be prorogued on the same day that the House is dissolved so that the Senate will not be able to sit during the election period.


2016 prorogation and recall of Parliament

The Turnbull Government relied on section 5 to reconvene the Australian Senate a week early on 3 May 2016, despite a majority of Senators having voted not to reconvene before 10 May 2016. This forced the Senate (in which the Government lacked a majority) to reconvene and consider legislation that could serve as triggers for a
double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives ( lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissoluti ...
before the
2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissol ...
, which otherwise may not have been considered before that election.


See also

*
Chronology of Australian federal parliaments The term of Australian parliaments is determined by the opening and dissolution (or expiration) of the House of Representatives. The Senate is not normally dissolved at all, except at a double dissolution, when the entire parliament is dissolve ...
*
Legislative session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two electio ...
*
Prorogation in Canada Prorogation is the end of a parliamentary session in the Parliament of Canada and the parliaments of its provinces and territories. It differs from a recess or adjournment, which do not end a session; and differs from a complete dissolution of ...


References

{{Constitution of Australia Australian constitutional law