Section 40 of the Constitution of Australia provides that questions in 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 ...

shall be determined by majority vote, excluding that of the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

. If there is a tie, then the Speaker has a

casting vote A casting vote is a vote that someone may exercise to resolve a tied vote in a deliberative body. A casting vote is typically by the presiding officer of a council, legislative body, committee, etc., and may only be exercised to break a deadlock ...

. The Speaker does not have to use this vote, and if they choose not to do so, then the question is answered in the negative."The Speaker's Casting Vote"
The Hon. Neil Andrew MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Unlike in 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 ...

, tied votes in the House of Representatives are rare. From

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

until the end of 2004, there have been only 21 occasions on which a Speaker or Deputy Speaker has chosen to use their casting vote."House of Representatives Practice"
5th edition, Chapter 6, "The Speaker's vote".

Interpretation

Aside from the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, Second Deputy Speaker or any other person elected to perform the Speaker's duties under section 36 of the Constitution has a casting vote in the case of a tie. A member of the Speaker's Panel does not have a casting vote, because they are nominated by the Speaker, not elected by the House.

Drafting

The

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...

suggested that the Speaker should be able to vote on constitutional amendments even when the votes are not equal (but in the case of a tie, they would not get a second vote and the amendment would be rejected). Section 128 of the Constitution says that constitutional amendments require 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 ...

in both houses to be passed - a majority of the total number of MPs, not just those present and voting. For this reason, the Victorian Parliament thought that the Speaker's vote might be necessary to achieve the required number of MPs. This suggestion was rejected at the 1897 Sydney Constitutional Convention.

References

{{Constitution of Australia Australian constitutional law

Interpretation

Drafting

See also

References