Double Dissolution - History

History

There have been 6 double dissolutions: in 1914, 1951, 1974, 1975, 1983 and 1987. However, a joint sitting following a double dissolution pursuant to section 57 has only taken place once, and that was in 1974.

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

In 1951, the Robert Menzies Liberal-Country Party coalition government sought to reverse the proposed nationalisation of the banks put in place by the Australian Labor Party led by Ben Chifley when it was still in government. The repeal was opposed by the Australian 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 Labor was unable to pass a large number of bills through a hostile Senate. The government decided to call a double dissolution on 11 April 1974, citing 6 bills which were regarded as being qualified as triggers for a double dissolution. At the election of 18 May 1974, the government was returned, but still without a majority in the Senate. Paul Hasluck's term as Governor-General ended on 11 July and the new Governor-General John Kerr took office. The trigger bills were reintroduced and again rejected by the Senate and Kerr approved Whitlam's request for a joint sitting on 30 July. 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 an 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 have 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 the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973 in the High Court on the grounds that correct constitutional procedure had not been followed: it had not been one of the 'proposed laws' in dispute when the double dissolution was called and could not therefore be voted on by the joint session. The states were Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. 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 and 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, 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 Parliament and lost a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives. John Kerr then dissolved both houses of Parliament on the "advice" of the caretaker 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. The trigger bills were not brought up after the election.

On 3 February 1983, the Fraser government 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, and the bills were not pursued.

On 5 June 1987, the Hawke government 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, 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, which was hostile to the legislation. Even if the bill had been passed by the parliament at a joint sitting, the Senate could still have prevented it ever being implemented in practice. In these circumstances, Hawke decided to abandon the bill.