Double Dissolution - Summary

Summary

The following table is a summary of the relevant details:

Date of double dissolution	Date of election	Governor-General	Prime Minister	Leader of the Opposition	Relevant bills	Circumstances and outcome
30 July 1914	5 September 1914	Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson	Joseph Cook	Andrew Fisher	Government Preference Prohibition Bill 1913	The bill sought to abolish preferential employment for trade union members in the public service. The Cook Commonwealth Liberal Party government was defeated by Andrew Fisher's Australian Labor Party.
19 March 1951	28 April 1951	Sir William McKell	Robert Menzies	Ben Chifley	Commonwealth Bank Bill 1950	The Menzies Liberal-Country Party coalition government was opposed by Chifley's Labor Party. It was returned with a reduced majority in the lower house, but crucially it now had a majority in the Senate as well. The Commonwealth Bank Bill was presented to Parliament again and passed both houses.
11 April 1974	18 May 1974	Sir Paul Hasluck	Gough Whitlam	Billy Snedden	6 bills	The Whitlam Labor government was returned, but still without a majority in the Senate. The bills were reintroduced and again rejected by the Senate. Sir Paul Hasluck's term ended on 11 July and the new Governor-General Sir John Kerr approved Whitlam's request for a joint sitting. This was held on 6–7 August 1974, and it passed all the bills. Subsequently, the High Court ruled that the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill had not been eligible for the double dissolution process, as the Senate had not had sufficient time to "fail to pass" it.
11 November 1975	13 December 1975	Sir John Kerr	Malcolm Fraser (caretaker)	Gough Whitlam	21 bills	Fraser, who had opposed the bills as Leader of the Liberal-Country coalition Opposition, had been appointed caretaker Prime Minister in unusual circumstances when the Whitlam government was unable to obtain passage of appropriation bills and was dismissed by the Governor-General. The Fraser minority government immediately lost a no-confidence motion in the lower house; but Sir John Kerr dissolved the Parliament. Fraser remained the caretaker Prime Minister during the election campaign. On 13 December the Fraser government was elected in its own right with a record majority.
3 February 1983	5 March 1983	Sir Ninian Stephen	Malcolm Fraser	Bob Hawke	13 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.
5 June 1987	11 July 1987	Sir Ninian Stephen	Bob Hawke	John Howard	Australia Card Bill 1986	The Hawke government was returned, but still without a Senate majority. The bill was reintroduced in September, 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.