Joint Session - Australia

Australia

In Australia, if a Bill is deadlocked, then following a double dissolution of both Houses, and if the new Parliament is still unable to pass the Bill, then the Bill may be passed by an absolute majority of a joint sitting. The only such example of this occurring was the Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament of 1974 under the Whitlam Labor government.

The bill(s) have to be rejected twice at intervals of at least 3 months, after which a double dissolution election would be held.

Because the Lower House has twice as many members as the Upper House the lower house has an advantage in a joint sitting. The constitution has a so-called nexus that requires this as near as practicable 2:1 ratio; an attempt to change the constitution to to eliminate the nexus failed.

The voting system used by the senate before 1949, which might be called "Multiple At Large voting" in each state often lead to landslide if not wipeout results such as 36-0 which would have given the Senate an advantage in any joint sitting had there been any.

The voting system used by the senate from 1949, proportional representation with preferences, leads to close or very close results; with the increase in the numbers of senators to an even number requires 57% of the vote in any state to get a majority of seats, 4-2, whereas 51% gets only 3-3.

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