Addresses for documents
If the Senate requires the tabling of a document concerning the royal prerogative or correspondence addressed to the Governor-General, it must present an address to the Governor-General requesting that the documents be laid before the Senate.[66]
This procedure is of ancient origin and has not been used for many years. On 17 June 1914, the Senate agreed to a motion for an address to the Governor-General requesting him to allow the publication of the communications between the Governor-General and his advisers relating to the simultaneous dissolution of both Houses of the Parliament.[67] The Governor-General, however, in a reply to the address, stated that, on the advice of his ministers, he was unable to accede to the request contained in the address.[68]