Chapter 12 - Legislation
Governor-General’s assent
The
Governor-General’s assent completes the passage of a bill and makes
it a law, although the law does not necessarily have effect immediately (see
below). (Provisions in the Constitution, ss 59 and 60, for the interpolation of
the monarch into the legislative process do not now operate.)
The Governor-General’s assent to a bill is communicated to both
Houses of the Parliament by messages, which are then reported to the Houses.
The Governor-General may assent to bills after the Parliament has been prorogued or the House of Representatives
dissolved (for an analysis of this matter, see Chapter 19, Relations with the
Executive Government, under Effect of prorogation and dissolution of House on
the Senate; also ASP, 6th ed., pp 520-1).
In 1976 a bill
originated in the House of Representatives which had not been passed by both
Houses was mistakenly forwarded to the Governor-General and assented to. There
was confusion between two bills of the same title originated in the House. When
the error was discovered the Governor-General revoked the purported assent and
assented to the bill which had actually passed (VP, 15/2/1977, pp 575-6). A similar procedure was followed to
correct an error in a House bill in 2001 (VP, 21/6/2001, p. 2379).
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