Chapter 21 - Relations
with the House of Representatives
Simultaneous dissolutions of 1987
The simultaneous dissolutions of the House of Representatives and the
Senate on 5 June 1987 were, by comparison with other such dissolutions,
relatively straightforward. A single proposed law, the Australia Card Bill, was
involved. The bill was unquestionably of major significance to the government
and had been unambiguously rejected by the Senate on two occasions in clear
conformity with the time requirements of section 57.
The Australia Card Bill 1986 was presented to the House of
Representatives and read a first time on 22 October 1986. It completed its
passage through the House on 14 November and was received by the Senate, and
read a first time, on 17 November 1986. On 10 December 1986 the Senate refused
to give the bill a second reading.
The bill was presented to the House of Representatives again on 18 March 1987 and read a first
time. It was read a second time on 25 March 1987, declared an
urgent bill, and read a third time on the same day.
The bill was received by the Senate and read a first time on 26 March 1987. Following debate
the Senate again refused to give the bill a second reading on 2 April 1987.
On 27 May 1987 the Prime Minister
advised the Governor-General to dissolve the House and the Senate
simultaneously on 5 June 1987. In his letter the Prime Minister wrote:
I advise you to exercise your power
under section 57 of the Constitution and dissolve simultaneously the Senate and
the House of Representatives on 5 June, with a view to elections for both
Houses being held on Saturday 11 July
1987.
The provisions of the Constitution for
a double dissolution are set out in the first paragraph of section 57 ...
I advise that all conditions justifying
a double dissolution have been established. The Senate has twice rejected the
Australia Card Bill 1986 in a manner which brings this proposed law directly
within the provisions of section 57 and your power to dissolve both Houses. The
prohibition in the last sentence quoted above does not apply as the term of the
House of Representatives does not expire until 21 February 1988.
The Australia Card Bill 1986 is an
integral part of the Government’s tax reform package and is aimed at restoring
fairness to the Australian taxation and social welfare systems. By providing a
basic national system of personal identification, together with broad and
effective protections for individual privacy, the Bill would help to ensure that
every Australian pays his or her fair share of tax and that benefits from the
welfare system go properly and only to those in need.
The Government considers that
introduction of the Australia Card would result in savings of considerable
magnitude — the most conservative estimate by the Australian Taxation Office of
revenue gains in the tax area alone being $724 million a year once the program
is fully operational. Department estimates of savings which would accrue in
social security and medicare expenditures are of the order of $153 million, so
that the total gain to public resources from this measure would be of the order
of $877 million. This makes it the single most effective weapon available to
the Government for combating tax evasion and welfare fraud and an important
element in the Government’s program of economic reform to meet the challenge of
difficult economic circumstances. My Government believes that it is bound at
this time to seize every reasonable opportunity, such as is afforded by this Bill,
to reduce the budgetary deficit and thus to underpin our progress towards
economic recovery.
The Australia Card Bill which has been
obstructed by the Senate is a fundamental part of the Government’s legislative
program both in terms of its economic impact and in terms of the principle of
equity it represents. Not only has the Senate frustrated this critical measure
but it has also obstructed a number of other measures including various
taxation bills such as the Taxation (Unpaid Company Tax) Assessment Amendment
Bill 1985.
The Senate has been spending large
amounts of time debating matters of marginal significance, with the effect of
reducing substantially the time available for proper consideration of essential
government legislation. The imposition of artificial deadlines by the Senate on
receipt of government bills for passage has exacerbated this problem. Just
today the Senate has refused to reconsider the Government’s legislation to
extend television services to rural areas.
In summary, I regard the situation
which has arisen in the Parliament as critical to the workings of the
Government and the Parliament. (PP 331/1987, pp 1-2)
The Governor-General replied later the same day:
I am satisfied that circumstances such
as are specified in S57 of the Constitution exist in relation to the Australia
Card Bill and that I should dissolve both Houses of the Parliament
simultaneously in accordance with your advice.
I note your assurances that funds will
be available which will ensure that the work of the administration can continue
through the election period. I note, too, your intention to table in the
Parliament your letter and my reply to it. (ibid., p. 5)
A proclamation dissolving the two
Houses was accordingly issued by the Governor-General on 5 June 1987.
The government was returned at the general election on 11 July 1987 by 86 seats to 62
in the House of Representatives. However, it remained in a minority in the
Senate (32-44).
The Australia Card
legislation was again passed by the House of Representatives on 16 September 1987. During second
reading debate in the Senate the Opposition released details of advice that the
legislation, to be effective, would be dependent on certain action taken by regulations.
These regulations would be liable to disallowance in the Senate. Government
attempts to forestall disallowance by seeking passage of a resolution stating
that the Senate affirmed “that it will, consequent upon the passage of the
Australia Card Bill at a joint sitting of
the Houses, secure the effective operation of the legislation by not
disallowing regulations” did not succeed. The bill was
referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
on 23
September 1987.
On 8 October 1987 the Senate resolved on the motion of the government
that the committee report the bill on or before the next sitting without
further considering the bill or matters referred in relation to it, and that on
receipt of the report the bill be laid aside without further question being
put. It was then open to the government, on the basis that it could claim that
the Senate had again failed to pass the bill, to advise the Governor-General to
call a joint sitting of the two Houses, at which the government would have had
a majority to pass the bill. The resulting statute, however, could have been
rendered inoperative by the disallowance by the Senate of any regulations made
under it. This problem could not be overcome by amendment of the bill, because
under section 57 a bill
submitted to a joint sitting must be the bill as last proposed by the House of
Representatives together with any amendments proposed by one House and not
agreed to by the other. There were no such amendments which could be put to a
joint sitting. Any amendment would have to be made after the bill’s passage and
would require the consent of the Senate. (On the question of the same bill
under s. 57, and the amendments which may be put to a joint sitting, see below
and C.K. Comans, ‘Constitution, section 57 — further questions’, Federal Law
Review, 15:3, September 1985, p. 243.)
The government therefore decided to abandon the bill.
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