TWO DISMISSALS

jack lang - gough whitlam

DEMOCRACY? AT WORK?

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Selected extracts from the Constitution regarding the powers of the Governor General

Governor-General.

2. A Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall be Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth, and shall have and may exercise in the Commonwealth during the Queen's pleasure, but subject to this Constitution, such powers and functions of the Queen as Her Majesty may be pleased to assign to him.

Prorogation and dissolution.

5. The Governor-General may appoint such times for holding the sessions of the Parliament as he thinks fit, and may also from time to time, by Proclamation or otherwise, prorogue the Parliament, and may in like manner dissolve the House of Representatives.

Casual Vacancies - original text from the original Act

15. If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration
of his term of service, the Houses of Parliament of the State for
which he was chosen shall, sitting and voting together, choose a
person to hold the place until the expiration of the term, or until
the election of a successor as hereinafter provided, whichever first
happens. But if the Houses of Parliament of the State are not in
session at the time when the vacancy is notified, the Governor of
the State, with the advice of the Executive Council thereof, may
appoint a person to hold the place until the expiration of fourteen
days after the beginning of the next session of the Parliament of
the State, or until the election of a successor, whichever first
happens.
At the next general election of members of the House of
Representatives, or at the next election of senators for the State,
whichever first happens, a successor shall, if the term has not then
expired, be chosen to hold the place from the date of his election
until the expiration of the term.
The name of any senator so chosen or appointed shall be
certified by the Governor of the State to the Governor-General.

Casual vacancies.

Current Version of the Casual Vacancies section replacing the original text above

Casual vacancies. (Substituted by No., 82, 1977, s.2.) Note the date of this provision - it is after the dismissal of Gough Whitlam

15. If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of service, the Houses of Parliament of the State for which he was chosen, sitting and voting together, or, if there is only one House of that Parliament, that House, shall choose a person to hold the place until the expiration of the term. But if the Parliament of the State is not in session when the vacancy is notified, the Governor of the State, with the advice of the Executive Council thereof, may appoint a person to hold the place until the expiration of fourteen days from the beginning of the next session of the Parliament of the State or the expiration of the term, whichever first happens.

Where a vacancy has at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of a State and, at the time when he was so chosen, he was publicly recognized by a particular political party as being an endorsed candidate of that party and publicly represented himself to be such a candidate, a person chosen or appointed under this section in consequence of that vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy and a subsequent vacancy or vacancies, shall, unless there is no member of that party available to be chosen or appointed, be a member of that party.

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