Section 5 of the Constitution of Australia

Section 5 of the Constitution of Australia provides that the Governor-General of Australia may prorogue the Australian Parliament, thereby bringing the current legislative session to an end.[1] Prorogation clears all business pending before Parliament and allows the Houses to be called back on a particular date without triggering an election.[2][1] The date for the new session of Parliament may be specified either in the proroguing proclamation or when the Governor-General summons the Houses to meet again.[1]

Prior to 1977, it was common for the federal Parliament to have up to three sessions, with Parliament being prorogued at the end of each session and recalled at the beginning of the next. This was not always the case, for instance the 10th Parliament (1926-1928) went full term without prorogation. The practice of having multiple sessions in the same Parliament gradually fell into disuse, and all Parliaments from 1978 to 2013 had a single session.

Since 1990, it has been the practice for the Parliament to be prorogued on the same day that the House is dissolved so that the Senate will not be able to sit during the election period.[3]

Before the 2016 prorogation and recall of Parliament, prorogations that did not immediately precede an election occurred 28 times since the 1901 federation of Australia but not once since 1977.[2] Since 1961, such prorogations have only occurred four times - in 1968 to allow a new ministry to be formed following the death of Harold Holt, in 1974 and 1977 to allow Queen Elizabeth II to officially open a new "session" of Parliament, and in 2016 to force the Senate (in which the Government lacked a majority) to reconvene and consider legislation that could form triggers for a double dissolution before the 2016 Australian federal election.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Muller, Damon (23 March 2016). "So you've been prorogued – Common questions answered". Flagpost. Parliamentary Library (Australia). Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Karp, Paul (21 March 2016). "How the PM used an obscure part of the constitution to recall parliament". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Chronology of Parliaments". House of Representatives Practice (6th ed.). Parliament of Australia. pp. 808–812.
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