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Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament of 1974

April 13, 2024

The 1974 Joint Sitting of the Parliament of Australia remains the only time that members of both houses of the federal parliament of Australia, the Senate and House of Representatives, have sat together as a single legislative body pursuant to section 57 of the Constitution. The joint sitting was held on 6 and 7 August 1974, following the double dissolution 1974 federal election.

Composition of the Joint Sitting
Government (95)
  Labor (95)[a]

Opposition (90)
  Liberal (63)[b]
  Country (27)[c]

Crossbench (2)[d]
  Liberal Movement (1)
  Independent (1)[e]  
  1. ^ Labor seats: House of Representatives (66), Senate (29)
  2. ^ Liberal seats: House of Representatives (40), Senate (23)
  3. ^ Country seats: House of Representatives (21), Senate (6)
  4. ^ Both crossbenchers were Senators
  5. ^ The independent senator was Michael Townley (Tasmania).

This sitting deliberated and voted upon the following bills:

  • Commonwealth Electoral Bill (No. 2) 1973, which sought to make Commonwealth electorates more even in size by reducing the allowable quota variation from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.
  • Senate (Representation of Territories) Bill 1973, which gave the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory two senators each.
  • Representation Bill 1973, which stated that neither the people of the territories nor the territory senators could be included in the formula for determining the number of House seats for each state
  • Health Insurance Bill 1973, which was the main bill that established Medibank (now known as Medicare).
  • Health Insurance Commission Bill 1973, which established the Medibank administrative agency, the Health Insurance Commission (now known as Medicare Australia).
  • Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill 1973, which was included despite some uncertainty as to whether the provisions of Section 57 had been met. This established a statutory body to control the exploration for, and development of, petroleum and mining resources.

All six bills were affirmed by an absolute majority of the total number of members and senators, a requirement under the Constitution for the bills to pass. All proceedings of the joint sitting were broadcast on radio and television by the Australian Broadcasting Commission and a complete sound record was made for archival purposes. This was the first Australian television coverage of parliamentary debates.[1]

Political background edit

In early 1974, the conservative parties led by Billy Snedden had chosen to use their majority in the Senate to oppose key government legislation. As the Senate had rejected the bills twice, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam advised a double dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution. The Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck agreed, and on 18 May an election for both houses of parliament was held.

Campaigning for the Labor Party, Whitlam asked the electorate to let him "finish the job" and used the slogan "Give Gough a Go". The Liberal and Country parties focused their campaign on government mismanagement and the state of the economy. The Labor Party was returned with a slightly reduced majority in the House of Representatives and, crucially, still without the Senate majority it required to pass the legislation in question.

The new parliament convened on 9 July. On 11 July, Sir Paul Hasluck's term as Governor-General ended, and Sir John Kerr was sworn in. The legislation was reintroduced, but, as expected, it again failed to pass the Senate. Now, all the constitutional requirements for a joint sitting had been met. At Whitlam's request, on 30 July Sir John Kerr issued a proclamation convening the joint sitting.

The coalition parties sought to prevent the joint sitting by challenging its constitutional validity in the High Court. The writs were issued by Senator Sir Magnus Cormack (Lib) and Senator Jim Webster (CP) on 1 August. The Queensland government also brought an action, although it sought a narrower declaration. The court delivered a unanimous decision on 5 August 1974 and ruled that the sitting was constitutionally valid.[2]

The sitting edit

 
All 187 federal MPs at the 1974 joint sitting
 
Votes for and against the Commonwealth Electoral Bill (No. 2) 1973

The joint sitting of all 187 members of Parliament (127 from the House of Representatives and 60 from the Senate) was held over two days, on 6 and 7 August 1974. The House of Representatives chamber was chosen as the venue for the sitting, and the event was covered by both radio and television. As well as the lower house holding a bigger seating capacity than the Senate, Whitlam said it was "the people's House, the House where alone governments are made and unmade".[3][4]: p. 4 

Speaker Jim Cope assumed the chair; his had been the only nomination. Whitlam further commented that "at long last, after sustained stonewalling and filibustering, the parliament can proceed to enact these essential parts of the government's program." Snedden, on the other hand, was more cynical, stating "this is indeed an historic occasion. So many people have described it as such that one is convinced it must be."

Given the importance of the occasion, both sides showed behaviour and restraint. The Coalition continued to oppose the legislation but the Labor majority in the House was such that it had an overall majority in the Parliament, and all the legislation was able to pass easily. A vote of 94 was required, so that if at least 94 of the 95 Labor parliamentarians supported the bills, each would be passed.

Special rules were drafted for the conduct of business. These included the hours of sittings, a 20-minute limit on speeches, and a requirement that there be at least 4 hours of debate (or 12 speakers) before debate on any bill could be ended.

For the most part, the proceedings moved smoothly and all of the bills were approved along party lines.

  • Commonwealth Electoral Bill (No. 2) 1973, 96 votes to 91. Liberal Movement Senator Steele Hall supported the three electoral Bills, citing his experience as Liberal Premier of South Australia, where he had fought his own party to improve unequal electoral arrangements known as the Playmander.[4]: pp. 43–44 
  • Senate (Representation of Territories) Bill 1973, 97 votes to 90. Northern Territory Country Party member Sam Calder supported the Territory Senators legislation, though he opposed the ACT being given added representation.[4]: p. 87 
  • Representation Bill 1973 96 votes to 91.[4]: pp. 87–88 
  • Health Insurance Commission Bill 1973 95 votes to 92.[5]: pp. 128–129 
  • Health Insurance Bill 1973 95 votes to 92.[5]: p. 129 
  • Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill 1973 95 votes to 91, with Liberal Party member John Gorton absent.[5]: pp. 174 

The proceedings concluded at 11 p.m. on 7 August, to mixed reviews. Labor saw it as an 'historic event'; their opponents saw it as 'a waste of time'. On 7 and 8 August 1974, the Governor-General gave Royal Assent to all the bills.[6][7][8][9][10]

Subsequent legal challenges edit

Thirteen months later, four state litigants, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia took legal action against the Commonwealth Government and the Minister for Minerals and Energy Rex Connor, challenging the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973.[11] The issue was when the Senate had 'failed to pass' the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill 1973, whether that was on 13 December 1973 which was the day of the Bill's first reading in the Senate and the last sitting day of 1973, or some time after the resumption of the Senate on 28 February 1974. In separate judgments, the majority of the High Court, Barwick CJ, McTiernan, Gibbs, Stephen and Mason JJ, held that the Senate had not 'failed to pass' the bill on 13 December 1973 and that there had not been an interval of three months between the Senate 'failing to pass' the Bill and 8 April 1974 which was when the House of Representatives again passed the Bill. Because the Bill had not been one of the 'proposed laws' in dispute when the double dissolution was called it could not therefore be voted on by the joint session and was not a valid law of the Commonwealth.[12] In his dissenting judgment Jacobs J concluded that the Senate had failed to pass the Bill on 13 December 1973 because it had adjourned further consideration of the Bill until February 1974. Although the law remains on the statute books as No. 43 of 1974,[11] it was invalidated by the declaration of the High Court.

Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland also sought to separately challenge the Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973,[13] the Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2) 1973,[14] and the Representation Act 1973.[15] The primary challenge was that the States alleged that too much time had elapsed from the second rejection of the Bills by the Senate and the double dissolution. In separate judgments, all of the judges Barwick CJ, McTiernan, Gibbs, Stephen, Mason, Jacobs and Murphy JJ, held that once the trigger conditions had been satisfied, the Governor-General could exercise the power at any time prior to 'six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by effluxion of time'.[16]

Other proposed joint sittings edit

1987 edit

In 1987, the Hawke government's legislation for an Australia Card was twice rejected by the Senate, before and again after the 1987 double dissolution election. A joint sitting was planned, but the bill was abandoned when it was realised its implementation would still have been subject to the whim of the Senate, which was hostile to the proposal.

2016 edit

Following the 2016 federal election, which was a double dissolution, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that his government would re-present the bills to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) to a joint sitting of parliament, despite a cabinet minister having declared the bills' prospects as dead because the government did not have the numbers to pass either of the bills,[17] and news media outlets decrying the likelihood of the government having the numbers to pass the relevant pieces of legislation in a joint sitting due to "a Senate that looks even more difficult and unwieldy than before the election and fewer government members in the House of Representatives."[18] However, a joint sitting was made unnecessary when the trigger bills were reintroduced to parliament after the election and all were passed with amendments.[19]

References edit

  1. ^ Odgers Australian Senate Practice 10 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, chapter 21
  2. ^ Cormack v Cope [1974] HCA 28, (1974) 131 CLR 432 (5 August 1974)
  3. ^ "Opening Speech at the Joint Sitting of Parliament". whitlamdismissal.com. from the original on 9 April 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d "Joint Sitting 6 August 1974" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Commonwealth of Australia.
  5. ^ a b c "Joint Sitting 7 August 1974" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Commonwealth of Australia.
  6. ^ "Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2) 1973". www.legislation.gov.au.
  7. ^ "Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973". www.legislation.gov.au.
  8. ^ Health, DSS. "Health Insurance Commission Act 1973". www.legislation.gov.au.
  9. ^ "Health Insurance Act 1973". Legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973". www.legislation.gov.au.
  11. ^ a b "Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973". Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  12. ^ Victoria v Commonwealth [1975] HCA 39, (1975) 134 CLR 81 (30 September 1975)
  13. ^ Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973 No. 39 of 1974.
  14. ^ Commonwealth Electoral Act (No. 2) 1973 No. 38 of 1974.
  15. ^ Representation Act 1973 No. 40 of 1974.
  16. ^ Western Australia v Commonwealth [1975] HCA 46, (1975) 134 CLR 201 (17 October 1975)
  17. ^ Karp, Paul (5 July 2016). "Coalition will put ABCC bill to joint sitting despite lacking numbers to pass". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  18. ^ Ng, Yee-Fui (12 July 2016). "Explainer: what happens now to the bills that triggered the double-dissolution election?". The Conversation. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  19. ^ Beech, Alexandra (21 November 2016). "Government agrees to whistleblower protection laws in bid to pass industrial relations bills". ABC News. Retrieved 9 July 2017.

Bibliography edit

    See also edit

    April 13, 2024
    joint, sitting, australian, parliament, 1974, 1974, joint, sitting, parliament, australia, remains, only, time, that, members, both, houses, federal, parliament, australia, senate, house, representatives, have, together, single, legislative, body, pursuant, se. The 1974 Joint Sitting of the Parliament of Australia remains the only time that members of both houses of the federal parliament of Australia the Senate and House of Representatives have sat together as a single legislative body pursuant to section 57 of the Constitution The joint sitting was held on 6 and 7 August 1974 following the double dissolution 1974 federal election Composition of the Joint Sitting Government 95 Labor 95 a Opposition 90 Liberal 63 b Country 27 c Crossbench 2 d Liberal Movement 1 Independent 1 e Labor seats House of Representatives 66 Senate 29 Liberal seats House of Representatives 40 Senate 23 Country seats House of Representatives 21 Senate 6 Both crossbenchers were Senators The independent senator was Michael Townley Tasmania This sitting deliberated and voted upon the following bills Commonwealth Electoral Bill No 2 1973 which sought to make Commonwealth electorates more even in size by reducing the allowable quota variation from 20 per cent to 10 per cent Senate Representation of Territories Bill 1973 which gave the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory two senators each Representation Bill 1973 which stated that neither the people of the territories nor the territory senators could be included in the formula for determining the number of House seats for each state Health Insurance Bill 1973 which was the main bill that established Medibank now known as Medicare Health Insurance Commission Bill 1973 which established the Medibank administrative agency the Health Insurance Commission now known as Medicare Australia Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill 1973 which was included despite some uncertainty as to whether the provisions of Section 57 had been met This established a statutory body to control the exploration for and development of petroleum and mining resources All six bills were affirmed by an absolute majority of the total number of members and senators a requirement under the Constitution for the bills to pass All proceedings of the joint sitting were broadcast on radio and television by the Australian Broadcasting Commission and a complete sound record was made for archival purposes This was the first Australian television coverage of parliamentary debates 1 Contents 1 Political background 2 The sitting 3 Subsequent legal challenges 4 Other proposed joint sittings 4 1 1987 4 2 2016 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 See alsoPolitical background editIn early 1974 the conservative parties led by Billy Snedden had chosen to use their majority in the Senate to oppose key government legislation As the Senate had rejected the bills twice Prime Minister Gough Whitlam advised a double dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution The Governor General Sir Paul Hasluck agreed and on 18 May an election for both houses of parliament was held Campaigning for the Labor Party Whitlam asked the electorate to let him finish the job and used the slogan Give Gough a Go The Liberal and Country parties focused their campaign on government mismanagement and the state of the economy The Labor Party was returned with a slightly reduced majority in the House of Representatives and crucially still without the Senate majority it required to pass the legislation in question The new parliament convened on 9 July On 11 July Sir Paul Hasluck s term as Governor General ended and Sir John Kerr was sworn in The legislation was reintroduced but as expected it again failed to pass the Senate Now all the constitutional requirements for a joint sitting had been met At Whitlam s request on 30 July Sir John Kerr issued a proclamation convening the joint sitting The coalition parties sought to prevent the joint sitting by challenging its constitutional validity in the High Court The writs were issued by Senator Sir Magnus Cormack Lib and Senator Jim Webster CP on 1 August The Queensland government also brought an action although it sought a narrower declaration The court delivered a unanimous decision on 5 August 1974 and ruled that the sitting was constitutionally valid 2 The sitting edit nbsp All 187 federal MPs at the 1974 joint sitting nbsp Votes for and against the Commonwealth Electoral Bill No 2 1973The joint sitting of all 187 members of Parliament 127 from the House of Representatives and 60 from the Senate was held over two days on 6 and 7 August 1974 The House of Representatives chamber was chosen as the venue for the sitting and the event was covered by both radio and television As well as the lower house holding a bigger seating capacity than the Senate Whitlam said it was the people s House the House where alone governments are made and unmade 3 4 p 4 Speaker Jim Cope assumed the chair his had been the only nomination Whitlam further commented that at long last after sustained stonewalling and filibustering the parliament can proceed to enact these essential parts of the government s program Snedden on the other hand was more cynical stating this is indeed an historic occasion So many people have described it as such that one is convinced it must be Given the importance of the occasion both sides showed behaviour and restraint The Coalition continued to oppose the legislation but the Labor majority in the House was such that it had an overall majority in the Parliament and all the legislation was able to pass easily A vote of 94 was required so that if at least 94 of the 95 Labor parliamentarians supported the bills each would be passed Special rules were drafted for the conduct of business These included the hours of sittings a 20 minute limit on speeches and a requirement that there be at least 4 hours of debate or 12 speakers before debate on any bill could be ended For the most part the proceedings moved smoothly and all of the bills were approved along party lines Commonwealth Electoral Bill No 2 1973 96 votes to 91 Liberal Movement Senator Steele Hall supported the three electoral Bills citing his experience as Liberal Premier of South Australia where he had fought his own party to improve unequal electoral arrangements known as the Playmander 4 pp 43 44 Senate Representation of Territories Bill 1973 97 votes to 90 Northern Territory Country Party member Sam Calder supported the Territory Senators legislation though he opposed the ACT being given added representation 4 p 87 Representation Bill 1973 96 votes to 91 4 pp 87 88 Health Insurance Commission Bill 1973 95 votes to 92 5 pp 128 129 Health Insurance Bill 1973 95 votes to 92 5 p 129 Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill 1973 95 votes to 91 with Liberal Party member John Gorton absent 5 pp 174 The proceedings concluded at 11 p m on 7 August to mixed reviews Labor saw it as an historic event their opponents saw it as a waste of time On 7 and 8 August 1974 the Governor General gave Royal Assent to all the bills 6 7 8 9 10 Subsequent legal challenges editThirteen months later four state litigants Victoria New South Wales Queensland and Western Australia took legal action against the Commonwealth Government and the Minister for Minerals and Energy Rex Connor challenging the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973 11 The issue was when the Senate had failed to pass the Petroleum and Minerals Authority Bill 1973 whether that was on 13 December 1973 which was the day of the Bill s first reading in the Senate and the last sitting day of 1973 or some time after the resumption of the Senate on 28 February 1974 In separate judgments the majority of the High Court Barwick CJ McTiernan Gibbs Stephen and Mason JJ held that the Senate had not failed to pass the bill on 13 December 1973 and that there had not been an interval of three months between the Senate failing to pass the Bill and 8 April 1974 which was when the House of Representatives again passed the Bill Because the Bill had not been one of the proposed laws in dispute when the double dissolution was called it could not therefore be voted on by the joint session and was not a valid law of the Commonwealth 12 In his dissenting judgment Jacobs J concluded that the Senate had failed to pass the Bill on 13 December 1973 because it had adjourned further consideration of the Bill until February 1974 Although the law remains on the statute books as No 43 of 1974 11 it was invalidated by the declaration of the High Court Western Australia New South Wales and Queensland also sought to separately challenge the Senate Representation of Territories Act 1973 13 the Commonwealth Electoral Act No 2 1973 14 and the Representation Act 1973 15 The primary challenge was that the States alleged that too much time had elapsed from the second rejection of the Bills by the Senate and the double dissolution In separate judgments all of the judges Barwick CJ McTiernan Gibbs Stephen Mason Jacobs and Murphy JJ held that once the trigger conditions had been satisfied the Governor General could exercise the power at any time prior to six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by effluxion of time 16 Other proposed joint sittings edit1987 edit In 1987 the Hawke government s legislation for an Australia Card was twice rejected by the Senate before and again after the 1987 double dissolution election A joint sitting was planned but the bill was abandoned when it was realised its implementation would still have been subject to the whim of the Senate which was hostile to the proposal 2016 edit Following the 2016 federal election which was a double dissolution Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that his government would re present the bills to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission ABCC to a joint sitting of parliament despite a cabinet minister having declared the bills prospects as dead because the government did not have the numbers to pass either of the bills 17 and news media outlets decrying the likelihood of the government having the numbers to pass the relevant pieces of legislation in a joint sitting due to a Senate that looks even more difficult and unwieldy than before the election and fewer government members in the House of Representatives 18 However a joint sitting was made unnecessary when the trigger bills were reintroduced to parliament after the election and all were passed with amendments 19 References edit Odgers Australian Senate Practice Archived 10 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine chapter 21 Cormack v Cope 1974 HCA 28 1974 131 CLR 432 5 August 1974 Opening Speech at the Joint Sitting of Parliament whitlamdismissal com Archived from the original on 9 April 2017 a b c d Joint Sitting 6 August 1974 PDF Parliamentary Debates Hansard Commonwealth of Australia a b c Joint Sitting 7 August 1974 PDF Parliamentary Debates Hansard Commonwealth of Australia Commonwealth Electoral Act No 2 1973 www legislation gov au Senate Representation of Territories Act 1973 www legislation gov au Health DSS Health Insurance Commission Act 1973 www legislation gov au Health Insurance Act 1973 Legislation gov au Retrieved 1 February 2022 Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973 www legislation gov au a b Petroleum and Minerals Authority Act 1973 Commonwealth of Australia Retrieved 5 August 2016 Victoria v Commonwealth 1975 HCA 39 1975 134 CLR 81 30 September 1975 Senate Representation of Territories Act 1973 No 39 of 1974 Commonwealth Electoral Act No 2 1973 No 38 of 1974 Representation Act 1973 No 40 of 1974 Western Australia v Commonwealth 1975 HCA 46 1975 134 CLR 201 17 October 1975 Karp Paul 5 July 2016 Coalition will put ABCC bill to joint sitting despite lacking numbers to pass The Guardian Retrieved 6 July 2016 Ng Yee Fui 12 July 2016 Explainer what happens now to the bills that triggered the double dissolution election The Conversation Retrieved 9 July 2017 Beech Alexandra 21 November 2016 Government agrees to whistleblower protection laws in bid to pass industrial relations bills ABC News Retrieved 9 July 2017 Bibliography editThe 1974 joint sitting of Parliament Parliamentary LibrarySee also editJoint meetings of the Australian Parliament Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament of 1974 amp oldid 1213853188, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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