Австралия Парламентінің екі палатасын тарату рәсімі

Procedure of dissolving both houses of the Australian Parliament

A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution is the only circumstance in which the entire Senate can be dissolved. Similar to the United States Congress, but unlike the British Parliament, Australia's two parliamentary houses generally have almost equal legislative power (the Senate may reject outright but cannot amend appropriation (money) bills, which must originate in the House of Representatives). Governments, which are formed in the House of Representatives, can be frustrated by a Senate determined to reject their legislation. If the conditions (called a trigger) are satisfied, the prime minister can advise the governor general to dissolve both houses of Parliament and call a full election. If, after the election, the legislation that triggered the double dissolution is still not passed by the two houses, then a joint sitting of the two houses of parliament can be called to vote on the legislation. If the legislation is passed by the joint sitting, it is deemed to have passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The 1974 joint sitting remains the only occurrence in federal Australian history. Historically, a double dissolution election has been called in lieu of an early election, with the formal trigger bill not playing a significant role during the subsequent election campaign. There are also similar double dissolution provisions in the South Australian state constitution.

In order to return to the normal arrangement of half the state Senators being contested at each election, following a double dissolution, section 13 of the Australian Constitution requires the senate to divide the state senators into two classes, with three year and six year terms. This has traditionally been done by allocating long terms to the senators elected earliest in the count. The 1984 amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act required the Australian Electoral Commission to conduct a notional recount as if only half the seats were to be elected, which was seen as producing a fairer allocation. This alternative allocation has not yet been used. Following double dissolution elections in 1987 and 2016, the order elected method continued to be used, despite Senate resolutions in 1998 and 2010 agreeing to use the new method.

Under section 41 of the South Australian constitution, if a bill is passed by the House of Assembly during a session of Parliament and in the following Parliament after a general election for the lower house is rejected by the Legislative Council on both occasions, it is permitted for the Governor of South Australia to either issue a writ for the election of 2 additional members of the Legislative Council or to dissolve both houses at the same time to elect an entirely new Parliament. As the upper house consists of 22 members, with 11 elected statewide at each general election for an 8 year term at a quota of 8.33%, this would result in an election for all 22 members at a quota of 4.35%. Although it has been threatened, this South Australian double dissolution procedure has never been used.