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House of Representatives                                Ch 13                                                 p 470

The 1983 double dissolution

In the 32nd Parliament the Liberal-National Party Government led by Prime Minister Fraser did not have a majority in the Senate. During the course of the Parliament the Senate twice rejected or failed to pass 13 proposed laws in a manner which the Government considered brought them directly within the provisions of section 57.

In September 1981 the Senate requested amendments to nine sales tax amendment bills which sought to impose sales tax on certain items previously exempted and which were introduced as part of the 1981 Budget measures. The House considered the Senate requests but declined to make the amendments on 14 October 1981. The Senate resolved on 20 October 1981 to press its requests, and the House was so advised. The Government considered that this action constituted ‘failure to pass’ the bills. ¹ Mr Speaker made a statement on the constitutional issues involved, noting that the right of the Senate to repeat and thereby press or insist on a request for an amendment had never been accepted by the House. The House then agreed to a resolution inter alia endorsing the statement of the Speaker in relation to the constitutional questions raised by the Senate message and declining to consider the message in so far as it purported to press amendments contained in the earlier message. ²

On 7 May the order of the day was discharged from the Notice Paper and on 16 February 1982 the bills were again introduced in the House. They were passed by the House on 17 February and transmitted to the Senate which, on 10 March, negatived the motion for the second readings.

The Government also introduced three bills to implement decisions for the limited re-introduction of tertiary tuition fees. By May 1982 the Senate had twice rejected or failed to pass the Canberra College of Advanced Education Bill, the States Grants (Tertiary Education Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) and the Australian National University Amendment Bill (No. 3). ³ A Social Services Amendment Bill (No. 3) 1981 dealing with the eligibility of spouses of persons involved in industrial action to certain benefits was also passed by the House but the motion for the second reading was later negatived by the Senate. It was again introduced in the House, passed and transmitted to the Senate, but the motion for the second reading was, on 24 March 1982, again negatived by the Senate.

On 3 February 1983 the Prime Minister advised the Governor-General that the Senate had twice rejected or failed to pass the 13 bills and recommended that the Governor-General dissolve simultaneously the Senate and the House. The advice referred to the progress of the bills, and further details were provided in an attachment. The Prime Minister stated that the bills in question were of importance to the Government’s budgetary, education and welfare policies. He also said there was a second consideration which had led him to recommend a dissolution—he referred to economic problems facing the country, and said that it was of paramount importance, in facing difficult economic circumstances, for the Government to know that it had the full confidence of the people and that the people had full confidence in the Government’s ability to point the way towards recovery. Later on 3 February the Prime Minister wrote to the Governor-General referring to his earlier letter and a telephone conversation that he had had with the Governor-General. This letter advised that the Prime Minister regarded a double dissolution as critical to the workings of the Government and the Parliament. He said that there was a need for the Government to have decisive control over both Houses, noted that some significant legislation had not been passed by the Senate, and said that some measures had not even been put to the Parliament because the Government knew that they would not achieve passage through the Senate. ⁴

The Governor-General replied on the same day, stating that he had satisfied himself that there existed measures which had been twice rejected or not passed by the Senate and which otherwise met ‘the description of measures such as are referred to in Sectio n 57’. He further stated:

Such precedents as exist, together with the writings on Section 57 of the Constitution, suggest that in circumstances such as the present, I should, in considering your advice, pay regard to the importance of the measures in question and to the workability of Parliament.

I note that your letter states that the thirteen proposed Laws are ‘of importance to the Government’s budgetary, education and welfare policies’. I also note that in the case of each of these measures a considerable time has passed since they were rejected or not passed for a second time in the Senate. I have considered their nature . . .

As to the importance of these measures, viewed in the context of the extraordinary nature of a double dissolution, I am not myself in any position, from their mere subject matter and text, to form a view about the particular importance of any of them.

It was in those circumstances that I spoke with you by telephone early this afternoon about the workability of Parliament, seeking further advice from you on that score; this was a matter to which you had already referred, in a prospective sense, in your original letter.

As a result of your second letter to me, in which you speak of difficulties of the immediate past and describe a double dissolution as critical to the workings of the Government and of the Parliament, I am now satisfied that in accordance with your advice I should dissolve the Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously. I note your assurance as to the availability of funds to enable the work of the administration to be carried on through the election period. ⁵

On 4 February, on the advice of the Government, the Governor-General issued a proclamation referring to the provisions of section 57, citing the 13 bills and dissolving the Senate and the House of Representatives. ⁶ A general election was held on 5 March 1983, the Government of Prime Minister Fraser was defeated and the bills in question were not re-introduced.

Letter of 3 February 1983 from the Prime Minister to the Governor-General, PP 129 (1984) 1-15.

VP 1980-83/613-5.

Fuller details are contained in the paper Simultaneous dissolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives, 4 February 1983 , PP 129 (1984).

PP 129 (1984) 1-15, 41.

PP 129 (1984) 43-4.

PP 129 (1984) 47-8.