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House of Representatives                                Ch 7                                                 p 225

Prorogation

The constitutional and parliamentary nature of prorogation is describ ed in the following passage from May :

The prorogation of Parliament is a prerogative act of the Crown. Just as Parliament can commence its deliberations only at the time appointed by the Queen, so it cannot continue them any longer than she pleases. ¹

Prorogation terminates a session of Parliament; a dissolution terminates a Parliament and thus there must be a general election. The decision only to prorogue the Parliament therefore does not attach to it the same significance as a decision to dissolve the House of Representatives. There is little guidance afforded by the constitutional provisions or conventions as to when or how often prorogation should take place or any established criteria regarding the taking of a decision to prorogue. While section 5 of the Constitution gives the Governor-General authority to prorogue the Parliament, the decision to prorogue follows the advice of the Government of the day.

Parliaments have often consisted of only one session without a prorogation intervening, and this is no w usual. A prorogation does not necessarily precede a dissolution as is commonly the case in the United Kingdom, although this has been the recent practice. Between 1928 and 1990 Parliaments were not expressly prorogued prior to dissolution and the holding of a general election. Since then the Parliament has been prorogued just before the dissolution of the House of Representatives. ²

Parliament is prorogued by the Governor-General who may do so by proclamation or otherwise. ³ On 10 October 1902 the Acting Governor-General, in a speech to Members of both Houses in the Senate Chamber, prorogued the 1st Parliament until 14 November 1902 ⁴ and it was then prorogued a further five times by proclamation before it met for the 2nd Session on 26 May 1903. The 2nd Session, in turn, was prorogued by the Governor-General in person on 22 October 1903. ⁵ The 2nd Parliament was prorogued in the same manner three times ⁶ and on each occasion there were further prorogations by proclamation. ⁷

Since 1906 all prorogations have been made by proclamation published in the Commonwealth Gazette and on one such occasion, 28 February 1977, the proclamation was read publicly on the front steps of the provisional Parliament House by the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, consistent with the practice with a proclamation of dissolution. The proclamations proroguing the 36th and 37th Parliaments were read at the front of Parliament House immediately before the proclamations dissolving the House of Representatives. Since 1998, at the end of the 38th Parliament, the Parliament has been prorogued and the House dissolved by a single proclamation. The proclamation proroguing Parliament may set down the day for the next meeting and summon all Senators and Members to be present at an hour appointed on that day. ⁸

May , 23rd edn, p. 274. In the United Kingdom a session normally begins in early November and continues until late in the following October, May , 23rd edn, p. 313.

 Gazette S40 (8.2.93), for comment on this see Denis O’Brien, ‘Federal elections—the strange case of the two proclamations’, Public Law Review , June 1993, v.4 (2) : 81-83. Gazette S32 (29.1.96); S432 (31.8.98).

Constitution, s. 5.

VP 1901-02/565.

VP 1903/187.

VP 1904/268; VP 1905/229; VP 1906/180.

See also Appendix 15.

The proclamation is published in the bound volumes of the Votes and Proceedings, e.g. VP 1998-2001/2700.