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Ch9 Motions / MOTIONS OF NO CONFIDENCE AND CENSURE / Censure of Minister or Government by Senate



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House of Representatives                                Ch 9                                                 p 321

 

Motions / MOTIONS OF NO CONFIDENCE AND CENSURE

 

Censure of Minister or Government by Senate

Once rare, 1 censure motions in the Senate against Ministers or the Government are now a relatively common occurrence. The first successful Senate censure of a Minister occurred in 1973 when an amendment expressing want of confidence in the Attorney-General (Senator Murphy) was agreed. On the following sitting day a motion of confidence in the Attorney-General was agreed to in the House. 2 In 1974 a motion was moved in the Senate that the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Willesee) was ‘deserving of censure and ought to resign’ because of three separate issues. The question was divided and the motion as it related to one of the issues was agreed to. 3 On 13 September 1984 the Senate agreed to a motion of censure of the Minister for Resources and Energy (Senator Walsh). Since then the Senate has agreed to several such motions. Apart from motions censuring Senate Ministers, these have included motions directed at House Ministers, 4 House Ministers together with the Senate Ministers representing them in the Senate, 5 the Prime Minister, 6 and the Government. 7 The passage of a censure motion in the Senate would appear to have no substantive effect. However it may, depending on the circumstances, be seen as contributing to the parliamentary and other pressures leading to a Minister’s resignation or dismissal. 8



Odgers , 6th edn, p. 967; 11th edn, p. 457.



J 1973-74/91-2, 93-4; VP 1973-74/104-6.



J 1974-75/195-7.



J 1987-90/1399-1400 (condemning Minister, inter alia, for criticising the Senate committee system); J 1993-95/2262-3 and J 1999/1545-6 (censuring Ministers for handling of portfolio responsibilities).



J 1987-90/1712 (for failing to answer a question); J 1993-95/1641-2 (for failing to comply with Senate order to table documents).



J 1990-92/2965, 2966-7 (for ‘contemptuous abuse of the Senate’); J 2002-04/216 (for not taking certain action in relation to a Senator, who was also censured), 2463 (for ‘misleading the Australian Parliament and the Australian people’).



J 1987-90/123-4 (for attack on Senate); J 1990-92/1509-10 (for failing to comply with Senate order to table a tape recording); J 1987-90/2055 (handling of industrial dispute).



E.g. resignation of Senator G.F. Richardson on 19.5.92 subsequent to censure on 7.5.92, J 1990-92/2298.