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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
1996
The Parliament of
the
Commonwealth of
Australia
THE
SENATE
Presented and read a first
time
Constitution Alteration
(President of the Commonwealth of Australia)
1996
No. ,
1996
(Senator
Teague)
A Bill for an Act to alter the
Constitution to provide for a President of the Commonwealth of
Australia
9610021—1,150/26.6.1996—(100/96) Cat.
No. 96 4859 3 ISBN 0644 444185
Contents
A Bill for an Act to
alter the Constitution to provide for a President of the Commonwealth of
Australia
The Parliament of Australia enacts, with the approval of the
electors, as required by the Constitution:
This Act may be cited as the Constitution Alteration (President of the
Commonwealth of Australia) 1996.
This Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal
Assent.
The Constitution is altered in accordance with the Schedule –
(a) by omitting the words which are printed in overstrike; and
(b) by inserting, where denoted, the words printed in bold.
The third
paragraph of section 2 of the Constitution as amended by this Act is omitted
when a President of the Commonwealth is appointed in accordance with that
section.
Whereas the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia,
Queensland, and Tasmania, and Western Australia, humbly
relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite
in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby
established:And whereas it is expedient to provide for the
admission into the Commonwealth of other Australasian Colonies and possessions
of the Queen:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's
most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and
by the authority of the same, as follows:–
1. This Act may
be cited as the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution
Act.2. The provisions of this Act referring to
the Queen shall extend to Her Majesty's heirs and successors in the sovereignty
of the United Kingdom.3. It shall be
lawful for the Queen, with the advice of the Privy Council, to declare by
proclamation that, on and after a day therein appointed, not being later than
one year after the passing of this Act, the people of New South Wales, Victoria,
South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, and also, if Her Majesty is satisfied
that the people of Western Australia have agreed thereto, of Western Australia,
shall be united in a Federal Commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of
Australia. But the Queen may, at any time after the proclamation, appoint a
Governor-General for the Commonwealth.
4. The Commonwealth shall
be established, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth shall take effect, on
and after the first day of January, 1901. the day so appointed.
But the Parliaments of the several colonies may at any time after the passing of
this Act make any such laws, to come into operation on the day so appointed, as
they might have made if the Constitution had taken effect at the passing of this
Act.
5. This Act, and all laws made by the Parliament of the
Commonwealth under the Constitution, shall be binding on the courts, judges, and
people of every State and of every part of the Commonwealth, notwithstanding
anything in the laws of any State; and the laws of the Commonwealth
shall be in force on all British ships, the Queen's ships of war excepted, whose
first port of clearance and whose port of destination are in the
Commonwealth.
6. "The Commonwealth" shall mean the Commonwealth
of Australia as established under this Act.
"The States" shall mean such
of the colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland,
Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, including the
northern territory of South Australia, as for the time being are parts of the
Commonwealth, and such colonies or territories as may be
admitted into or established by the Commonwealth as States; and each of such
parts of the Commonwealth shall be called "a State".
"Original States"
shall mean such States as are parts of the Commonwealth at its
establishment.7. The Federal Council of
Australasia Act, 1885, is hereby repealed, but so as not to affect any laws
passed by the Federal Council of Australasia and in force at the establishment
of the Commonwealth.
Any such law may be repealed as to
any State by the Parliament of the Commonwealth, or as to any colony not being a
State by the Parliament
thereof.8. After the passing of this
Act the Colonial Boundaries Act, 1895, shall not apply to any colony which
becomes a State of the Commonwealth; but the Commonwealth shall be taken to be a
self-governing colony for the purposes of that Act.
9. The
Constitution of the Commonwealth shall be as follows:–
This Constitution is divided as follows:–
Chapter
I.– The Parliament:
Part I.– General:
Part
II.– The Senate:
Part III.– The House of
Representatives:
Part IV.– Both Houses of the Parliament:
Part
V.– Powers of the Parliament:
Chapter II.– The Executive
Government:
Chapter III.– The Judicature:
Chapter
IV.– Finance and Trade:
Chapter V.– The States:
Chapter
VI.– New States:
Chapter VII.– Miscellaneous:
Chapter
VIII.– Alteration of the Constitution.
The
Schedule.
1. The legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a
Federal Parliament, which shall consist of the Queen, a
President, a Senate, and a House of Representatives, and which is
herein-after called "The Parliament," or "The Parliament of the
Commonwealth."
2. A Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall
be Her Majesty's representative in the Commonwealth, and shall have and may
exercise in the Commonwealth during the Queen's pleasure, but subject to this
Constitution, such powers and functions of the Queen as Her Majesty may be
pleased to assign to him.
The Head of State of the
Commonwealth shall be the President of the Commonwealth, who shall exercise his
or her powers in accordance with this Constitution.
The Federal
Executive Council shall propose a person for appointment as President. Upon the
House of Representatives and the Senate voting together in a joint sitting to
approve, with the concurrence of at least two thirds of all the senators and
members of the House of Representatives, the appointment of such person he or
she shall take office as President of the Commonwealth and shall hold that
office until the expiration of five years from the date of his or her
appointment or his or her death, resignation or removal in accordance with this
section.
The first President of the Commonwealth shall be the
person occupying the position of Governor-General at the date of the enactment
of this section. As soon as practicable thereafter, and in any event not later
than 90 days thereafter, a person shall be proposed in accordance with this
section.
Whenever the office of President of the Commonwealth
becomes vacant, the Federal Executive Council shall, within 90 days after the
vacancy occurs, propose a person for appointment as
President.
During any vacancy in the office of the President of
the Commonwealth or during the absence from Australia of the President of the
Commonwealth, the duties and functions of the President shall be undertaken by
the most senior State Governor, or, in the event of his or her disability or
inability to act, the next senior State Governor. The seniority of a State
Governor is determined by the length of his or her service as State Governor. If
more than three States do not have an office of Governor, the Parliament may
provide for the appointment of a person to fill the office of President in the
event of a vacancy, provided that no such person shall fill the office of
President for more than 120 days.
The President must be an
Australian citizen entitled to vote for the election of members of the House of
Representatives.
Upon the passage, with the concurrence of at
least two thirds of all the senators and members of the House of
Representatives, of a resolution to remove the President by a joint sitting of
the House of Representatives and the Senate, the President shall cease to hold
office.
When the Houses meet to elect a President the joint
sitting shall not be adjourned for more than five days until a President has
been elected.
The President shall, as soon as practicable after
entering upon the office, make and subscribe publicly one of the following:
OATH: "I, A.B., do swear that I will maintain the Constitution
and uphold the laws of the Commonwealth and that I will fulfil my duties
faithfully and conscientiously in accordance with the Constitution and the law,
and that I will dedicate my abilities to the service and welfare of the people
of Australia. SO HELP ME GOD!"
AFFIRMATION: "I, A.B., do
solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will maintain the Constitution
and uphold the laws of the Commonwealth and that I will fulfil my duties
faithfully and conscientiously in accordance with the Constitution and the law,
and that I will dedicate my abilities to the service and welfare of the people
of Australia."
The President may resign the office by writing
addressed to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives or to such officers as each House may appoint for the purpose if
those offices are vacant or their occupants are absent from the Commonwealth.
Such resignation shall take effect at the time specified
therein.
3. There shall be payable to the Queen out of the
Consolidated Revenue fund of the Commonwealth, for the salary of the
Governor-General, an annual sum which, until the Parliament otherwise provides,
shall be ten thousand pounds.
The salary of the
Governor-General shall not be altered during his continuance in
office.
The salary of the President shall be provided for by
the Parliament and shall not be altered during the President's term of
office.
4. The provisions of this Constitution relating to the
President extend to a person performing the duties of President.
Governor-General extend and apply to the Governor-General for the time
being, or such person as the Queen may appoint to administer the Government of
the Commonwealth; but no such person shall The President shall not
be entitled to receive any salary from the Commonwealth in respect of any
other office during his or her term of office administration of
the Government of the Commonwealth.
5. The
Governor-General President may summon
appoint such times for holding the sessions of the
Parliament to meet as he thinks fit. and may
also from time to time, by Proclamation or otherwise,
prorogue the Parliament, and may in like manner dissolve the House of
Representatives.
After any general election the Parliament shall be
summoned to meet not later than thirty days after the day appointed for the
return of the writs.
The Parliament shall be summoned to meet
not later than six months after the establishment of the
Commonwealth.
6. There shall be a session
meeting of the Parliament once at least in every year, so that twelve
months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the Parliament in one
session year and its first sitting in the next
session year.
7. The Senate shall be composed of senators for each State, directly
chosen by the people of the State, voting, until the Parliament otherwise
provides, as one electorate.
But until the Parliament of the
Commonwealth otherwise provides, the Parliament of the State of Queensland, if
that State be an Original State, may make laws dividing the State into divisions
and determining the number of senators to be chosen for each division, and in
the absence of such provision the State shall be one electorate.
Until the Parliament otherwise provides there shall be six senators for
each Original State. The Parliament may make laws increasing or diminishing the
number of senators for each State, but so that equal representation of the
several Original States shall be maintained and that no Original State shall
have less than six senators.
The senators shall be chosen for a term of
six years, and the names of the senators chosen for each State shall be
certified by the Governor to the Governor-General President
of the Commonwealth.
8. The qualification of electors of senators
shall be in each State that which is prescribed by this Constitution, or
by the Parliament, as the qualification for electors of members of the
House of Representatives;. but in the choosing
of senators each elector shall vote only once.
9. The Parliament
of the Commonwealth may make laws prescribing the method of choosing senators,
but so that the method shall be uniform for all the States. Subject to any such
law, the Parliament of each State may make laws prescribing the method of
choosing the senators for that State.
The Parliament of a State
may make laws for determining the times and places of elections of senators for
the State.10. Until the Parliament otherwise provides,
but subject to this constitution, the laws in force in each State, for the time
being, relating to elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of
the State shall, as nearly as practicable, apply to elections of senators for
the State.
11. The Senate may proceed to the despatch of
business, notwithstanding the failure of any State to provide for its
representation in the Senate.
12. The Governor of any State may cause
writs to be issued for elections of senators for the State. In case of the
dissolution of the Senate the writs shall be issued within ten days from the
proclamation of such dissolution.
13. As soon as may be after the Senate
first meets, and after each first meeting of the Senate following a dissolution
thereof, the Senate shall divide the senators chosen for each State into two
classes, as nearly equal in number as practicable; and the places of the
senators of the first class shall become vacant at the expiration of three
years, and the places of those of the second class at the expiration of six
years, from the beginning of their term of service; and afterwards the places of
senators shall become vacant at the expiration of six years from the beginning
of their term of service.
The election to fill vacant places shall be
made within one year before the places are to become vacant.
For the
purpose of this section the term of service of a senator shall be taken to begin
on the first day of July following the day of his or her election, except
in the cases of the first election and of the election next after any
dissolution of the Senate, when it shall be taken to begin on the first day of
July preceding the day of his or her election.
14. Whenever the
number of senators for a State is increased or diminished, the Parliament of the
Commonwealth may make such provision for the vacating of the places of senators
for the State as it deems necessary to maintain regularity in the
rotation.
15. If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the
expiration of his or her term of service, the Houses of Parliament of the
State for which he or she was chosen, sitting and voting together, or, if
there is only one House of that Parliament, that House, shall choose a person to
hold the place until the expiration of the term. But if the Parliament of the
State is not in session when the vacancy is notified, the Governor of the State,
with the advice of the Executive Council thereof, may appoint a person to hold
the place until the expiration of fourteen days from the beginning of the next
session of the Parliament of the State or the expiration of the term, whichever
first happens.
Where a vacancy has at any time occurred in the place of
a senator chosen by the people of a State and, at the time when he or she
was so chosen, he or she was publicly recognized by a particular
political party as being an endorsed candidate of that party and publicly
represented himself to be such a candidate, a person chosen or appointed under
this section in consequence of that vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy
and a subsequent vacancy or vacancies, shall, unless there is no member of that
party available to be chosen or appointed, be a member of that
party.
Where–
(a) in accordance with the last preceding
paragraph, a member of a particular political party is chosen or appointed to
hold the place of a senator whose place had become vacant; and
(b) before
taking his or her seat he or she ceases to be a member of that
party (otherwise than by reason of the party having ceased to exist),
he
or she shall be deemed not to have been so chosen or appointed and the
vacancy shall be again notified in accordance with section twenty-one of this
Constitution.
The name of any senator so chosen or appointed under this
section shall be certified by the Governor of the State to the President of
the Commonwealth Governor-General.
If the
place of a senator chosen by the people of a State at the election of senators
last held before the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate
Casual Vacancies) 1977 became vacant before that commencement and, at that
commencement, no person chosen by the House or Houses of Parliament of the
State, or appointed by the Governor of the State, in consequence of that
vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy and a subsequent vacancy or
vacancies, held office, this section applies as if the place of the senator
chosen by the people of the State had become vacant after that
commencement.
A senator holding office at the
commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies)
1977, being a senator appointed by the Governor of a State in consequence of a
vacancy that had at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the
people of the State, shall be deemed to have been appointed to hold the place
until the expiration of fourteen days after the beginning of the next session of
the Parliament of the State that commenced or commences after he was appointed
and further action under this section shall be taken as if the vacancy in the
place of the senator chosen by the people of the State had occurred after that
commencement.
Subject to the next succeeding paragraph,
a senator holding office at the commencement of the Constitution Alteration
(Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977 who was chosen by the House or Houses of
Parliament of a State in consequence of a vacancy that had at any time occurred
in the place of a senator chosen by the people of a State shall be deemed to
have been chosen to hold office until the expiration of the term of service of
the senator elected by the people of the State.
If, at
or before the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual
Vacancies) 1977, a law to alter the Constitution entitled "Constitution
Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1977" came into operation, a senator
holding office at the commencement of that law who was chosen by the House or
Houses of Parliament of the State in consequence of a vacancy that had at any
time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of the State shall
be deemed to have been chosen to hold
office–(a) if the senator
elected by the people of the State had a term of service expiring on the
thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight – until
the expiration or dissolution of the first House of Representatives to expire or
be dissolved after that law came into operation;
or(b) if the senator elected by the
people of the State had a term of service expiring on the thirtieth day of June,
One thousand nine hundred and eighty-one – until the expiration or
dissolution of the second House of Representatives to expire or be dissolved
after that law came into operation or, if there is an earlier dissolution of the
Senate, until that dissolution.
16. The qualifications
of a senator shall be the same as those of a member of the House of
Representatives.
17. The Senate shall, before proceeding to the despatch
of any other business, choose a senator to be the President of the Senate; and
as often as the office of President of the Senate becomes vacant the
Senate shall again choose a senator to be the President of the
Senate.
The President of the Senate shall cease to hold
his the office if he or she ceases to be a
senator. He The President of the Senate may be removed
from office by a vote of the Senate, or he may resign
his from the office or his seat the
Senate by writing addressed to the President of the Commonwealth
Governor-General.
18. Before or during any absence of
the President of the Senate, the Senate may choose a senator to perform
his or her duties in his or her absence.
19. A senator may,
by writing addressed to the President of the Senate, or to the
Governor-General President of the Commonwealth if there
is no President of the Senate or if the President of the Senate is
absent from the Commonwealth, resign his or her place, which thereupon
shall become vacant.
20. The place of a senator shall become vacant if
for two consecutive months of any session of the Parliament
he or she, without the permission of the Senate, fails to attend the
Senate.
21. Whenever a vacancy happens in the Senate, the President of
the Senate, or if there is no President of the Senate or if the
President of the Senate is absent from the Commonwealth the
Governor-General President of the Commonwealth, shall
notify the same to the Governor of the State in the representation of which the
vacancy has happened.
22. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the
presence of at least one-third of the whole number of the senators shall be
necessary to constitute a meeting of the Senate for the exercise of its
powers.
23. Questions arising in the Senate shall be determined by a
majority of votes, and each senator shall have one vote. The President of the
Senate shall in all cases be entitled to a vote; and when the votes are
equal the question shall pass in the negative.
24. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members directly
chosen by the people of the Commonwealth, and the number of such members shall
be, as nearly as practicable, twice the number of senators.
The number
of members chosen in the several States shall be in proportion to the respective
numbers of their people, and shall, until the Parliament otherwise provides, be
determined, whenever necessary, in the following manner:–
(i.) A
quota shall be ascertained by dividing the number of the people of the
Commonwealth, as shown by the latest statistics of the Commonwealth, by twice
the number of the senators:
(ii.) The number of members to be chosen in
each State shall be determined by dividing the number of the people of the
State, as shown by the latest statistics of the Commonwealth, by the quota; and
if on such division there is a remainder greater than one-half of the quota, one
more member shall be chosen in the State.
But notwithstanding anything
in this section, five members at least shall be chosen in each Original
State.25. For the purposes of the last section,
if by the law of any State all persons of any race are disqualified from voting
at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State, then,
in reckoning the number of the people of the State or of the Commonwealth,
persons of that race resident in that State shall not be counted.
26. Notwithstanding anything in section
twenty-four, the number of members to be chosen in each State at the first
election shall be as follows:–New South
Wales twenty-three;Victoria twenty;Queensland eight;South
Australia six;Tasmania five;
Provided
that if Western Australia is an Original State, the numbers shall be as
follows:–New South
Wales twenty-six;Victoria twenty-three;Queensland nine;South
Australia seven;Western
Australia five;Tasmania five.
27. Subject to this Constitution, the Parliament may make laws for
increasing or diminishing the number of the members of the House of
Representatives.
28. Every House of Representatives shall continue for
three years from the first meeting of the House, and no longer, but may be
sooner dissolved by the President
Governor-General.
29. Until
tThe Parliament of the Commonwealth otherwise provides,
the Parliament of any State may make laws for determining the divisions
in each State for which members of the House of Representatives may be chosen,
and the number of members to be chosen for each division. A division shall not
be formed out of parts of different States.
In the absence of other
provision, each State shall be one electorate.
30. Until
tThe Parliament otherwise provides, shall
determine the qualification of electors of members of the House of
Representatives but so that the qualification shall be uniform throughout the
Commonwealth. shall be in each State that which is prescribed by the
law of the State as the qualification of electors of the more numerous House of
Parliament of the State; but in the choosing of members each elector shall vote
only once.
31. Until tThe Parliament
shall provide the method of election otherwise provides, but subject
to this Constitution, the laws in force in each State for the time being
relating to elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State
shall, as nearly as practicable, apply to elections in the State of
members of the House of Representatives., but so that the
method shall be uniform throughout the Commonwealth.
32. The
Governor-General President in Council may cause writs to
be issued for general elections of members of the House of
Representatives.
After the first general election, the writs shall be
issued within ten days from the expiry of a House of Representatives or from the
proclamation of a dissolution thereof.
33. Whenever a vacancy happens in
the House of Representatives, the Speaker shall issue his or her writ for
the election of a new member, or if there is no Speaker or if he or she
is absent from the Commonwealth the Governor-General
President in Council may issue the
writ.
34. Until The Parliament shall determine
otherwise provides, the qualifications of a member of the
House of Representatives. shall be as
follows:–(i.) He must be of the
full age of twenty-one years, and must be an elector entitled to vote at the
election of members of the House of Representatives, or a person qualified to
become such elector, and must have been for three years at the least a resident
within the limits of the Commonwealth as existing at the time when he was
chosen:(ii.) He must be a subject of
the Queen, either natural-born or for at least five years naturalized under a
law of the United Kingdom, or of a Colony which has become or becomes a State,
or of the Commonwealth, or of a State.
35. The House of
Representatives shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business,
choose a member to be the Speaker of the House, and as often as the office of
Speaker becomes vacant the House shall again choose a member to be the
Speaker.
The Speaker shall cease to hold his the
office if he or she ceases to be a member. He The
Speaker may be removed from office by a vote of the House, or,
he may resign his from the office or
his seat the House by writing addressed to the
Governor-General President of the
Commonwealth.
36. Before or during any absence of the Speaker, the
House of Representatives may choose a member to perform his or her duties
in his or her absence.
37. A member may by writing addressed to
the Speaker, or to the Governor-General President if
there is no Speaker or if the Speaker is absent from the Commonwealth, resign
his or her place, which there-upon shall become vacant.
38. The
place of a member shall become vacant if for two consecutive months of
any session of the Parliament he or she, without the permission
of the House, fails to attend the House.
39. Until the Parliament
otherwise provides, the presence of at least one-third of the whole number of
the members of the House of Representatives shall be necessary to constitute a
meeting of the House for the exercise of it's powers.
40. Questions
arising in the House of Representatives shall be determined by a majority of
votes other than that of the Speaker. The Speaker shall not vote unless the
numbers are equal, and then he or she shall have a casting
vote.
41. No adult person who has or acquires a right to vote at elections
for the more numerous House of the Parliament of a State shall, while the right
continues, be prevented by any law of the Commonwealth from voting at elections
for either House of the Parliament of the Commonwealth.
42. Every
senator and every member of the House of Representatives shall before taking
his or her seat make and subscribe before the
Governor-General President, or some person authorised by
him or her, an oath or affirmation of allegiance in the form set forth in
the schedule to this Constitution.
43. A member of either House of
Parliament shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a member of the
other House.
44. Any person who–
(i.) Is under any
acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is
a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject or
citizen of a foreign power: or
(ii.) Is attainted of treason, or has been
convicted and is under sentence, or subject to be sentenced, for any offence
punishable under the law of the Commonwealth or of a State by imprisonment for
one year or longer: or
(iii.) Is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent:
or
(iv.) Holds any office of profit under the executive government of
the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory Crown, or any
pension payable during the pleasure of the executive government of the
Commonwealth or of a State or Territory Crown out of any of the
revenues of the Commonwealth: or
(v.) Has any direct or indirect
pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth
otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of an
incorporated company consisting of more than twenty-five persons:
shall
be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House
of Representatives.
But sub-section iv. does not apply to the office of
any of the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth, or
of any of the Queen's Ministers for a State, or to the receipt
of pay, half pay, or a pension, by any person as an officer or member of the
Queen's navy or army defence forces of the Commonwealth,
or to the receipt of pay as an officer or member of the naval or
military defence forces of the Commonwealth by any person whose
services are not wholly employed by the Commonwealth.
45. If a senator or
member of the House of Representatives–
(i.) Becomes subject to any
of the disabilities mentioned in the last preceding section:
or
(ii.) Takes the benefit, whether by assignment, composition, or
otherwise, of any law relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors:
or
(iii.) Directly or indirectly takes or agrees to take any fee or
honorarium for services rendered to the Commonwealth, or for services rendered
in the Parliament to any person or State:
his or her place shall
thereupon become vacant.
46. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, any
person declared by this Constitution to be incapable of sitting as a senator or
as a member of the House of Representatives shall, for every day on which he
or she so sits, be liable to pay the sum of one hundred
pounds two hundred dollars to any person who sues for it in any
court of competent jurisdiction.
47. Until the Parliament otherwise
provides, any question respecting the qualification of a senator or member of
the House or Representatives, or respecting a vacancy in either House of the
Parliament, and any question of a disputed election to either House, shall be
determined by the House in which the question arises.
48. Until
the Parliament otherwise provides, Each senator and each member of the
House of Representatives shall receive such remuneration as the Parliament
may provide by law. an allowance of four hundred pounds a year, to
be reckoned from the day on which he takes his seat.
49. The
powers, privileges, and immunities of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives, and of the members and the committees of each House, shall be
such as are declared by the Parliament, and until declared shall be
those of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and of its
members and committees, at the establishment of the
Commonwealth.
50. Each House of the Parliament may make rules
and orders with respect to–
(i.) The mode in which its powers,
privileges, and immunities may be exercised and upheld:
(ii.) The order
and conduct of its business and proceedings either separately or jointly with
the other House.
51. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to
make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with
respect to:–
(i.) Trade and commerce with other countries, and
among the States:
(ii.) Taxation; but so as not to discriminate between
States or parts of States:
(iii.) Bounties on the production or export of
goods, but so that such bounties shall be uniform throughout the
Commonwealth:
(iv.) Borrowing money on the public credit of the
Commonwealth:
(v.) Postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like
services:
(vi.) The naval and military defence of the
Commonwealth and of the several States, and the control of the forces to execute
and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth:
(vii.) Lighthouses,
lightships, beacons and buoys:
(viii.) Astronomical and meteorological
observations:
(ix.) Quarantine:
(x.) Fisheries in Australian
waters beyond territorial limits:
(xi.) Census and
statistics:
(xii.) Currency, coinage, and legal
tender:
(xiii.) Banking, other than State banking; also State banking
extending beyond the limits of the State concerned, the incorporation of banks,
and the issue of paper money:
(xiv.) Insurance, other than State
insurance; also State insurance extending beyond the limits of the State
concerned:
(xv.) Weights and measures:
(xvi.) Bills of exchange
and promissory notes:
(xvii.) Bankruptcy and
insolvency:
(xviii.) Copyrights, patents of inventions and designs, and
trade marks:
(xix.) Naturalization and aliens:
(xx.) Foreign
corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of
the Commonwealth:
(xxi.) Marriage:
(xxii.) Divorce and matrimonial
causes; and in relation thereto, parental rights, and the custody and
guardianship of infants:
(xxiii.) Invalid and old-age
pensions:
(xxiiiA.) The provision of maternity allowances, widows'
pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital
benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorize any form of
civil conscription), benefits to students and family
allowances:
(xxiv.) The service and execution throughout the Commonwealth
of the civil and criminal process and the judgements of the courts of the
States:
(xxv.) The recognition throughout the Commonwealth of the laws,
the public Acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of the
States:
(xxvi.) The people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to
make special laws:
(xxvii.) Immigration and
emigration:
(xxviii.) The influx of criminals:
(xxix.) External
Affairs:
(xxx.) The relations of the Commonwealth with the islands of the
Pacific:
(xxxi.) The acquisition of property on just terms from any State
or person for any purpose in respect of which the Parliament has power to make
laws:
(xxxii.) The control of railways with respect to transport for the
naval and military purposes of the Commonwealth:
(xxxiii.) The
acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms
arranged between the Commonwealth and the State:
(xxxiv.) Railway
construction and extension in any State with the consent of that
State:
(xxxv.) Conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and
settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one
State:
(xxxvi.) Matters in respect of which this Constitution makes
provision until the Parliament otherwise provides:
(xxxvii.) Matters
referred to the Parliament of the Commonwealth by the Parliament or Parliaments
of any State or States, but so that the law shall extend only to States by whose
Parliaments the matter is referred, or which afterwards adopt the
law:(xxxviii.) The exercise within the
Commonwealth, at the request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all
the States directly concerned, of any power which can at the establishment of
this Constitution be exercised only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or
by the Federal Council of Australasia:
(xxxix.) Matters
incidental to the execution of any power vested by this Constitution in the
Parliament or in either House thereof, or in the Government of the Commonwealth,
or in the Federal Judicature, or in any department or officer of the
Commonwealth.
52. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution,
have exclusive power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of
the Commonwealth with respect to–
(i.) The seat of government of
the Commonwealth, and all places acquired by the Commonwealth for public
purposes:
(ii.) Matters relating to any department of the public service
the control of which is by this Constitution transferred to the Executive
Government or the Commonwealth:
(iii.) Other matters declared by this
Constitution to be within the exclusive power of the
Parliament.
53. Proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys, or
imposing taxation, shall not originate in the Senate. But a proposed law shall
not be taken to appropriate revenue or moneys, or to impose taxation, by reason
only of its containing provisions for the imposition or appropriation of fines
or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment or appropriation of
fees for licences, or fees for services under the proposed law.
The
Senate may not amend proposed laws imposing taxation, or proposed laws
appropriating revenue or moneys for the ordinary annual services of the
Government.
The Senate may not amend any proposed law so as to increase
any proposed charge or burden on the people.
The Senate may at any stage
return to the House of Representatives any proposed law which the Senate may not
amend, requesting, by message, the omission or amendment of any items or
provisions therein. And the House of Representatives may, if it thinks fit, make
any of such omissions or amendments, with or without
modifications.
Except as provided in this section, the Senate shall have
equal power with the House of Representatives in respect of all proposed
laws.
54. The proposed law which appropriates revenue or moneys for the
ordinary annual services of the Government shall deal only with such
appropriation.
55. Laws imposing taxation shall deal only with the
imposition of taxation, and any provision therein dealing with any other matter
shall be of no effect.
Laws imposing taxation except laws imposing
duties of customs or of excise, shall deal with one subject of taxation only;
but laws imposing duties of customs shall deal with duties of customs only, and
laws imposing duties of excise shall deal with duties of excise
only.
56. A vote, resolution, or proposed law for the appropriation of
revenue or moneys shall not be passed unless the purpose of the appropriation
has in the same session been recommended by message of the
President Governor-General to the House in which the
proposal originated.
57. If the House of Representatives passes any
proposed law, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with
amendments to which the House of Representatives will not agree, and if after an
interval of three months the House of Representatives, in the same or the next
session year, again passes the proposed law with or
without any amendments which have been made, suggested, or agreed to by the
Senate, and the Senate rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments
to which the House of Representatives will not agree, the President
Governor-General may dissolve the Senate and the House of
Representatives simultaneously. But such dissolution shall not take place within
six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by
effluxion of time.
If after such dissolution the House of
Representatives again passes the proposed law, with or without any amendments
which have been made, suggested, or agreed to by the Senate, and the Senate
rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of
Representatives will not agree, the President in Council
Governor-General may convene a joint sitting of the members of
the Senate and of the House of Representatives.
The members present at
the joint sitting may deliberate and shall vote together upon the proposed law
as last proposed by the House of Representatives, and upon amendments, if any,
which have been made therein by one House and not agreed to by the other, and
any such amendments which are affirmed by an absolute majority of the total
number of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives shall be taken
to have been carried, and if the proposed law, with the amendments, if any, so
carried is affirmed by an absolute majority of the total number of the members
of the Senate and House of Representatives, it shall be taken to have been duly
passed by Houses of the Parliament, and shall be presented to the
President Governor-General for the
Queen's assent.
58. When a proposed law passed by both Houses of
the Parliament is presented to the President
Governor-General for the Queen's assent, he
or she shall, subject to this Constitution, assent to it if so
advised by the Federal Executive Council. declare, according to his
discretion, but subject to this Constitution, that he assents in the Queen's
name, or that he withholds assent, or that he reserves the law for the Queen's
pleasure.
The Governor-General President in
Council may return to the house in which it originated any proposed law so
presented to him or her, and may transmit therewith any amendments which
the President in Council he may recommend, and the
Houses may deal with the recommendation.59. The
Queen may disallow any law within one year from the Governor-General's assent,
and such disallowance on being made known by the Governor-General by speech or
message to each of the Houses of the Parliament, or by Proclamation, shall annul
the law from the day when the disallowance is so made
known.60. A proposed law reserved for
the Queen's pleasure shall not have any force unless and until within two years
from the day on which it was presented to the Governor-General for the Queen's
assent the Governor-General makes known, by speech or message to each of the
Houses of the Parliament, or by Proclamation, that it has received the Queen's
assent.
61. The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the
Queen President of the Commonwealth and is exercisable
on the advice of the Federal Executive Council by the
Governor-General as the Queen's representative, and extends to the
execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws of the
Commonwealth.
62. There shall be a Federal Executive Council to advise
the President Governor-General in the government of the
Commonwealth, and the members of the Council shall be chosen and summoned by the
President Governor-General and sworn as Executive
Councillors, and shall hold office during his or her
pleasure.
63. The provisions of this Constitution referring to the
President Governor-General in Council shall be construed
as referring to the President Governor-General acting
with the advice of the Federal Executive Council.
64. The
President Governor-General may appoint officers to
administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the President
Governor-General in Council may establish.
Such
officers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President
Governor-General. They shall be members of the Federal
Executive Council, and shall be the Queen's Ministers of State
for the Commonwealth.
After the first general election
No Minister of State shall hold office for a longer period than three
months unless he or she is or becomes a senator or a member of the House
of Representatives.
65. The Ministers of State shall hold such offices
as the President in Council directs, subject to any provision by the Parliament.
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the Ministers of the State
shall not exceed seven in number, and shall hold such offices as the Parliament
prescribes, or, in the absence of provision, as the Governor-General
directs.
66. There shall be payable to the
Queen, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Commonwealth, for
the salaries of the Ministers of State, an annual sum fixed by
which, until the Parliament otherwise provides, shall
not exceed twelve thousand pounds a year.
67. Until the
Parliament otherwise provides, the appointment and removal of all other officers
of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth shall be vested in the
President Governor-General in Council, unless the
appointment is delegated by the President
Governor-General in Council or by a law of the Commonwealth to
some other authority.
68. The command in chief of the defence
naval and military forces of the Commonwealth is vested in the
President acting with the advice of the Executive Council.
Governor-General as the Queen's
representative.69. On a date or dates
to be proclaimed by the Governor-General after the establishment of the
Commonwealth the following departments of the public service in each State shall
become transferred to the Commonwealth:–Posts,
telegraphs, and telephones:Naval and military
defence:Lighthouses, lightships, beacons, and
buoys:Quarantine.
But the departments
of customs and of excise in each State shall become transferred to the
Commonwealth on its establishment.
70. In respect of matters which, under this
Constitution, pass to the Executive Government of the Commonwealth, all powers
and functions which at the establishment of the Commonwealth are vested in the
Governor of a Colony, or in the Governor of a Colony with the advice of his
Executive Council, or in any authority of a Colony, shall vest in the
Governor-General, or in the Governor-General in Council, or in the authority
exercising similar powers under the Commonwealth, as the case
requires.
71. The judicial power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Federal
Supreme Court, to be called the High Court of Australia, and in such other
federal courts as the Parliament creates, and in such other courts as it invests
with federal jurisdiction. The High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice, and
so many other Justices, not less than two, as the Parliament
prescribes.
72. The Justices of the High Court and of the other courts
created by the Parliament–
(i.) Shall be appointed by the
President Governor-General in
Council:
(ii.) Shall not be removed except by the President
Governor-General in Council, on an address from both Houses of
the Parliament in the same session year, praying for
such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or
incapacity:
(iii.) Shall receive such remuneration as the Parliament may
fix; but the remuneration shall not be diminished during their continuance in
office.
The appointment of a Justice of the High Court shall be for a
term expiring upon his or her attaining the age of seventy years, and a
person shall not be appointed as a Justice of the High Court if he or she
has attained that age.
The appointment of a Justice of a court created
by the Parliament shall be for a term expiring upon his or her attaining
the age that is, at the time of his or her appointment, the maximum age
for Justices of that court and a person shall not be appointed as a Justice of
such a court if he or she has attained the age that is for the time being
the maximum age for Justices of that court.
Subject to this section, the
maximum age for Justices of any court created by the Parliament is seventy
years.
The Parliament may make a law fixing an age that is less than
seventy years as the maximum age for Justices of a court created by the
Parliament and may at any time repeal or amend such a law, but any such repeal
or amendment does not affect the term of office of a Justice under an
appointment made before the repeal or amendment.
A Justice of the High
Court or of a court created by the Parliament may resign his or her
office by writing under his or her hand delivered to the President
Governor-General.
Nothing in the provisions added to
this section by the Constitution Alteration (Retirement of Judges) 1977
affects the continuance of a person in office as a Justice of a court under an
appointment made before the commencement of those provisions.
A
reference in this section to the appointment of a Justice of the High Court or
of a court created by the Parliament shall be read as including a reference to
the appointment of a person who holds office as a Justice of the High Court or
of a court created by the Parliament to another office of Justice of the same
court having a different status or designation.
73. The High Court shall
have jurisdiction, with such exceptions and subject to such regulations as the
Parliament prescribes, to hear and determine appeals from all judgements,
decrees, orders, and sentences–
(i.) Of any Justice or Justices
exercising the original jurisdiction of the High Court:
(ii.) Of any
other federal court, or court exercising federal jurisdiction; or of the Supreme
Court of any State, or of any other court of any State from which at the
establishment of the Commonwealth an appeal lies to the Queen in
Council:
(iii.) Of the Inter-State Commission, but as to
questions of law only:
and the judgement of the High Court in all such
cases shall be final and conclusive.
But no exception or regulation
prescribed by the Parliament shall prevent the High Court from hearing and
determining any appeal from the Supreme Court of a State in any matter
in which at the establishment of the Commonwealth an appeal lies from such
Supreme Court to the Queen in Council.
Until the
Parliament otherwise provides, the conditions of and restrictions on appeals to
the Queen in Council from the Supreme Courts of the several States shall be
applicable to appeals from them to the High
Court.74. No appeal shall be permitted
to the Queen in Council from a decision of the High Court upon any question,
howsoever arising, as the limits inter se of the Constitutional powers of the
Commonwealth and those of any State or States, or as to the limits inter se of
the Constitutional powers of any two or more States, unless the High Court shall
certify that the Question is one which ought to be determined by Her Majesty in
Council.
The High Court may so certify if satisfied
that for any special reason the certificate should be granted, and thereupon an
appeal shall lie to Her Majesty in Council on the question without further
leave.
Except as provided in this section, this
Constitution shall not impair any right which the Queen may be please to
exercise by virtue of Her Royal prerogative to grant special leave of appeal
from the High Court to Her Majesty in Council. The Parliament may make laws
limiting the matters in which leave may be asked, but proposed laws containing
any such limitations shall be reserved by the Governor-General for Her Majesty's
pleasure.
75. In all matters–
(i.) Arising
under any treaty:
(ii.) Affecting consuls or other representatives of
other countries:
(iii.) In which the Commonwealth, or a person suing or
being sued on behalf of the Commonwealth, is a party:
(iv.) Between
States, or between residents of different States, or between a State and a
resident of another State:
(v.) In which a writ of Mandamus or
prohibition or an injunction is sought against an officer of the
Commonwealth:
the High Court shall have original
jurisdiction.
76. The Parliament may make laws conferring original
jurisdiction on the High Court in any matter–
(i.) Arising under
this Constitution, or involving its interpretation:
(ii.) Arising under
any laws made by the Parliaments:
(iii.) Of Admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction:
(iv.) Relating to the same subject-matter claimed under the
laws of different States.
77. With respect to any of the matters
mentioned in the last two sections the Parliament may make
laws–
(i.) Defining the jurisdiction of any federal court other
than the High Court:
(ii.) Defining the extent to which the jurisdiction
of any federal court shall be exclusive of that which belongs to or is invested
in the courts of the States:
(iii.) Investing any court of a State with
federal jurisdiction.
78. The Parliament may make laws conferring rights
to proceed against the Commonwealth or a State in respect of matters within the
limits of the judicial power.
79. The federal jurisdiction of any court
may be exercised by such number of judges as the Parliament
prescribes.
80. The trial on indictment of any offence against any law of
the Commonwealth shall be by jury, and every such trial shall be held in the
State where the offence was committed, and if the offence was not committed
within any State the trial shall be held at such place or places as the
Parliament prescribes.
81. All revenues or moneys raised or received by the Executive
Government of the Commonwealth shall form one Consolidated Revenue Fund, to be
appropriated for the purposes of the Commonwealth in the manner and subject to
the charges and liabilities imposed by this Constitution.
82. The costs,
charges, and expenses incident to the collection, management, and receipt of the
Consolidated Revenue Fund shall form the first charge thereon; and the revenue
of the Commonwealth shall in the first instance be applied to the payment of the
expenditure of the Commonwealth.
83. No money shall be drawn from the
Treasury of the Commonwealth except under appropriation made by
law.
But until the expiration of one month after the first
meeting of the Parliament the Governor-General in Council may draw from the
Treasury and expend such moneys as may be necessary for the maintenance of any
department transferred to the Commonwealth and for the holding of the first
elections for the Parliament.
84. When any department of
the public service of a State becomes transferred to the Commonwealth, all
officers of the department shall become subject to the control of the Executive
Government of the Commonwealth.
Any such officer who is not retained in
the service of the Commonwealth shall, unless he or she is appointed to
some other office of equal emolument in the public service of the State, be
entitled to receive from the State any pension, gratuity, or other compensation,
payable under the law of the State on the abolition of his or her
office.
Any such officer who is retained in the service of the
Commonwealth shall preserve all his or her existing and accruing rights,
and shall be entitled to retire from office at the time, and on the pension or
retiring allowance, which would be permitted by the law of the State if his
or her service with the Commonwealth were a continuation of his or
her service with the State. Such pension or retiring allowance shall be paid
to him or her by the Commonwealth; but the State shall pay to the
Commonwealth a part thereof, to be calculated on the proportion which his or
her term of service with the State bears to his or her whole term of
service, and for the purpose of the calculation his or her salary shall
be taken to be that paid to him or her by the State at the time of the
transfer.
Any officer who is, at the establishment of the
Commonwealth, in the public service of a State, and who is, by consent of the
Governor of the State with the advice of the Executive Council thereof,
transferred to the public service of the Commonwealth, shall have the same
rights as if he had been an officer of a department transferred to the
Commonwealth and were retained in the service of the Commonwealth.
85. When any department of the public service of a State is
transferred to the Commonwealth–
(i.) All property of the State of
any kind, used exclusively in connection with the department, shall become
vested in the Commonwealth; but, in the case of the departments
controlling customs and excise and bounties, for such time only as the
Governor-General in Council may declare to be
necessary:
(ii.) The Commonwealth may acquire any property of
the State, of any kind used, but not exclusively used in connection with the
department; the value thereof shall, if no agreement can be made, be ascertained
in, as nearly as may be, the manner in which the value of land, or of an
interest in land, taken by the State for public purposes is ascertained under
the law of the State in force at the establishment of the
Commonwealth:
(iii.) The Commonwealth shall compensate the State for the
value of any property passing to the Commonwealth under this section; if no
agreement can be made as to the mode of compensation, it shall be determined
under laws to be made by the Parliament:
(iv.) The Commonwealth shall, at
the date of the transfer, assume the current obligations of the State in respect
of the department transferred.86. On the
establishment of the Commonwealth, the collection and control of duties of
customs and of excise, and the control of the payment of bounties, shall pass to
the Executive Government of the Commonwealth.
87. During a period of ten years after the
establishment of the Commonwealth and thereafter until the Parliament otherwise
provides, of the net revenue of the Commonwealth from duties of customs and of
excise not more than one-fourth shall be applied annually by the Commonwealth
towards its expenditure.
The balance shall, in
accordance with the Constitution, be paid to the several States, or applied
towards the payment of interest on debts of the several States taken over by the
Commonwealth.
88. Uniform duties of customs shall be
imposed within two years after the establishment of the
Commonwealth.89. Until the imposition of
uniform duties of customs
–(i.) The Commonwealth shall
credit to each State the revenues collected therein by the
Commonwealth.(ii.) The Commonwealth
shall debit to each
State–(a) The expenditure
therein of the Commonwealth incurred solely for the maintenance or continuance,
as at the time of transfer, of any department transferred from the State to the
Commonwealth;(b) The proportion
of the State, according to the number of its people, in the other expenditure of
the Commonwealth.(iii.) The
Commonwealth shall pay to each State month by month the balance (if any) in
favour of the State.
90. On the imposition of uniform
duties of customs the power of the Parliament to impose duties of customs and of
excise, and to grant bounties on the production or export of goods, shall become
exclusive.
On the imposition of uniform duties of customs all
laws of the several States imposing duties of customs or of excise, or offering
bounties on the production or export of goods, shall cease to have effect, but
any grant of or agreement for any such bounty lawfully made by or under the
authority of the Government of any State shall be taken to be good if made
before the thirtieth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and ninety eight,
and not otherwise.
91. Nothing in this Constitution
prohibits a State from granting any aid to or bounty on mining for gold, silver,
or other metals, not from granting, with the consent of both Houses of the
Parliament of the Commonwealth expressed by resolution, any aid to or bounty on
the production or export of goods.
92. On the imposition of uniform
duties of customs, trade, commerce, and intercourse among the States, whether by
means of internal carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely
free.
But notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, goods
imported before the imposition of uniform duties of customs into any State, or
into any Colony which, whilst the goods remain therein, becomes a State, shall,
on thence passing into another State within two years after the imposition of
such duties, be liable to any duty chargeable on the importation of such goods
into the Commonwealth, less any duty paid in respect of the goods on their
importation. 93. During the
first five years after the imposition of uniform duties of customs, and
thereafter until the Parliament otherwise
provides–(i.) The duties of
customs chargeable on goods imported into a State and afterwards passing into
another State for consumption, and the duties of excise paid on goods produced
or manufactured in a State and afterwards passing into another State for
consumption, shall be taken to have been collected not in the former but in the
latter State:(ii.) Subject to the last
subsection, the Commonwealth shall credit revenue, debit expenditure, and pay
balances to the several States as prescribed for the period preceding the
imposition of uniform duties of customs.
94. After five
years from the imposition of uniform duties of customs, the Parliament may
provide, on such basis as it deems fair, for the monthly payment to the several
States of all surplus revenue of the
Commonwealth.95. Notwithstanding anything in
this Constitution, the Parliament of the State of Western Australia, if that
State be an Original State, may, during the first five years after the
imposition of uniform duties of customs, impose duties of customs on goods
passing into that State and not originally imported from beyond the limits of
the Commonwealth; and such duties shall be collected by the
Commonwealth.
But any duty so imposed on any goods
shall not exceed during the first of such years the duty chargeable on the goods
under the law of Western Australia in force at the imposition of uniform duties,
and shall not exceed during the second, third, fourth, and fifth of such years
respectively, four-fifths, three-fifths, two-fifths, and one-fifth of such
latter duty, and all duties imposed under this section shall cease at the
expiration of the fifth year after the imposition of uniform
duties.
If at any time during the five years the duty
on any goods under this section is higher than the duty imposed by the
Commonwealth on the importation of the like goods, then such higher duty shall
be collected on the goods when imported into Western Australia from beyond the
limits of the Commonwealth.
96. During a period
of ten years after the establishment of the Commonwealth and thereafter until
the Parliament otherwise provides, The Parliament may grant
financial assistance to any State on such terms and conditions as the Parliament
thinks fit.97. Until the Parliament otherwise
provides, the laws in force in any Colony which has become or becomes a State
with respect to the receipt of revenue and the expenditure of money on account
of the Government of the Colony, and the review and audit of such receipt and
expenditure, shall apply to the receipt of revenue and the expenditure of money
on account of the Commonwealth in the State in the same manner as if the
Commonwealth, or the Government or an officer of the Commonwealth were mentioned
whenever the Colony, or the Government or an officer of the Colony, is
mentioned.
98. The power of the Parliament to make laws
with respect to trade and commerce extends to navigation and shipping, and to
railways the property of any State.
99. The Commonwealth shall not, by
any law or regulation of trade, commerce, or revenue, give preference to one
State or any part thereof over another State or any part
thereof.
100. The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of
trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or of the residents therein to
the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or
irrigation.
101. There shall be an Inter-State Commission, with such
powers of adjudication and administration as the Parliament deems necessary for
the execution and maintenance, within the Commonwealth, of the provisions of
this Constitution relating to trade and commerce, and of all laws made
thereunder.
102. The Parliament may by any law with respect to trade or
commerce forbid, as to railways, any preference or discrimination by any State,
or by any authority constituted under a State, if such preference or
discrimination is undue and unreasonable, or unjust to any State; due regard
being had to the financial responsibilities incurred by any State in connection
with the construction and maintenance of its railways. But no preference or
discrimination shall, within the meaning of this section, be taken to be undue
and unreasonable, or unjust to any State, unless so adjudged by the Inter-State
Commission.
103. The members of the Inter-State
Commission–
(i.) Shall be appointed by the President
Governor-General in Council:
(ii.) Shall hold office for
seven years, but may be removed within that time by the President
Governor-General in Council, on an address from both Houses of
the Parliament in the same session year praying for such
removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity:
(iii.) Shall
receive such remuneration as the Parliament may fix; but such remuneration shall
not be diminished during their continuance in office.
104. Nothing in
this Constitution shall render unlawful any rate for the carriage of goods upon
a railway, the property of a State, if the rate is deemed by the Inter-State
Commission to be necessary for the development of the territory of the State,
and if the rate applies equally to goods within the State and to goods passing
into the State from other States.
105. The Parliament may take over from
the States their public debts or a proportion thereof according to the
respective numbers of their people as shown by the latest statistics of the
Commonwealth, and may convert, renew, or consolidate such debts, or any part
thereof; and the States shall indemnify the Commonwealth in respect of the debts
taken over, and thereafter the interest payable in respect of the debts shall be
deducted and retained from the portions of the surplus revenue of the
Commonwealth payable to the several States, or if such surplus is insufficient,
or if there is no surplus, then the deficiency or the whole amount shall be paid
by the several States.
105A. (1) The Commonwealth may make agreements
with the States with respect to the public debts of the States,
including–
(a) the taking over of such debts by the
Commonwealth;
(b) the management of such
debts;
(c) the paying of interest and the provision and management
of sinking funds in respect of such debts;
(d) the consolidation,
renewal, conversion, and redemption of such debts;
(e) the
indemnification of the Commonwealth by the States in respect of debts taken over
by the Commonwealth; and
(f) the borrowing of money by the States
or by the Commonwealth, or by the Commonwealth for the States.
(2) The
Parliament may make laws for validating any such agreement made before the
commencement of this section.
(3) The Parliament may make laws for the
carrying out by the parties of any such agreement.
(4) Any such agreement
may be varied or rescinded by the parties therein.
(5) Every such
agreement and any such variation thereof shall be binding upon the Commonwealth
and the States parties thereto notwithstanding anything contained in this
Constitution or the Constitution of the several States or in any law of the
Parliament of the Commonwealth or of any State.
(6) The powers conferred
by this section shall not be construed as being limited in any way by the
provision of section one hundred and five of this
Constitution.
106. The Constitution of each State of the Commonwealth shall, subject
to this Constitution, continue as at the establishment of the Commonwealth, or
as at the admission of establishment of the State, as the case may be, until
altered in accordance with the Constitution of the State.
107. Every
power of the Parliament of a Colony which has become or becomes a State, shall,
unless it is by this Constitution exclusively vested in the Parliament of the
Commonwealth or withdrawn from the Parliament of the State, continue as at the
establishment of the Commonwealth, or as at the admission or establishment of
the State, as the case may be.
108. Every law in force in a Colony which
has become or becomes a State, and relating to any matter within the powers of
the Parliament of the Commonwealth shall, subject to this Constitution, continue
in force in the State; and, until provision is made in that behalf by the
Parliament of the Commonwealth, the Parliament of the State shall have such
powers of alteration and of repeal in respect of any such law as the Parliament
of the Colony had until the Colony became a State.
109. When a law of a
State is inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail,
and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be
invalid.
110. The provisions of this Constitution relating to the
Governor of a State extend and apply to the Governor for the time being of the
State, or other chief executive officer or administrator of the government of
the State.
111. The Parliament of a State may surrender any part of the
State to the Commonwealth; and upon such surrender, and the acceptance thereof
by the Commonwealth, such part of the State shall become subject to the
exclusive jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
112. After uniform duties of
customs have been imposed, a State may levy on imports, or on goods passing into
or out of the State such charges as may be necessary for executing the
inspection laws of the State; but the net produce of all charges so levied shall
be for the use of the Commonwealth; and any such inspection laws may be annulled
by the Parliament of the Commonwealth.
113. All fermented, distilled, or
other intoxicating liquids passing into any State or remaining therein for use,
consumption, sale, or storage, shall be subject to the laws of the State as if
such liquids had been produced in the State.
114. A State shall not,
without the consent of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, raise or maintain any
naval or military force, or impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to
the Commonwealth, nor shall the Commonwealth impose any tax on property of any
kind belonging to a State.
115. A State shall not coin money, nor make
anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of
debts.
116. The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any
religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free
exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a
qualification for any office or public trust under the
Commonwealth.
117. A subject of the Queen, An
Australian citizen, resident in any State, shall not be subject in any other
State to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable
to him or her if he or she were a subject of the
Queen an Australian citizen resident in such other
State.
118. Full faith and credit shall be given, throughout the
Commonwealth to the laws, the public Acts and records, and the judicial
proceeding of every State.
119. The Commonwealth shall protect every
State against invasion and, on the application of the Executive Government of
the State, against domestic violence.
120. Every State shall make
provisions for the detention in its prisons of persons accused or convicted of
offences against the laws of the Commonwealth, and for the punishment of persons
convicted of such offences, and the Parliament of the Commonwealth may make laws
to give effects to this provision.
121. The Parliament may admit to the Commonwealth or establish new
States, and may upon such admission or establishment make or impose such terms
and conditions, including the extent of representation in either House of the
Parliament, as it thinks fit.
122. The Parliament may make laws for
the government of any territory surrendered by any State to and accepted by the
Commonwealth, or of any territory placed by the Queen under the
authority of and accepted by the Commonwealth, and may allow the
representation of such territory in either House of the Parliament to the extent
and on the terms which it thinks fit.
123. The Parliament of the
Commonwealth may, with the consent of the Parliament of a State, and the
approval of the majority of the electors of the State voting upon the question,
increase, diminish, or otherwise alter the limits of the State, upon such terms
and conditions as may be agreed on, and may, with the like consent, make
provision respecting the effect and operation of any increase or diminution or
alteration of territory in relation to any State affected.
124. A new
State may be formed by separation of territory from a State, but only with the
consent of the Parliament thereof, and a new State may be formed by the union of
two or more States or parts of States, but only with the consent of the
Parliaments of the States affected.
125. The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by
the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to
or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the
Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not
less than one hundred miles from Sydney.
Such territory shall contain an
area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as
shall consist of State Crown lands shall be granted to
the Commonwealth without any payment therefor.
The Parliament
shall sit at Melbourne until it meet at the seat of
Government.
126. The President, Queen
with the advice of the Executive Council, may authorize the
Governor-General to appoint any person, or any persons jointly or
severally, to be his or her deputy or deputies within any part of the
Commonwealth, and in that capacity to exercise during the pleasure of
the Governor-General such powers and functions of the President as
are assigned to the deputy or deputies, Governor-General as he
thinks fit to assign such deputy or deputies, subject to any
limitations expressed or directions given by the Queen; but the
appointment of such deputy or deputies shall not affect the exercise by the
President Governor-General himself of any power or
function.
128. This Constitution shall not be altered except in the following
manner:–
The proposed law for the alteration thereof must be
passed by an absolute majority of each House of the Parliament, and not less
than two nor more than six months after its passage through both Houses the
proposed law shall be submitted in each State and Territory to the electors
qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of
Representatives.
But if either House passes any such proposed law by an
absolute majority, and the other House rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it
with any amendments to which the first-mentioned House will not agree, and if
after an interval of three months the first-mentioned House in the same or the
next session year again passes the proposed law by an
absolute majority with or without any amendment which has been made or agreed to
by the other House, and such other House rejects or fails to pass it or passes
it with any amendment to which the first-mentioned House will not agree, the
President in Council Governor-General may submit the
proposed law as last proposed by the first-mentioned House, and either with or
without any amendments subsequently agreed to by both Houses, to the electors in
each State and Territory qualified to vote for the election of the House of
Representatives.
When a proposed law is submitted to the electors the
vote shall be taken in such manner as the Parliament prescribes. But
until the qualification of electors of members of the House of Representatives
becomes uniform throughout the Commonwealth, only one-half the electors voting
for and against the proposed law shall be counted in any State in which adult
suffrage prevails.
And if in a majority of the States a
majority of the electors voting approve the proposed law, and if a majority of
all the electors voting also approve the proposed law, it shall be presented to
the President for assent Governor-General for the Queen's
assent.
No alteration diminishing the proportionate
representation of any State in either House of the Parliament, or the minimum
number of representatives of a State in the House of Representative, or
increasing, diminishing, or otherwise altering the limits of the State, or in
any manner affecting the provisions of the Constitution in relation thereto,
shall become law unless the majority of the electors voting in that State
approve the proposed law.
In this section "Territory" means any
territory referred to in section one hundred and twenty-two of this Constitution
in respect of which there is in force a law allowing its representation in the
House of Representatives.
I, A.B., do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to
Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Her heirs and successors the
Commonwealth of Australia according to law. SO HELP ME
GOD!
I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I
will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
Her heirs and successors the Commonwealth of Australia according
to
law.
(100/96)