Commonwealth Numbered Acts

CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (SENATE CASUAL VACANCIES) 1977 No. 82 of 1977 - SECT 2

2. The Constitution is altered by omitting section 15 and substituting the
following section:- Casual vacancies.
'' 15. If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his
term of service, the Houses of Parliament of the State for which he 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 was so chosen, he 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 seat he ceases to be a member of that party
        (otherwise than by reason of the party having ceased to exist), he
        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 chosen or appointed under this section shall be
certified by the Governor of the State to the 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 the 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 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-

   (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.''.
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