Italy Down Under

The crisis of 1975 might not have occurred had the Senate as elected in 1974 maintained its member status. The crisis was precipitated by the Senate delaying the Whitlam government’s money (Supply) bill. Although one of the two independents, Michael Townley, joined the Liberal Party, the other, Steele Hall, was opposed to blocking supply, and this would have been sufficient to prevent such a course being followed. The change in the composition of the Senate which made the constitutional crisis of 1975 possible was brought about by two appointments to fill casual vacancies in the Senate, which under Section 15 of the Australian Constitution are made by the State Parliaments ‘if sitting’; or otherwise by the State Governor ‘with the advice of Executive Council’. Since the introduction of proportional representation for Senate elections in 1949, there was a convention that Senators who died or resigned should be replaced by a Senator of their own party, Oh, that australian is less irresistible than that awful Fraser [...]