As the 2016 Federal election fast approaches the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are rolling out promises thick and fast across the country.
There have been a number of legal matters that have been of significant debate as part of the election campaign, such as the issue of same sex marriage. Turnbull wants to hold a plebiscite to determine the issue, while Shorten says he will seek to legalise it in his first 100 days of governing should he be elected.
Examples like this require changes to existing laws or the introduction of new laws to be able to become reality.
The truth is that no matter who is elected any changes to existing laws or introduction of new ones must pass through both houses of parliament in order to become a reality. This means that all of these election promises regardless of which leader is promising them are still at the mercy of the parliament post-election.
In Australia the introduction of a new law occurs as follows:
- A proposal law called a “bill” is introduced to the House of Representatives where it is debated;
- If a majority of the members of the House of Representatives agree with the law the bill is eventually passed meaning it is sent up to the Senate for review;
- The bill is introduced to the Senate and is then debated in a similar fashion as to what occurred in the House of Representatives;
- If a majority of the members of the Senate agree with the law the bill is then passed again after which it will receive Royal Assent by the Governor General and come in to full effect.
As you can see there are a number of difficult steps any new bill must overcome before it is actually enacted into the law.
Put simply, no matter who you vote for, many of their promises can only be put into effect if they obtain the necessary majority in the House of Represents and/or Senate after the election. This means that election day not only determines who will lead our country but also which of their election promises they will be able enact. Vote with care.
