Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Monday that he will recall Parliament, bringing the budget forward a week, and setting the scene for a possible double dissolution election.
Speculation has been rife in the media that this might occur, but everyday Australians might not necessary understand what a double dissolution election is, especially considering that this would be the first time this has occurred since 1987.
In Australia, for a law to be passed, it must be approved by the two houses of Parliament, being the Senate and the House of Representatives. If there is disagreement over a proposed Bill and a deadlock occurs, the Australian Constitution provides a mechanism to solve this problem by “dissolving the Parliament” which means that both the Senate and the House of Representatives are shut down in order for a federal election to take place to determine the matter. All Senators and Members of the House of Representatives must then be re-elected in order to hold their seats. One of the following three results can occur:
- Every Senator and Member of Parliament is re-elected and therefore the government remains exactly the same on both sides (this is incredibly unlikely).
- The sitting government wins more seats than it had before, making it more likely that their laws will be passed.
- The Opposition win more seats than the sitting government, potentially meaning a new government and the laws that triggered the election being defeated.
A good example of how this type of political situation can play out occurred in 1975 when the Whitlam government could not pass laws pertaining to the federal budget, and therefore could not legally spend government money. In that example however, the Prime Minister chose not to dissolve the parliament, causing the Governor General to dismiss the government resulting in an election anyway.
If the Prime Minister Turnbull triggers a double dissolution election, Australia will most likely go to the polls on 2 July 2016.
