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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Constitution (Fixed Term
Parliament) Amendment Bill
2015
Queensland
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament)
Amendment Bill 2015
Contents
Page
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
2 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Amendment of s 15 (Summoning, proroguing and dissolving the
Legislative Assembly). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4 Omission of s 16 (Duration of Legislative Assembly) . . . . . . . . . . 4
5 Amendment of s 17 (Continuation of Legislative Assembly despite end
of Sovereign's reign). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6 Insertion of new ch 2, pt 2A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part 2A Fixed terms for Legislative Assembly
19A Definitions for pt 2A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
19B Duration of Legislative Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
19C Normal term of Legislative Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
19D Postponed dissolution of Legislative Assembly or polling day
6
19E Early dissolution of Legislative Assembly. . . . . . . . . . 7
19F Calculating particular days for general election . . . . . 9
19G Special procedure for amending or repealing part . . . 9
7 Insertion of new ch 9, pt 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Part 3 Transitional provision for Constitution (Fixed
Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015
94A Affected laws continue until completion of next general
election . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8 Omission of attachment 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Part 3 Amendment of Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934
9 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Contents
10 Omission of s 4 (Duration of Legislative Assembly not to be extended
except in accordance with this section) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Part 4 Repeal
11 Repeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Page 2
2015
A Bill
for
An Act to amend the Constitution of Queensland 2001 to
provide for fixed terms for the Legislative Assembly and to
amend the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 for particular
purposes, and to repeal the Constitution Act Amendment Act
1890
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 1]
The Parliament of Queensland with the consent of the electors 1
of Queensland enacts-- 2
Part 1 Preliminary 3
Clause 1 Short title 4
This Act may be cited as the Constitution (Fixed Term 5
Parliament) Amendment Act 2015. 6
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of 7
Queensland 2001 8
Clause 2 Act amended 9
This part amends the Constitution of Queensland 2001. 10
Clause 3 Amendment of s 15 (Summoning, proroguing and 11
dissolving the Legislative Assembly) 12
(1) Section 15(2), 'or dissolve'-- 13
omit. 14
(2) Section 15-- 15
insert-- 16
(3) The Governor may dissolve the Legislative 17
Assembly by proclamation or otherwise but only 18
under part 2A. 19
Clause 4 Omission of s 16 (Duration of Legislative Assembly) 20
Section 16-- 21
Page 4
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
[s 5]
omit. 1
Clause 5 Amendment of s 17 (Continuation of Legislative 2
Assembly despite end of Sovereign's reign) 3
Section 17, 'section 15(2)'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
section 15(3) 6
Clause 6 Insertion of new ch 2, pt 2A 7
After section 19-- 8
insert-- 9
Part 2A Fixed terms for 10
Legislative Assembly 11
19A Definitions for pt 2A 12
In this part-- 13
general election means an election for the 14
members of the Legislative Assembly. 15
normal dissolution day see section 19C(2). 16
normal polling day see section 19C(1). 17
postponed polling day see section 19D(1). 18
19B Duration of Legislative Assembly 19
(1) Every Legislative Assembly expires on the day 20
that is 4 years from the day the writ for the 21
general election was returned for the Assembly, 22
unless the Assembly is earlier dissolved under 23
section 19C, 19D or 19E. 24
Page 5
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
[s 6]
(2) If the Legislative Assembly expires under 1
subsection (1), the Governor must immediately 2
issue a writ for a general election. 3
19C Normal term of Legislative Assembly 4
(1) A general election must be held on the second 5
Saturday in March in the fourth calendar year 6
after the calendar year in which the last general 7
election was held (the normal polling day). 8
(2) Subject to sections 19B(2), 19D and 19E, the 9
Governor must dissolve the Legislative Assembly 10
and issue a writ for a general election on the day 11
(the normal dissolution day) that is 26 days 12
before the normal polling day. 13
19D Postponed dissolution of Legislative 14
Assembly or polling day 15
(1) The Governor may at any time, by proclamation, 16
order the polling day for a general election to be 17
postponed to a Saturday not more than 35 days 18
after the normal polling day (the postponed 19
polling day) if-- 20
(a) there are exceptional circumstances; and 21
Examples of exceptional circumstances-- 22
1 An election for members of the House of 23
Representatives or the Senate of the 24
Commonwealth Parliament is to be held on the 25
normal polling day. 26
2 A natural disaster has affected such a wide area 27
of the State that the conduct of an election on 28
the normal polling day would be impracticable. 29
(b) the Premier recommends, and the Leader of 30
the Opposition agrees to, the postponement. 31
Page 6
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
[s 6]
(2) The Governor may, by proclamation, postpone 1
the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly and 2
the issue of a writ for a general election if-- 3
(a) on or before the normal dissolution day, the 4
Governor has ordered the postponement of 5
the polling day under subsection (1); and 6
(b) the Legislative Assembly has not then 7
expired under section 19B(1); and 8
(c) the Premier recommends, and the Leader of 9
the Opposition agrees to, the postponement. 10
(3) However, the Governor may not postpone the 11
dissolution of the Legislative Assembly and the 12
issue of a writ for a general election to a day later 13
than the day on which the Legislative Assembly 14
would expire under section 19B, or the day that is 15
26 days before the postponed polling day, 16
whichever day occurs first. 17
(4) If the Governor makes a proclamation under 18
subsection (2), the Governor must dissolve the 19
Legislative Assembly and issue a writ for a 20
general election to be held on the postponed 21
polling day under the proclamation. 22
(5) Nothing in this section affects the operation of 23
the Electoral Act 1992, section 100. 24
Note-- 25
The Electoral Act 1992, section 100 provides for the 26
circumstances in which a poll may be adjourned. 27
19E Early dissolution of Legislative Assembly 28
(1) The Governor must dissolve the Legislative 29
Assembly and issue a writ for a general election 30
if, before the normal dissolution day-- 31
(a) each of the following happens-- 32
Page 7
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
[s 6]
(i) a motion of no confidence in the 1
government has been passed, or a 2
motion of confidence in the 3
government has been defeated, in the 4
Legislative Assembly; 5
(ii) the Governor considers no government 6
can be formed that will command the 7
confidence of the majority of the 8
Legislative Assembly; 9
(iii) at least 8 days have passed after the 10
passage or defeat of the motion; or 11
(b) the Legislative Assembly rejects a Bill for 12
an ordinary annual appropriation Act; or 13
(c) the Legislative Assembly fails to pass a Bill 14
for an ordinary annual appropriation Act 15
before the day the Governor considers the 16
appropriation is required. 17
(2) The Governor may, despite the advice of the 18
Premier or Executive Council, dissolve the 19
Legislative Assembly and issue a writ for a 20
general election if the Governor could do so in 21
accordance with established constitutional 22
conventions. 23
(3) A writ issued under subsection (1) or (2) must 24
state the polling day for the general election, 25
which must be a Saturday not less than 26 days 26
and not more than 56 days after the day of the 27
issue of the writ. 28
(4) In this section-- 29
ordinary annual appropriation Act see the 30
Financial Accountability Act 2009, section 6(2). 31
Page 8
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
[s 6]
19F Calculating particular days for general 1
election 2
(1) For the purpose of deciding the normal 3
dissolution day under section 19C(2), the stated 4
number of days includes-- 5
(a) the normal polling day; and 6
(b) the normal dissolution day itself. 7
(2) For the purpose of deciding the postponed 8
polling day under section 19D(1), the stated 9
number of days includes-- 10
(a) the normal polling day; and 11
(b) the postponed polling day itself. 12
(3) For the purpose of deciding the polling day under 13
section 19E(3), the stated number of days 14
includes-- 15
(a) the day of issue of the writ; and 16
(b) the polling day itself. 17
(4) The Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 38 does 18
not apply for the purpose of deciding a day 19
mentioned in subsections (1) to (3). 20
19G Special procedure for amending or repealing 21
part 22
(1) An Act amending or repealing a provision of this 23
part, including this section, must not be passed by 24
the Legislative Assembly except in the way 25
provided by this section. 26
(2) A Bill for an Act mentioned in subsection (1) 27
must not be presented to the Governor for assent 28
unless the Bill-- 29
(a) has first been passed by the Legislative 30
Assembly; and 31
Page 9
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 2 Amendment of Constitution of Queensland 2001
[s 7]
(b) has then been approved by a majority of 1
electors who vote at a referendum held 2
under subsection (3). 3
(3) The referendum must-- 4
(a) submit the Bill to the electors who may vote 5
at a referendum for the electors to approve 6
the Bill or otherwise; and 7
(b) be held on a Saturday decided by the 8
Governor that is at least 2 months after the 9
Bill is passed by the Legislative Assembly; 10
and 11
(c) be otherwise held-- 12
(i) in accordance with the Referendums 13
Act 1997; or 14
(ii) in a way parliament otherwise 15
prescribes. 16
(4) If a majority of electors who vote approve the 17
Bill, the Bill may be presented to the Governor 18
for assent. 19
Clause 7 Insertion of new ch 9, pt 3 20
After section 94-- 21
insert-- 22
Part 3 Transitional provision 23
for Constitution (Fixed 24
Term Parliament) 25
Amendment Act 2015 26
94A Affected laws continue until completion of 27
next general election 28
(1) Despite the amending Act, the following laws 29
continue to have effect until the relevant day as if 30
Page 10
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 3 Amendment of Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934
[s 8]
the laws had not been amended or repealed by the 1
amending Act-- 2
(a) this Act; 3
(b) the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1890; 4
(c) the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934, 5
section 4. 6
(2) In this section-- 7
amending Act means the Constitution (Fixed 8
Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015. 9
next general election means the next election for 10
the members of the Legislative Assembly held 11
after the commencement of the amending Act. 12
relevant day means the day on which the writ for 13
the next general election is returned. 14
Clause 8 Omission of attachment 2 15
Attachment 2-- 16
omit. 17
Part 3 Amendment of Constitution Act 18
Amendment Act 1934 19
Clause 9 Act amended 20
This part amends the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934. 21
Clause 10 Omission of s 4 (Duration of Legislative Assembly not to 22
be extended except in accordance with this section) 23
Section 4-- 24
omit. 25
Page 11
Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015
Part 4 Repeal
[s 11]
Part 4 Repeal 1
Clause 11 Repeal 2
The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1890 54 Vic No. 3 is 3
repealed. 4
Authorised by the Parliamentary Counsel
Page 12
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