Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

or if there is no President or if the President is absent from the Commonwealth, the Governor-General, shall notify the same to the Governor of the State in the representation of which the vacancy has happened. || 22. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, the presence of at least one-third of the whole number of the senators shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the Senate for the exercise of its powers. || 23. Questions arising in the Senate shall be determined by a majority of votes, and each senator shall have one vote. The President shall in all cases be entitled to a vote; and when the votes are equal the question shall pass in the negative.

Part III. The House of Representatives.

24. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members directly chosen by the people of the Commonwealth, and the number of such members shall be, as nearly as practicable, twice the number of the senators. The number of members chosen in the several States shall be in proportion to the respective numbers of their people, and shall, until The Parliament otherwise provides, be determined, whenever necessary, in the following manner: - (i.) A quota shall be ascertained by dividing the number of the people of the Commonwealth, as shown by the latest statistics of the Commonwealth, by twice the number of the senators. (ii.) The number of members to be chosen in each State shall be determined by dividing the number of the people of the State, as shown by the latest statistics of the Commonwealth, by the quota; and if on such division there is a remainder greater than one-half of the quota, one more member shall be chosen in the State. But notwithstanding anything in this section, five members at least shall be chosen in each Original State. || 25. For the purposes of the last section, if by the law of any State all persons of any race are disqualified from voting at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State, then, in reckoning the number of the people of the State or of the Commonwealth, persons of that race resident in that State shall not be counted. || 26. Notwithstanding anything in section twenty-four the number of members to be chosen in each State at the first election shall be as follows: [To be determined according to latest statistical returns at the date of the passing of the Act, and in relation to the quota referred to in previous sections.] || 27. Subject to this Constitution, The Parliament may make laws for increasing or diminishing the number of the members of the House of Representatives. || 28. Every House of Representatives shall continue for three years from the first meeting of the House, and no

longer, but may be sooner dissolved by the Governor-General. || 29. Until The Parliament of the Commonwealth otherwise provides, the Parliament of any State may make laws for determining the divisions in each State for which members of the House of Representatives may be chosen, and the number of members to be chosen for each division. A division shall not be formed out of parts of different States. || In the absence of other provision, each State shall be one electorate. || 30. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, the qualification of electors of members of the House of Representatives shall be in each State that which is prescribed by the law of the State as the qualification of electors of the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State; but in the choosing of members each elector shall vote only once. | 31. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, but subject to this Constitution, the laws in force in each State for the time being relating to elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State shall, as nearly as practicable, apply to elections in the State of members of the House of Representatives. 32. The Governor-General in Council may cause writs to be issued for general elections of members of the House of Representatives. || After the first general election, the writs shall be issued within ten days from the expiry of a House of Representatives, or from the proclamation of a dissolution thereof. || 33. Whenever a vacancy happens in the House of Representatives, the Speaker shall issue his writ for the election of a new member, or if there is no Speaker or if he is absent from the Commonwealth, the Governor-General in Council may issue the writ. || 34. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, the qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives shall be as follows: - (i.) He must be of the full age of twenty-one years, and must be an elector entitled to vote at the election of members of the House of Representatives, or a person qualified to become such elector, and must have been for three years at the least a resident within the limits of the Commonwealth as existing at the time when he is chosen: || (ii.) He must be a subject of the Queen, either natural-born or for at least five years naturalized under a law of the United Kingdom, or of a Colony which has become or becomes a State, or of the Commonwealth, or of a State. || 35. The House of Representatives shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business, choose a member to be the Speaker of the House, and as often as the office of Speaker becomes vacant the House shall again choose a member to be the Speaker. The Speaker shall cease to hold his office. if he ceases to be a member. He may be removed from office by a vote of the House, or he may resign his office or his seat by writing address

ed to the Governor-General. || 36. Before or during any absence of the Speaker, the House of Representatives may choose a member to perform his duties in his absence. || 37. A member may by writing addressed to the Speaker, or to the Governor-General if there is no Speaker or if the Speaker is absent from the Commonwealth, resign his place, which thereupon shall become vacant. || 38. The place of a member shall become vacant if for two consecutive months of any session of The Parliament he, without the permission of the House, fails to attend the House. || 39. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, the presence of at least one-third of the whole number of the members of the House of Representatives shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the House for the exercise of its powers. || 40. Questions arising in the House of Representatives shall be determined by a majority of votes other than that of the Speaker. The Speaker shall not vote unless the numbers are equal, and then he shall have a casting vote.

Part IV. Both Houses of The Parliament.

41. No adult person who has or acquires a right to vote at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of a State shall, while the right continues, be prevented by any law of the Commonwealth from voting at elections for either House of The Parliament of the Commonwealth. || 42. Every senator and every member of the House of Representatives shall before taking his seat make and suscribe before the Governor-General, or some person authorized by him, an oath or affirmation of allegiance in the form set forth in the Schedule. || 43. A member of either House of The Parliament shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a member of the other House. || 44. Any person who || (i.) Is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power: or || (ii.) Is attainted of treason, or has been convicted and is under sentence, or subject to be sentenced, for any offence punishable under the law of the Commonwealth or of a State by imprisonment for one year or longer: or (iii.) Is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent: or || (iv.) Holds any office of profit under the Crown, or any pension payable during the pleasure of the Crown out of any of the revenues of the Commonwealth: or (v.) Has any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of an incorporated company con

sisting of more than twenty-five persons: shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives. || But sub-section iv. does not apply to the office of any of the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth, or of any of the Queen's Ministers for a State, or to the receipt of pay, half-pay, or a pension by any person as an officer or member of the Queen's navy or army, or to the receipt of pay as an officer or member of the naval or military forces of the Commonwealth by any person whose services are not wholly employed by the Commonwealth. || 45. If a senator or member of the House of Representatives (i.) Becomes subject to any of the

disabilities mentioned in the last preceding section: or (ii.) Takes the benefit, whether by assignment, composition, or otherwise, of any law relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors: or || (iii.) Directly or indirectly takes or agrees to take any fee or honorarium for services rendered to the Commonwealth, or for services rendered in The Parliament to any person or State: || his place shall thereupon become vacant. || 46. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, any person declared by this Constitution to be incapable of sitting as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives shall, for every day on which he so sits, be liable to pay the sum of one hundred pounds to any person who sues for it in any court of competent jurisdiction. || 47. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, any question respecting the qualification of a senator or of a member of the House of Representatives, or respecting a vacancy in either House of The Parliament, and any question of a disputed election to either House, shall be determined by the House in which the question arises. || 48. Until The Parliament otherwise provides, each senator and each member of the House of Representatives shall receive an allowance of four hundred pounds a year, to be reckoned from the day on which he takes his seat. || 49. The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, and of the members and the committees of each House, shall be such as are declared by The Parliament, and until declared shall be those of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and of its members and committees, at the establishment of the Commonwealth. | 50. Each House of The Parliament may make rules and orders with respect to - (i.) The mode in which its powers, privileges, and immunities may be exercised and upheld: || (ii.) The order and conduct of its business and proceedings either separately or jointly with the other House.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

51. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: - || (i.) Trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States: (ii.) Taxation; but so as not to discriminate between States or parts of States: || (iii.) Bounties on the production or export of goods, but so that such bounties shall be uniform throughout. the Commonwealth: || (iv.) Borrowing money on the public credit of the Commonwealth: || (v.) Postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services (vi.) The naval and military defence of the Commonwealth and of the several States, and the control of the forces to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth: || (vii) Light-houses, light-ships, beacons and buoys: || (viii.) Astronomical and meteorological observations: || (ix.) Quarantine: (x.) Fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits: (xi.) Census and statistics: || (xii.) Currency, coinage, and legal tender: || (xiii.) Banking, other than State banking; also State banking extending beyond the limits of the State concerned, the incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper money: | (xiv.) Insurance, other than State Insurance; also State Insurance extending beyond the limits of the State concerned: || (xv.) Weights and measures: || (xvi.) Bills of exchange and promissory notes: (xvii.) Bankruptcy and insolvency: || (xviii.) Copyrights, patents of inventions and designs, and trade marks: || (xix.) Naturalization and aliens: || (xx.) Foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth: || (xxi.) Marriage: (xxii.) Divorce and matrimonial causes; and in relation thereto, parental rights, and the custody and guardianship of infants: || (xxiii.) Invalid and old-age pensions: || (xxiv.) The service and execution throughout the Commonwealth of the civil and criminal process and the judgments of the courts of the States: || (xxv.) The recognition throughout the Commonwealth of the laws, the public acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of the States: (xxvi.) The people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws: || (xxvii.) Immigration and emigration: || (xxviii.) The influx of criminals: || (xxix.) External affairs: || (xxx.) The relations of the Commonwealth with the islands of the Pacific: || (xxxi.) The acquisition of property on just terms from any State or person for any purpose in respect of which The Parliament has power to make laws: || (xxxii.) The control of railways with respect to transport for the naval and military purposes of the Commonwealth: || (xxxiii.) The acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms arranged between the

« AnteriorContinuar »