This happened in , when the then Prime Minister, John Howard, was not re-elected to his seat. His party then needed to elected a new party leader who became Leader of the Opposition since the party also lost the election.
That precedent was established in NSW in when two members of a Labor government resigned their seats. Acting premier William Holman was threatened by a no-confidence motion and after an initial rejection by the Governor, a prorogation was granted until after the vacancies were filled. Recent examples of governments being granted prorogation over a temporary loss of control were the Holgate Labor government in Tasmania in , and the Tonkin Labor government in Western Australia in The worst case scenario for the government would be losing all three seats to Labor.
That would change the numbers in the Legislative Assembly to Coalition 45 including the two members not currently in the parliamentary party and 39 for Labor. For the sake of the discussion I'll ignore the role of the Speaker and the three crossbench independents. Assuming the government lost all three seats to Labor, and assuming both the Greens and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party would support Labor, then the best that Labor could do would scramble together 45 votes, a tie with the government if the suspended Liberal members voted with the government.
There is a very specific procedure required to bring down a government and force an early election. The defeat of supply bills — that is the state budget — would force an early election, but the crossbench would be unlikely to use this nuclear option. The alternative would be a formal vote of no confidence, but the fixed-term parliament rules limit this procedure.
A constitution no confidence vote must be moved with three clear days' notice. If passed, there is a cooling-off period of eight clear days in which the motion must either be reversed, or a new government formed. This two-week procedure must be followed, and no new government formed, before the Governor is permitted to issue writs for an early election.
The general rule in a fixed-term parliament is that these so-called "baton change" procedures will only be used if there is a new government that can replace the existing government. In safe seats, the bigger threat to political parties tends to come from independents. When Ms Berejiklian and Mr Constance were first elected in , it was independents, rather than Labor, that nearly defeated them.
But the timing of the by-elections, which will likely be around the same time as the local government elections in December, could help the government. Prospective Independents could be forced to choose between contesting the local government elections or the by-elections. There is no time frame set down in either the Constitution or the Electoral Act defining how soon after a vacancy occurs that a by-election must be held.
Given timing complications with the holiday season approaching, and the possibility of a federal election in the new year, the by-elections should be held this year. NSW local government elections are to be held on Saturday, December 4 and there is nothing in law that prevents the by-elections being held on the same day. Debate of Bills is sometimes emotional and has to be moderated.
The Speaker keeps the debate running as smoothly as possible while giving all members a fair chance to speak before calling for a vote. Voting is by simple majority. If passed by a majority of voting members, the Bill is sent to Committee of the Whole, which consists of all MLAs, as the next stage. At committee, a more detailed Bill discussion, clause by clause if necessary, is heard.
Amendments may come about here as a result of points raised in debate or concerns expressed by constituents. Again members have a chance to comment on, criticize or ask questions about the Bill before voting on it for the final time. If a Bill fails to pass any one of these 3 stages, it cannot become law and must be reintroduced, usually not until the next session of the Legislature. Most government-sponsored Bills pass because the governing party normally has a majority of the members in support.
However, sometimes even government Bills do not reach the final stages. This may be an indication the government did not intend the Bill to pass but was instead trying to gauge public opinion on the issue the Bill addresses. In that case, the Bill may be amended and introduced in a later session or dropped altogether and rewritten. In other instances public opposition to the Bill may cause the government to withdraw it.
Royal Assent is provided by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta who approves the bill on behalf of the Crown. After Royal Assent the bill becomes law. The final step is to set the date it comes into effect or into force. The Lieutenant Governor or the government sets the starting date for the law to come into force, this is called proclamation. Proclamations may be used if a bill is to come into effect at a date after Royal Assent or if different parts of a Bill are to come into effect at different times.
The law is published as a Statute also known as an Act. Within the Act is the authority to make Regulations. The next issue of Edmonton Journal Headline News will soon be in your inbox.
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