The Constitutional Dilemma of the Whitlam Dismissal
The Constitution deals with the powers of the Senate in regard
to money bills in this way:
Section 53: "Proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys,
or imposing taxation, shall not originate in the Senate.
... The Senate may not amend proposed laws imposing taxation,
or proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys for the ordinary
annual services of the Government.
... The Senate may not amend any proposed law so as to increase
any proposed charge or burden on the people.
... Except as provided in this section, the Senate shall have
equal power with the House of Representatives in respect of all
proposed laws."
It can be seen from this that the Senate is intended to have the
power of reviewing legislation submitted to it from the House
of Representatives. The Senate may also introduce legislation
of its own which may then be passed by the House of Representatives.
However, the responsibility for introducing legislation which
imposes taxation, or appropriates money, lies entirely with the House of Representatives.
The Constitution also says:
Section 24: "The House of Representatives shall be composed
of members directly chosen by the people of the Commonwealth...
the number of members chosen in the several States shall be in
proportion to the respective numbers of their people."
Hence, the House of Representatives is often called the "directly-elected"
house, or the "People's House". The Senate is a "States
House", where the smallest State has the same number of Senators
as the largest.
Part of the problem posed by the dismissal of the Whitlam Government
is related to the fact that the government is formed by the majority
party in the House of Representatives, but often faces a Senate
where it does not have a majority. The Senate is elected by a
different voting system (proportional representation) which means
that it is very rare for any one party to have a majority. In
addition to this, the numbers in the Senate never totally reflect
what people want because all states, regardless of size, elect
12 Senators.
In 1975, Malcolm Fraser argued that the government was responsible
to both Houses of Parliament, whereas Whitlam claimed that a government
should only be held accountable to the House of Representatives,
the People's House.
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