Section
24. Constitution of House of Representatives
25. Provision as to races disqualified from voting
26. [Representatives in first
Parliament]
27. Alteration of number of members
28. Duration of House of Representatives
29. Electoral divisions
30. Qualification of electors
31. [Electoral laws]
32. Writs for general election
33. Writs for vacancies
34. Qualifications of members
35. Election of Speaker
36. Absence of Speaker
37. Resignation of member
38. Vacancy by absence
39. Quorum
40. Voting in House of Representatives
Constitution of 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... be determined... in [a] manner [provided for by the Parliament].
But notwithstanding anything in this section, five members at least
shall be chosen in each Original State.
[Second paragraph edited; see Comment]
Provision as to races disqualified from
voting
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.
[Unaltered - but see Comment]
[Section 26 deleted; see Comment]
Alteration of number of members
27. Subject to this Constitution, the Parliament may make laws for
increasing or diminishing the number of the members of the House of
Representatives.
[Unaltered, but see Comment]
Duration of 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.
[Unaltered]
Electoral divisions
29. The Parliament of the Commonwealth... 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.
[First paragraph edited; see Comment]
Qualification of electors
30. The Parliament [may make laws prescribing] the qualification
of electors of members of the House of Representatives... In the choosing
of members each elector shall vote only once.
[Edited; see Comment]
[Electoral laws]
31. The Parliament [may make laws] relating to elections... of
members of the House of Representatives.
[Edited; see Comment]
Writs for general election
32. The Governor-General in Council may cause writs to be issued
for general elections of members of the House of Representatives.
The writs shall be issued within ten days from the expiry of a House of
Representatives or from the proclamation of a dissolution thereof.
[Second paragraph edited; see Comment]
Writs for vacancies
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.
[Unaltered]
Qualifications of members
34. The Parliament [may make laws prescribing] the qualifications
of a member of the House of Representatives.
[Edited; see Comment]
Election of Speaker
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 addressed to the Governor-General.
[Unaltered]
Absence of Speaker
36. Before or during any absence of the Speaker, the House of
Representatives may choose a member to perform his duties in his
absence.
[Unaltered]
Resignation of member
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.
[Unaltered]
Vacancy by absence
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.
[Unaltered]
Quorum
39. The Parliament [may determine] the... number of... members of
the House of Representatives... necessary to constitute a meeting of the
House for the exercise of its powers.
[Edited; see Comment]
Voting in House of Representatives
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.
[Unaltered]
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The second paragraph provides:
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.
This has been combined with para 51(xxxvi) as shown in the Example.
In fact Parliament re-enacted the above formula in the Representation Act 1905, and then amended it to provide for more members for some States in 1964. In Attorney-General for New South Wales, Ex rel McKellar v Commonwealth (1977) the High Court ruled that the amendment was invalid. The "temporary" Constitutional formula is now re-stated in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 s 48.
Is section 25 racist? Read it carefully! It is based on part of section 2 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was inserted after the Civil War to penalise States that persisted in denying black Americans the vote in State elections. Whatever the Founders' intentions when they voted to include it in the Commonwealth Constitution (mixed, I suspect), its effect is actually to punish any State that does not let any race vote in State elections by, potentially, reducing the number of seats that the State will have in the House of Representatives.
Some people argue that this section should be removed because it is offensive to even mention the possibility that people could be denied the vote because of their race. My view is that it should stay there until all citizens are guaranteed the right to vote in State elections, either by a provision in the Commonwealth Constitution or provisions in all of the State Constitutions.
This section provides as follows:
Representatives in first Parliament.
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:-
New South Wales.........................................twenty-three;
Victoria.........................................................twenty;
Queensland...................................................eight;
South Australia..............................................six;
Tasmania.......................................................five;
Provided that if Western Australia is an Original State, the numbers shall be as follows:-
New South Wales..........................................twenty-six;
Victoria..........................................................twenty-th ree;
Queensland.....................................................nine;
South Australia................................................seven;
Western Australia............................................five;
Tasmania.........................................................five.
Obviously this has expired. If you wonder why this had to be included in the Constitution, instead of being stated in a separate Act which could easily be repealed once the first election was over - well, so do I!
[Return to space left by Section 26]
This section has very little, or no, independent effect, and was included ex abundanti cautela, as the lawyers say - out of an abundance of caution. The way in which the number of MHRs is generally changed is by a change in the number of senators for each State - then the application of the requirements of s 24 produces a number of MHRs which is about twice the number of senators.
This actually begins with
Until the Parliament of the Commonwealth otherwise provides, the Parliament of any State may make laws...
It has been combined with para 51(xxxvi) as explained in the Example.
The full text is
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 Parliament of the State; but in the choosing of members each elector shall vote only once.
This has been combined with para 51(xxxvi) as explained in the Example.
The clause starting with "but" was necessary in the late 1890s because the law of some colonies allowed plural voting - not, indeed, in one electorate, but the right to vote was based on both residence and property ownership, so if you owned property in several electorates you could vote in each of them. [I think this is still the case in local government elections in some States.] The "but" perhaps suggests that it only qualifies the temporary provision applying State laws, and not the permanent grant of power to the Parliament; it would have been easy enough to make it clear that it had a permanent effect by making "In the choosing of members..." the start of a new sentence. However, some textbooks state that the phrase still prohibits plural voting. That is certainly consistent with the general "democratic theme" of the Constitution, and is in any case desirable, so I have left the clause in as a separate sentence.
The full section reads as follows:
Application of State laws
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.
It has been combined with para 51(xxxvi) as explained in the Example; in fact this is the section discussed there.
The first Commonwealth elections were run in 1901 under the provisions of State laws, as directed by the temporary part of s.31. The Commonwealth Parliament then passed the Commonwealth Electoral Act in 1903##, and the temporary part of s.31 then became forever inoperative. But the temporary words have never been repealed. They stay there, with a completely inappropriate heading to the section, making it hard for the casual reader to find the grant of power hidden in s.31.
The words "After the first general election," have been omitted from the beginning of the second paragraph.
The full section is
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 naturalised 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.
This has been combined with para 51(xxxvi) as explained in the Example. The qualifications are now quite different - you must be an Australian citizen and only need to be 18 years old (Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, s ##) - so the continued presence of the details in s 34 is quite misleading. Members are also subject to disqualifications, not amendable by Parliament, in sections 43-45.
The full text is
This has been combined with para 51(xxxvi) as shown in the Example.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.