Bracks plan to strip governor's powers http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000915/A266-2000Sep14.html By GABRIELLE COSTA Friday 15 September 2000 The Bracks Government has moved to strip Victoria's governor of the power to dissolve parliament and call an election in the event of a constitutional crisis. The move has been revealed in the fine print of legislation to reform State Parliament's upper house, the Legislative Council. Under the changes, the only way to dissolve parliament before the end of a fixed four-year term would be for the lower house to pass a no-confidence motion in the government. This means the government, which has a majority in the lower house, would effectively have to declare its own inability to govern. But the controversial plan - confirmed yesterday by the office of Attorney-General Rob Hulls - faces certain defeat at the hands of the Liberal-dominated upper house. Under current law, a constitutional trigger for the governor to dissolve parliament and declare an election is created if the upper house rejects a "bill of special importance" twice, or a money bill is blocked, Both safeguards would be removed if the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2000 were passed. Shadow attorney-general Robert Dean described the bill as a huge legal "stuff-up", and claimed the omission of the two existing constitutional safety valves was caused by the government's haste to introduce the legislation. "According to this bill, if there is a deadlock between the two houses the government must present a motion to the parliament that calls itself incompetent and ask the parliament to vote for it," Dr Dean said. "The only way a deadlock can be broken is by waiting four years while the government's ability to govern disintegrates or by the government calling a motion of no confidence in itself," he said. Dr Dean, who has taught constitutional law, said it was doubtful a government would declare its own incompetence, even in the face of an obstructionist upper house. The Liberal Party, which has an outright majority in the Legislative Council, has already said it will vote down the bill. The bill is one of two the government has drafted in a bid to halve the current eight-year terms served by upper house MPs and to introduce a proportional representation voting system for the chamber. A spokeswoman for Mr Hulls said the omission of the two election triggers had been deliberate because the government believed political parties understood that obstructing a duly-elected government breached long-standing conventions. Retaining the provisions on the "bills of special importance" and blocking supply could have been used to undermine fixed four-year terms by a government looking to secure an early election, she said. Currently, a government has the ability to call an election up to 12 months before the end of its term. Mr Hulls' spokeswoman said the new bill "eliminates the right, as of right, to bring on an election any time after three years". -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
