1.......Short title.
  
 2.......No Title.


CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (SENATE CASUAL VACANCIES) 1977 No. 82 of 1977 - NOTE



CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (SENATE CASUAL VACANCIES) 1977 No. 82, 1977


CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (SENATE CASUAL VACANCIES) 1977 No. 82 of 1977 - SECT.
1. 
Short title.

          CONSTITUTION  ALTERATION  (SENATE  CASUAL  VACANCIES)  1977

                                 No. 82 of 1977
An Act to alter the Constitution so as to ensure so far as practicable that a
Casual Vacancy in the Senate is filled by a Person of the same Political Party
as the Senator chosen by the People and for the balance of his Term.

  BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and House of Representatives of
the Commonwealth of Australia, with the approval of the electors, as required
by the Constitution, as follows:-
  1. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual
Vacancies) 1977.*1*

CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (SENATE CASUAL VACANCIES) 1977 No. 82 of 1977 - SECT.
2. 

  2. The Constitution is altered by omitting section 15 and substituting the
following section:-
Casual vacancies.
  '' 15. If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his
term of service, the Houses of Parliament of the State for which he was
chosen, sitting and voting together, or, if there is only one House of that
Parliament, that House, shall choose a person to hold the place until the
expiration of the term. But if the Parliament of the State is not in session
when the vacancy is notified, the Governor of the State, with the advice of
the Executive Council thereof, may appoint a person to hold the place until
the expiration of fourteen days from the beginning of the next session of the
Parliament of the State or the expiration of the term, whichever first
happens.

  ''Where a vacancy has at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen
by the people of a State and, at the time when he was so chosen, he was
publicly recognized by a particular political party as being an endorsed
candidate of that party and publicly represented himself to be such a
candidate, a person chosen or appointed under this section in consequence of
that vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy and a subsequent vacancy or
vacancies, shall, unless there is no member of that party available to be
chosen or appointed, be a member of that party.

  ''Where-

  (a)  in accordance with the last preceding paragraph, a member of a
particular political party is chosen or appointed to hold the place of a
senator whose place had become vacant; and

  (b)  before taking his seat he ceases to be a member of that party
(otherwise than by reason of the party having ceased to exist),
he shall be deemed not to have been so chosen or appointed and the vacancy
shall be again notified in accordance with section twenty-one of this
Constitution.

  ''The name of any senator chosen or appointed under this section shall be
certified by the Governor of the State to the Governor-General.

  ''If the place of a senator chosen by the people of a State at the election
of senators last held before the commencement of the Constitution Alteration
(Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977 became vacant before that commencement and, at
that commencement, no person chosen by the House or Houses of Parliament of
the State, or appointed by the Governor of the State, in consequence of that
vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy and a subsequent vacancy or
vacancies, held office, this section applies as if the place of the senator
chosen by the people of the State had become vacant after that commencement.

  ''A senator holding office at the commencement of the Constitution
Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977, being a senator appointed by the
Governor of a State in consequence of a vacancy that had at any time occurred
in the place of a senator chosen by the people of the State, shall be deemed
to have been appointed to hold the place until the expiration of fourteen days
after the beginning of the next session of the Parliament of the State that
commenced or commences after he was appointed and further action under this
section shall be taken as if the vacancy in the place of the senator chosen by
the people of the State had occurred after that commencement.

  ''Subject to the next succeeding paragraph, a senator holding office at the
commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977 who
was chosen by the House or Houses of Parliament of a State in consequence of a
vacancy that had at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the
people of the State shall be deemed to have been chosen to hold office until
the expiration of the term of service of the senator elected by the people of
the State.

  ''If, at or before the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate
Casual Vacancies) 1977, a law to alter the Constitution entitled 'Constitution
Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1977' came into operation, a senator
holding office at the commencement of that law who was chosen by the House or
Houses of Parliament of a State in consequence of a vacancy that had at any
time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of a State shall
be deemed to have been chosen to hold office-

  (a)  if the senator elected by the people of the State had a term of service
expiring on the thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and
seventy-eight-until the expiration or dissolution of the first House of
Representatives to expire or be dissolved after that law came into operation;
or 

  (b)  if the senator elected by the people of the State had a term of service
expiring on the thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and
eighty-one-until the expiration or dissolution of the second House of
Representatives to expire or be dissolved after that law came into operation
or, if there is an earlier dissolution of the Senate, until that
dissolution.''.
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CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (SENATE CASUAL VACANCIES) 1977 No. 82 of 1977 - NOTE


                                      NOTE
1.  Act No. 82, 1977; assented to and commenced 29 July 1977. See the
statement showing the result of the referendum upon the proposed law to alter
the Constitution that became this Act in Gazette 1977, No. S100, p.1.