The Senate has, on two occasions, rejected each of the ABCC Bills and the Registered Organisations Bill. The requirement in section 57 that there be an interval of at least three months between the first rejection by the Senate and the second passage by the House of Representatives has been met in respect of each of those Bills. The prohibition in the last sentence quoted above from section 57 does not apply, as the Dissolution would not take place within six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by effluxion of time.
* Fuller details of the parliamentary history of the Bills are contained in the letter from the Attorney-General which accompanies this letter. The Attorney-General’s letter confirms that these Bills meet the terms of section 57 and that the constitutional requirements for a double dissolution on the basis of these Bills are satisfied.
Noted I am providing with this letter copies of the relevant Bills, certified by the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Although the Constitution docs not require it, it has been the practice of Prime Ministers in seeking previous double dissolutions to acquaint the Governor-General with the importance to the Government's program of the Bills which have been the subject of deadlock between the Houses and which satisfy the requirements of section 57.
The ABCC Bills and Registered Organisations Bill represent important elements of the Government's economic plan for jobs and growth, and of its reform agenda. The ABCC Bills aim to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. The Registered Organisations Bill aims to improve the governance and transparency of registered organisations.
These Bills were commitments of the Government parties before the 2013 election, were foreshadowed in the Governor-General’s speech opening the new Parliament in November 2013, and were introduced in their current or earlier form in the Parliament in the first week of sitting. The Government has sought to secure passage of the Bills throughout the life of this Parliament.
The ABCC Bills relate to one of the largest sectors of our economy, which employs over a million Australians and is responsible for around 8 per cent of GDP. The re-establishment of the ABCC aims to improve productivity in this crucial sector, protecting and promoting employment. It would also help restore the rule of law to a sector which two Royal Commissions and many judicial decisions have found to be characterised by a culture of lawlessness which sets it apart from the rest of the economy.
The aim of the Registered Organisations Bill is to ensure that unions and employer organisations have rules of transparency and accountability similar to those that apply to corporations, The recent Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption provided overwhelming evidence of the need for a new Registered Organisations Commission as "an independent stand-alone regulator", which is what the Government’s legislation seeks to create.
