Election of Absence of Speaker. Resignation of member. Vacancy by absence. Quorum. Voting in House of 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 naturalized 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. 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. 36. Before or during any absence of the Speaker, the House of Representatives may choose a member to perform his duties in his absence. 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. 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. 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. 40. Questions arising in the House of Representatives shall be Representatives, 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. PART IV. BOTH HOUSES OF THE PARLIA MENT. PART IV. BOTH HOUSES OF THE PARLIAMENT. 41. No adult person who has or acquires a right to vote at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of a State shall, Right of electors while the right continues, be prevented by any law of the Commonwealth from voting at elections for either House of the Parliament of the Commonwealth. of States. Oath or affirmation of allegiance. 42. Every senator and every member of the House of Representatives shall before taking his seat make and subscribe before the Governor-General, or some person authorized by him, an oath or affirmation of allegiance in the form set forth in the schedule to this Constitution. 43. A member of either House of the Parliament shall be incap- Member of one able of being chosen or of sitting as a member of the other House. 44. Any person who (i.) Is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a (ii.) Is attainted of treason, or has been convicted and is under (iii.) Is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent: or (v.) Has any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement than as a member and in common with the other members shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a But sub-section iv. does not apply to the office of any of the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth, or of any of the Queen's Ministers for a State, or to the receipt of pay, half-pay, or a pension by any person as an officer or member of the Queen's navy or army, or to the receipt of pay as an officer or member of the naval or military forces of the Commonwealth by any person whose services are not wholly employed by the Commonwealth. House ineligible for other. Disqualification. Vacancy on happening of 45. If a senator or member of the House of Representatives(i.) Becomes subject to any of the disabilities mentioned in the disqualification. last preceding section or (ii.) Takes the benefit, whether by assignment, composition, or otherwise, of any law relating to bankrupt or insolvent debtors: or (iii.) Directly or indirectly takes or agrees to take any fee or honorarium for services rendered to the Commonwealth, or for services rendered in the Parliament to any person or State: his place shall thereupon become vacant. sitting when 46. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, any person declared Penalty for by this Constitution to be incapable of sitting as a senator or as a disqualified. member of the House of Representatives shall, for every day on which he so sits, be liable to pay the sum of one hundred pounds to any person who sues for it in any court of competent jurisdiction. 47. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, any question Disputed respecting the qualification of a senator or of a member of the House elections. of Representatives, or respecting a vacancy in either House of the Allowance to members. Privileges, &c., of Houses. Rules and orders. PART V. POWERS OF THE PARLIAMENT. Legislative powers of the Parliament. Parliament, and any question of a disputed election to either House, shall be determined by the House in which the question arises. 48. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, each senator and each member of the House of Representatives shall receive an allowance of four hundred pounds a year, to be reckoned from the day on which he takes his seat. 49. The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, and of the members and the committees of each House, shall be such as are declared by the Parliament, and until declared shall be those of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and of its members and committees, at the establishment of the Commonwealth. 50. Each House of the Parliament may make rules and orders with respect to (i.) The mode in which its powers, privileges, and immunities may be exercised and upheld : (ii.) The order and conduct of its business and proceedings either separately or jointly with the other House. PART V. POWERS OF THE PARLIAMENT. 51. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: (i.) Trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States: (ii.) Taxation; but so as not to discriminate between States or parts of States : (iii.) Bounties on the production or export of goods, but so that such bounties shall be uniform throughout the Commonwealth : (iv.) Borrowing money on the public credit of the Common- (v.) Postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services: and of the several States, and the control of the (vii.) Lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys: (viii.) Astronomical and meteorological observations: (x.) Fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits: (xii.) Currency, coinage, and legal tender: (xiii.) Banking, other than State banking; also State banking extending beyond the limits of the State concerned, the incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper money: (xiv.) Insurance, other than State insurance; also State insurance extending beyond the limits of the State concerned : (xv.) Weights and measures: (xvi.) Bills of exchange and promissory notes: (xvii.) Bankruptcy and insolvency : (xviii.) Copyrights, patents of inventions and designs, and trade marks: (xix.) Naturalization and aliens : (xx.) Foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth : (xxi.) Marriage: (xxii.) Divorce and matrimonial causes; and in relation thereto, parental rights, and the custody and guardianship of infants: (xxiii.) Invalid and old-age pensions : (xxiv.) The service and execution throughout the Commonwealth of the civil and criminal process and the judgments of the courts of the States: (xxv.) The recognition throughout the Commonwealth of the laws, the public Acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of the States: (xxvi.) The people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws : (xxvii.) Immigration and emigration. (xxviii.) The influx of criminals: (xxix.) External affairs: (xxx.) The relations of the Commonwealth with the islands of the Pacific: (xxxi.) The acquisition of property on just terms from any State or person for any purpose in respect of which the Paliament has power to make laws : (xxxii.) The control of railways with respect to transport for the naval and military purposes of the Commonwealth : (xxxiii.) The acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms arranged between the Commonwealth and the State : (xxxiv.) Railway construction and extension in any State with the consent of that State : (xxxv.) Conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond. the limits of any one State: (xxxvi.) Matters in respect of which this Constitution makes provision until the Parliament otherwise provides: (xxxvii.) Matters referred to the Parliament of the Commonwealth by the Parliament or Parliaments of any State or States, but so that the law shall extend only to States by whose Parliaments the matter is referred, or which afterwards adopt the law : (xxxviii.) The exercise within the Commonwealth, at the request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the Exclusive powers of the Parliament. Powers of the Houses in respect of legislation. Appropriation Tax Bill. States directly concerned, of any power which can at the establishment of this Constitution be exercised only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or by the Federal Council of Australasia: (xxxix.) Matters incidental to the execution of any, power vested by this Constitution in the Parliament or in either House thereof, or in the Government of the Commonwealth, or in the Federal Judicature, or in any department or officer of the Commonwealth. 52. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have exclusive power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to (i.) The seat of government of the Commonwealth, and all places acquired by the Commonwealth for public purposes: (ii.) Matters relating to any department of the public service the control of which is by this Constitution transferred to the Executive Government of the Commonwealth : (iii.) Other matters declared by this Constitution to be within the exclusive power of the Parliament. 53. Proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys, or imposing taxation, shall not originate in the Senate. But a proposed law shall not be taken to appropriate revenue or moneys, or to impose taxation, by reason only of its containing provisions for the imposition or appropriation of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment or appropriation of fees for licences, or fees for services under the proposed law. 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. The Senate may at any stage return to the House of Representatives any proposed law which the Senate may not amend, requesting, by message, the omission or amendment of any items or provisions therein. And the House of Representatives may, if it thinks fit, make any of such omissions or amendments, with or without modifications. Except as provided in this section, the Senate shall have equal power with the House of Representatives in respect of all proposed laws. 54. The proposed law which appropriates revenue or moneys for the ordinary annual services of the Government shall deal only with such appropriation. 55. Laws imposing taxation shall deal only with the imposition of taxation, and any provision therein dealing with any other matter shall be of no effect. Laws imposing taxation, except laws imposing duties of customs or of excise, shall deal with one subject of taxation only; but laws |