In 2001 Queensland collapsed its old westminster style of multiple acts and bills into
a single constitutional document
. The Queensland government did not take the opportunity to innovate and instead followed NSW's and Victoria's example by making a standard Australian style constitutional westminster system. Queensland did so as a unicameral parliamentary system as the Legislative Council had been shed in 1922. So what constitutional requirements does Queensland have to follow to get it back?
The Labor Party has had a history of wanting to abolish the Legislative Councils. The only one that they were successful in abolishing was Queensland's upper house. Labor held a referendum in 1917 to abolish the upper house which failed.
In 1921 when the Governor was absent, the Premier appointed a former Labor parliamentarian to Lieutenant-Governor who promptly appointed fourteen Labor Legislative Councillors - the upper house being appointed, not elected.
Legislation was then passed to the Legislative Council to abolish it. The legislation was supported by Country Party councillors who sought to turn the upper house into an elected body. Queensland has been unicameral ever since.
Just to make sure a Queensland Legislative Council didn't come back in a hurry the Labor Party passed legislation in 1934 which required a referendum. This act was absorbed into
the Queensland Constitution of 2001 [pdf]
:
Parliament not to be altered in the direction of re-establishing the Legislative Council or other body except in accordance with this section
(1) The Parliament of Queensland (or, as sometimes called, the Legislature of Queensland), constituted by His Majesty the King and the
Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled shall not be altered in the direction of providing for the restoration and/or constitution
and/or establishment of another legislative body (whether called the "Legislative Council," or by any other name or designation, in addition to
the Legislative Assembly) except in the manner provided in this section.
(2) A Bill for any purpose within subsection one of this section shall not be presented to the Governor for the reservation thereof for the
signification of His Majesty's pleasure, or for the Governor's Assent, or be in any other way assented to, until the Bill has been approved by the electors in accordance with this section.
(3) On a day not sooner than two months after the passage of the Bill through the Legislative Assembly, the question for the approval or
otherwise of the Bill shall be submitted to the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly according to the provisions of "The Elections Acts, 1915 to 1932," or any Act amending the same or in substitution therefor. Such day shall be appointed by the Governor in Council.
(4) When the Bill is submitted to the electors the vote shall be taken in such manner as the Legislature prescribes.
(5) If a majority of the electors voting approve the Bill, it shall be presented to the Governor for the reservation thereof for the signification
of His Majesty's pleasure.
(6) The provisions of this section shall extend to any Bill for the repeal or amendment of this section.
It should be noted, like the NSW Constitution, the Queensland Constitution is a statutory one with only certain sections being entrenched and requiring referendums to be modified. The re-establishment of a Legislative Council is one of those cases.
Presumably Attachment 3 of the constitution can be removed by a statutory act or amendment, but I suspect the present unicameral executive (and past ones) don't mind the appearance of a unicameral system being constitutionally entrenched.
More Reading on Queensland
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Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
