Talk:Gair Affair

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Removal

I've removed "In either event, a double dissolution would bring House and Senate elections back in synchronisation with each other."

For the basic reason it wouldn't in and of itself. With a double dissolution the start of the Senate term is backdated to the preceding 1 July. The Senate had to go to the polls by the end of June (well May because of the time it takes to count) and a double dissolution would mean either the next House election would have to be after only two years or else the election would once more be out of sync. The 1951 double dissolution created this problem until an early House election in 1955 restored the link; similarly the 1977 and 1984 elections sacrificed a good chunk of the existing House term to get the elections in sync (not that there weren't political reasons for holding the elections then anyway).

If Whitlam had wanted the terms in sync he could just as easily have called an early House election alongside the regular half-Senate election (though it wouldn't have given a back-up option to get legislation onto the statute book). Timrollpickering (talk) 10:12, 22 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]