67A.1 Section 64 of the current Constitution requires Ministers to be Members of Parliament. It does not require the Prime Minister to be a member of the House of Representatives, but that has been the invariable practice, with the sole exception being the appointment of John Gorton while he was a senator in January 1968. Before Parliament resumed sitting, he resigned from the Senate and won the by-election for Harold Holt’s seat in the House of Representatives. The 2nd edition of House of Representatives Practice, AGPS, 1989, p.97, notes other occasions when senators have acted as Prime Minister. Section 67A requires Prime Ministers to be members of the House, but permits senators to act in the position.
67A.2 Section 64 requires that a Minister cannot hold office for longer than 3 months unless he or she becomes a member of Parliament. This wording is unacceptably loose, as it would permit the regular appointment of non-Parliamentarians to serve in a temporary capacity. The Advancing Democracy model adopts a different approach. No-one can be appointed as a Minister unless or until he or she is eligible. This maintains the importance of the rule that the Government is drawn from the ranks of Parliamentarians. The section provides that a Minister may remain in office for 90 days after losing eligibility, to allow for the possibility of Ministers losing their seats at elections, but contesting the result. |
