Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Monday he would call a double election if the Senate fails to pass priority legislation, threatening to send Australia to the polls early while support for the center-right ruling coalition remains high.
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And as this plays out in the months ahead, it neutralises Turnbull’s most lethal enemies – the internal ones, Tony Abbott and his small core of conservative malcontents.
Should the bill not be passed, the Government will then head to a double dissolution election. “The go-slows and obstruction by Labor and the Greens on this key legislation must end”, Turnbull said, adding that he would be bringing the budget forward a week. Senator Williams expects, “in my opinion” , Australians will be going to the polls in July with an enormous question mark over whether the senate cross-bench will deliver the additional vote the government needs to get the legislation through.
If the Senate fails to pass either the ABCC Bill or the Registered Organisations bill when Parliament is recalled in April, Mr Turnbull will advise the Governor-General to dissolve both houses and call the election for July 2.
“This is a parliamentary democracy – neither the governor general nor the prime minister can unilaterally determine how the Senate deals with business before it”, the spokeswoman said.
“What we are doing here is giving the Senate ample time.to consider the bills and pass them”, Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra today.
“The restoration of the ABCC is a critical economic reform”.
He said if the bills are passed a double dissolution will not be held.
“There is no point passing legislation that would effectively end micro party representation, then allowing an upset cross bench to stay in place for a further three years”.
May 11: The last day Malcolm Turnbull can call a double dissolution election.
Failure to pass the laws, according to the PM, would provide a double dissolution election trigger.
Green suggested this may be of particular assistance to Nick Xenophon, whose Nick Xenophon Group won a primary vote just shy of 25 per cent in South Australia in 2013, and would likely pick up extra seats in a full Senate election.
“There is no example in modern times of a government proroguing Parliament to obtain political advantage or, as here, to override sitting scheduling decisions already taken by the Senate”, Mr Dreyfus said.
Prime Minister Turnbull hopes the elections will return him to power, along with a Senate that won’t act as a hurdle to the government.
Malcolm Turnbull is risking it all on a double dissolution gamble.
Monday’s announcement means the budget will be brought forward by a week to May 3.
“If the Prime Minister was fair dinkum, he would sit down and have a real discussion, a real negotiation with members of the crossbench”, he said.
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Family First senator Bob Day, who supports the Bill, rejected a request from Mr Turnbull to help persuade the other cross-benchers of the merits.
