To dissolve parliament?

[nacho]

From the textbook:

bringing a session of parliament to an end and dissolving the House of Representatives to bring about an election

What exactly does this mean? "session of parliament"
As in, every member of parliament, at the current time, is made to be no longer a member of parliament, and then another election takes place to decide who are the new Members of parliament?

Also, what are reserve powers? Literally just the power for the GG to say "alright, political party holding the majority of seats in the lower house, get out, you're through with, i don't think you're suited to lead this country" ?

thanks

[saaaaaam]

Also, what are reserve powers? Literally just the power for the GG to say "alright, political party holding the majority of seats in the lower house, get out, you're through with, i don't think you're suited to lead this country" ?

This has happened once before. It's very rare though. In 1975 the then Governor General John Kerr dismissed the Labor Whitlam Government. I'm not 100% sure on why, but read this if you want more info.

It's a great example to use on your legal SACs.

[nacho]

This has happened once before. It's very rare though. In 1975 the then Governor General John Kerr dismissed the Labor Whitlam Government. I'm not 100% sure on why, but read this if you want more info.
It's a great example to use on your legal SACs.

So  simply put, reserve powers are is the power that the governor general holds (by the way, does the governor have the same power?) which allows him to get rid of the current government?
Also, what does it mean to
'dissolve parliament' ?
and bringing a 'session' to an end, what does that mean?

[LeahT]

Dissolving parliament is when you call another election, so that each member of parliament must be elected again by the people. This happened with Gough Whitlam in the 60s. What happened there is that Labor had the majority in both the House of Reps and the Senate, until a Senator died. When a Senator died he is replaced by the Premier of the state he was from (so, for example, if a Victorian Senator died, Ted Bailleu would just pick a replacement for him, no election needed). The problem there was that the state he was from (I can't remember which) had a Liberal majority, so the Liberal Premier picked his replacement, but he picked a man who was technically a member of the Labor party, but vowed to vote with the Liberal party. What then happened was that the now liberal majority in the lower house started blocking the bills introduced in the upper house by Labor. These included supply bills (bills to do with the money of the parliament). When supply bills are blocked, it is deemed that parliament are ineffective, because they can't get anything done, or even supply money to the country. So the Governer-general John Kerr dismissed the Whitlam government, saying they were ineffective and couldn't do the role of government. He dissolved the parliament, and called for another election (to get a real majority and fix the problem).

This is the best example to use when talking about the power of the crown, because they have the power to entirely change who is ruling the  country. Whilst they don't do it often, they have the power and will use it when they deem it necessary.

I hope that helped, sorry if it just confused you more xD

[saaaaaam]

This has happened once before. It's very rare though. In 1975 the then Governor General John Kerr dismissed the Labor Whitlam Government. I'm not 100% sure on why, but read this if you want more info.
It's a great example to use on your legal SACs.

So  simply put, reserve powers are is the power that the governor general holds (by the way, does the governor have the same power?) which allows him to get rid of the current government?
Also, what does it mean to
'dissolve parliament' ?
and bringing a 'session' to an end, what does that mean?

This page is really good at explaining the reserve powers of the Govenor General.

As far as Governors go, this was all I could find:

State Governors have emergency reserve powers but these are rarely used.

[jaccerz]

The reserve powers for the GG of Aust are outlined in the constitution. go read them. and memorize the section numbers.

[Hellhole]

Governors have the same powers as the Governor-General, yes.

A Governor is pretty much the exact same thing as the Governor-General but on a state level rather than federal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Governor reports to the Governor-General, who then reports to the Queen of the Commonwealth.

[jaccerz]

pretty much thats correct. but it should all be outlined in your text book.

[MrIraq]

Governors have the same powers as the Governor-General, yes.

A Governor is pretty much the exact same thing as the Governor-General but on a state level rather than federal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Governor reports to the Governor-General, who then reports to the Queen of the Commonwealth.

ohh actually our teacher told us that their are a few diffrences. Such as the Governer general is encharged of the army (military) but the Governer isnt, He is also encharged of Ceremonial events such as National Australia Council Day which the Governor isn't, and finally, he is encharged of receiving foreign heads of states and countries.

hope that helps

[Hellhole]

Governors have the same powers as the Governor-General, yes.

A Governor is pretty much the exact same thing as the Governor-General but on a state level rather than federal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Governor reports to the Governor-General, who then reports to the Queen of the Commonwealth.

ohh actually our teacher told us that their are a few diffrences. Such as the Governer general is encharged of the army (military) but the Governer isnt, He is also encharged of Ceremonial events such as National Australia Council Day which the Governor isn't, and finally, he is encharged of receiving foreign heads of states and countries.

hope that helps

Well, of course. I thought that was just implied in the definition of a Governor compared to a Governor-General. The Governor-General deals with federal dealings, whilst a Governor deals with state dealings. Therefore the Governor-General also deals with foreign heads of states, not Governors. Unfortunately, you're slightly off mark about the "ceremonial events" thing - in terms of public holidays and events, some are state and some are federal in which either the Governor or the Governor-General approves of those days/weeks, respectively. It is not the Governor-General that oversees/approves ALL public holidays and events.

Edit: Trying to stick to the topic - they may both dissolve parliament in their respective jurisdictions.

[jaccerz]

do you focus on the fed powers or the state powers when talking about the GG?

Im pretty sure you only need to worry about the federal powers of the Governor General. not the state General powers.

[nacho]

GG only has fed powers, it's the governor who has state powers, isn't it?
(But, ofcourse, if there is a dispute between fed vs state, fed always wins)

[MJRomeo81]

Remember that the executive power is vested in the Queen and exercised by the Governor-General. Reserve powers aren't mentioned in the Constitution either.

And yeah G.G only operates at a federal level; governor at state level. G.G. can withhold royal assent, but the governor can't.

As previously mentioned, the Whitlam example is excellent for SACs and exams. The examiners aren't just looking for slabs of info copied out of a text book. Using contemporary examples is another way to score well. It demonstrates to the assessor that the student is up to date with our legal system. Sorry to go off topic, but if you were asked to explain the role of the house of reps, I would mention something along the lines of:

"Money bills (bills that collect revenue and tax) can only be initiated in the House of Representatives. For example, Julia Gillard's government recently introduced a flood levy (tax) in the H.O.R".

It's small things like that which can separate you from another student. The question may not ask for examples, but if you can provide them it shows a deeper understanding.

[Hellhole]

Dissolving parliament is when you call another election, so that each member of parliament must be elected again by the people. This happened with Gough Whitlam in the 60s. What happened there is that Labor had the majority in both the House of Reps and the Senate, until a Senator died. When a Senator died he is replaced by the Premier of the state he was from (so, for example, if a Victorian Senator died, Ted Bailleu would just pick a replacement for him, no election needed). The problem there was that the state he was from (I can't remember which) had a Liberal majority, so the Liberal Premier picked his replacement, but he picked a man who was technically a member of the Labor party, but vowed to vote with the Liberal party. What then happened was that the now liberal majority in the lower house started blocking the bills introduced in the upper house by Labor. These included supply bills (bills to do with the money of the parliament). When supply bills are blocked, it is deemed that parliament are ineffective, because they can't get anything done, or even supply money to the country. So the Governer-general John Kerr dismissed the Whitlam government, saying they were ineffective and couldn't do the role of government. He dissolved the parliament, and called for another election (to get a real majority and fix the problem).

This is the best example to use when talking about the power of the crown, because they have the power to entirely change who is ruling the  country. Whilst they don't do it often, they have the power and will use it when they deem it necessary.

I hope that helped, sorry if it just confused you more xD

1975, I believe. If you're going to use that example, you have'ta get the year right.