casual vacancy

In Australian politics, a casual vacancy is the vacancy created in the Senate when a Senator dies or resigns from the upper house. According to the Australian Constitution, the parliament of the state or territory the senator represented must choose a replacement. Prior to 1977 it was convention that the state parliament choose a replacement from the same political party as their predecessor. In 1975, Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen broke with convention and appointed an independent Senator, Albert Field to replace Labor Senator Bert Milliner. The resulting change of numbers allowed the Liberal Party of Australia and its leader, Malcolm Fraser, to set off the chain of events that led to the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government. In 1977, Fraser, while Prime Minister successfully changed the constitution to ensure future casual vacancies are always filled by a member of the same party as the senator vacating the seat. Vacancies in the House of Representatives are filled by by-election as in Britain.

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