s: so-called ‘perfect’ bicameralism. That is, the two parliamentary chambers have exactly the same powers as each other – including on financial matters, and even with respect to votes of confidence in the government. Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate also share the legitimacy of direct election: the latter currently consists of 315 elected members, plus a few life senators, who are either former Presidents of the Republic or highly accomplished citizens appointed by the President.
Strong bicameralism was a core principle at the founding of the Italian republic….At the drafting of the new Italian Constitution in 1947, ‘the idea of a strict functional equality (including equal powers over legislation) was reaffirmed and Italy’s uniquely undifferentiated bicameral parliament was born’. The aim was to prevent the rise of another dictatorship.
Reading Constitutions from around the world
It is interesting to read constitutions from other parts of the world. Often the history and the circumstances that led to the Constitution being enacted are evident and prominent within the document. Many Constitutions are made after war or conflict as a unifier for a country. The Italian Constitution was created in 1947 after the country had been engulfed by several decades of fascism and then WWII. Things that stand out in the Italian Constitution are:
The home is inviolable.
Personal domicile shall be inviolable.
Home inspections, searches, or seizures shall not be admissible save in the cases and manners complying with measures to safeguard personal liberty.
Controls and inspections for reason of public health and safety, or for economic and fiscal purposes, shall be regulated by appropriate laws.
Perhaps in the fascist years home inspections and seizures were common and something the people felt they needed protection from in a new Constitution. Here’s another one:
Freedom and confidentiality of correspondence and of every other form of communication is inviolable.
Limitations may only be imposed by judicial decision stating the reasons and in accordance with the guarantees provided by the law.
Perhaps another thing people felt they needed to be protected from was a Government that was spying on their citizens.
Australia’s Constitution doesn’t include much of this kind of thing. Ours was created over a period of nearly a decade and was a peaceful way of unifying six British Colonies. Some say this is one reason why we don’t have many constitutional protections. So while the home is not inviolable in Australia, and there is a Parliamentary power to acquire property, it can only be on just terms (section 51(xxxi)).
Surely the Australian Senate is safe and no one would want to abolish it? Constitutional expert Professor George Williams and Harry Hobbs from UNSW write about our Senate:
Until 1979 the Labor Party had included a section in its national platform advocating its abolition, and in 1921 the Queensland Labor government successfully abolished its Upper House.
The Queensland Upper House was an appointed Legislative Council. In order to abolish it the State Labor Government had to stack the Council full of new appointed members, who ultimately voted to abolish themselves. Those appointed Legislative Councillors were called the suicide squad. There was no referendum needed for this Queensland Constitutional amendment.
But what about the Federal Senate? Nearly every week on social media, our CCF articles receive some comments from people who would like to get rid of the Senate. However, perhaps this highlights how much more people need to know about the role of the Senate and the separation of powers.
For an Australian referendum to pass, first the legislation must be passed by an absolute majority of each House of Parliament. This means more than half of the total number of MP’s and Senators (not just those present) need to vote for the legislation. If one House rejects the legislation for the referendum, there is a provision for the Governor-General to go ahead with the referendum (remember – the Governor-General acts on the