Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has indicated it is highly likely Australia will head to a double dissolution election on July 2, saying he does not expect the Senate to pass two key pieces of Government legislation. Senator Xenophon, along with other crossbenchers, want a number of amendments to the ABCC Bill Parliament has been recalled early for an extraordinary sitting to debate the Coalition’s bill to reintroduce the construction watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), and the Registered Organisations bill, which aims to treat union leaders like company directors.
The ABCC Bill has already been rejected once by the Senate, while the Registered Organisations bill has been blocked twice.
Both pieces of legislation will be introduced on Monday, and both need to be passed for a double dissolution to be avoided.
Senator Brandis told Sky News he thought that was unlikely. “I think it’s impossible to imagine a set of circumstances in which the ABCC bill passes and the Registered Organisation bill doesn’t,” he said.