Australia: Double dissolution election likely as Parliament set to examine two key bills, Brandis says | ABC

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.

Australia: Don’t bet yet on a double-dissolution election | Sydney Morning Herald

Don’t pay a deposit on renting a BBQ for your July 2 election day fund-raising sausage sizzle just yet. Listening to comments from some of the independents in the Senate, one might think the whole early sitting is all about them, getting rid of them if they don’t support the government’s union clean-up legislation. Obviously these independents seek to cast themselves as victims, as the badgered and the blackmailed. That’s not how I see it. The people of Australia elected this government. Governments can’t be dictators for three years; the Senate is there as a house of review. The increased size of the House of Representatives and thus of the Senate makes the likelihood of either major party having control of the upper house remote (because the proportion of votes, or quota, needed to get elected is reduced and it is therefore easier for minor candidates to win a spot). Thus there is a creative tension between the two houses. Any opposition can use the independents to cause havoc.