Editing Australian Senate (section)

==Blocking supply==
{{Further|1975 Australian constitutional crisis}}
The Senate has the same legislative power as the House of Representatives, except it may not originate or amend taxing or appropriation bills; they may only pass or reject them. The ability to block the annual appropriations bills required to fund the government ("supply") was exercised in the [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis]]. During the crisis, the [[Opposition (Australia)|Opposition]] used its numbers in the Senate to defer supply bills, refusing to deal with them until an election was called for both Houses of Parliament, an election which it hoped to win. The [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]] of the day, [[Gough Whitlam]], contested the legitimacy of the blocking and refused to resign. The crisis brought to a head two Westminster conventions that, under the Australian constitutional system, were in conflict – firstly, that a government may continue to govern for as long as it has the support of the [[lower house]], and secondly, that a government that no longer has access to supply must either resign or be dismissed. The deadlock ended in November 1975 when Governor-General [[John Kerr (governor-general)|Sir John Kerr]] dismissed Whitlam's government and appointed Opposition Leader [[Malcolm Fraser|Fraser]] as Prime Minister, on the condition that elections for both Houses of parliament be held.<ref name=kerr>{{cite web|last1=Kerr|first1=John|title=Statement from John Kerr (dated 11 November 1975) explaining his decisions.|url=http://whitlamdismissal.com/documents/kerr-statement.shtml|website=WhitlamDismissal.com|access-date=11 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223060041/http://whitlamdismissal.com/documents/kerr-statement.shtml|archive-date=23 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

In 2014, [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] elections analyst Antony Green noted that the blocking of supply alone cannot force a double dissolution. There must be legislation repeatedly blocked by the Senate which the government can then choose to use as a trigger for a double dissolution.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Antony|title=An Early Double Dissolution? Don't Hold Your Breath!|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-19/an-early-double-dissolution-dont-hold-your-breath/9388414|archive-date=13 September 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913100304/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-19/an-early-double-dissolution-dont-hold-your-breath/9388414|url-status=live|newspaper=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]|date=19 May 2014|access-date=1 August 2016}}</ref>