Can a "common informer" enforce MP disqualification?
Автор: Constitutional Clarion
Загружено: 2025-06-04
Просмотров: 4654
This video is about common informers and their use to ensure that disqualified MPs ceased to sit in Parliament.
Under the current electoral law, voters and candidates may only challenge a candidate's election to Parliament within 40 days of the return of the election writs. If it later becomes apparent that the person was disqualified, or a subsequent disqualifying event (eg bankruptcy or conviction) occurs, then only the relevant House can refer the matter to the Court of Disputed Returns. But a House, for political reasons, could choose to protect its member by not doing so.
A common informer procedure allows anyone to sue a Member or Senator for a certain amount of money for each day they sit while disqualified. It is intended to ensure that disqualification is addressed even when a majority of the House has a vested interest in not doing so.
This video discusses the common informer procedure under s 46 of the Constitution, how it was altered by legislation in 1975, and how both were neutered by the High Court's judgment in Alley v Gillespie that a common informer can only act if disqualification has already been determined by another means.
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