NORTHERN TERRITORY REPRESENTATION.

No. 18 of 1922.

An Act to provide for the Representation of the Northern Territory in the Parliament of the Commonwealth.

[Assented to 5th October, 1922.]

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as the Northern Territory Representation Act 1922.

Commencement.

2. This Act shall commence on a date to be fixed by proclamation.

Representation of Northern Territory.

3. The representation of the Northern Territory in the Parliament of the Commonwealth shall consist of one member of the House of Representatives elected in accordance with this Act.

Qualifications of member for the Northern Territory.

4. The qualifications of the member representing the Northern Territory shall be as follows:—

(a) he must be of the full age of twenty-one years, and must be an elector entitled to vote at the election of the member representing the Northern Territory, or a person qualified to become such elector, and must have been for three years at the least a resident within the limits of the Commonwealth as existing at the time when he is chosen; and

(b) he must be a subject of the King, either natural-born or for at least five years naturalized under a law of the United Kingdom, or of a Colony which has become a State, or of the Commonwealth, or of a State.

Disabilities of member for Northern Territory.

5.—(1.) The member representing the Northern Territory shall not be entitled to vote on any question arising in the House of Representatives.

(2.) The presence in the House of Representatives at any time of the member representing the Northern Territory and the fact that he is a member of the House shall not be taken into account in determining whether at that time a sufficient number of members is present to constitute a meeting of the House for the exercise of its powers’.

(3.) The member representing the Northern Territory shall be incapable of being chosen to be the Speaker or the Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives or to perform the duties of the Speaker or the Chairman of Committees.

(4.) The member representing the Northern Territory shall not be counted for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is an absolute majority in favour of any question in respect of which an absolute majority of either House or both Houses of the Parliament is required under section fifty-seven or section one hundred and twenty-eight of the Constitution.

Privileges, &c., of member.

6. Subject to this Act the member representing the Northern Territory shall have all the powers, immunities and privileges of a member representing a Commonwealth Electoral Division of a State and the provisions of sections thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-seven and thirty-eight and sections forty-two to forty-eight inclusive of the Constitution, and the provisions of the Parliamentary Allowances Act 1920, shall apply in relation to the member in the same way as to other members of the House of Representatives.

Application of Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918–1922.

7. Subject to this Act, the provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918–1922 shall apply, with such exceptions and subject to such modifications and adaptations as are prescribed, in the Northern Territory in like manner as if—

(a) the Northern Territory were an Electoral Division;

(b) the election of a member to represent the Northern Territory were the election of a member to represent an Electoral Division of a State; and

Election to be held on same day as House of Representatives election.

8. A member representing the Northern Territory shall be elected at each general election of members of the House of Representatives and on any other occasion upon which the place of the member representing the Northern Territory becomes vacant.

Regulations.

9. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for giving effect to this Act.