Australian Constitutional Law - Direct Election To Both Houses of Parliament

Direct Election To Both Houses of Parliament

The Constitution required direct election of members to both Houses of Parliament from the beginning (sections 7 and 24). This was a novelty at the time, since the national upper houses with which the framers were best acquainted were chosen by other means: indirect election by the State legislatures (United States Senate before the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913), executive appointment for life (Canadian Senate), or hereditary succession (United Kingdom House of Lords).

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