Member

This is no minor technicality; it is a direct affront to the fundamental democratic principle that underpins our constitutional order—the sovereignty of Parliament. It is this Parliament, and this Parliament alone, that may properly enact, amend or repeal primary legislation. Yet, under Clause 151, such powers may in effect be exercised by ministerial fiat through the medium of secondary legislation, often subject to minimal scrutiny and with little opportunity for meaningful challenge in either House. This is a constitutional sleight of hand. It is the shifting of legislative power from the elected Chamber and this revising Chamber to the Executive, on the back of an ambiguous and elastic phrase. We must not allow such erosions of parliamentary authority to pass unchecked beneath the veil of procedural convenience or legislative tidiness.