Luke Grant is joined by Philip Benwell, National Chair Australian Monarchist League, who says what’s happening in the UK is a warning to be very careful about any proposal to amend the constitution to enable fixed four-year terms here in Australia.

In Australia, whenever a government loses a majority and finds itself unable to govern, the prime minister will call on the Governor-General to seek an election and if the Governor-General is unable to find an alternative leader in the parliament who is able to receive the confidence of the lower house, he will approve an election.

In the event that the government is unable to govern, and the prime minister does not seek an election, the Governor-General is entitled to withdraw his letter of appointment and appoint another leader who has undertaken to call an election, as occurred in 1975.

Under our Westminster democracy, it is the people who are supreme and it is they who should be called upon to resolve any crisis or deadlock.

However, in 2011 the Cameron government legislated ‘The Fixed-term Parliaments Act’ through parliament guaranteeing five years for the life of a parliament and allowing an election in between only if there is a vote of no confidence in the government, and a vote of two-thirds of the House of Commons.

It is due to this Act that Boris Johnson, who now leads a minority government, is unable to hold a snap election so that the people can decide on whether he remains prime minister or whether Labour or even the Liberal Democrat Party is elected to office.

Essentially, the election would be a second referendum between those who want to leave the European Union and those who want to remain.

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