{"id":"qld:act-2015-035","name":"Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Referendum Act 2015","slug":"constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"qld","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"35 of 2015","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":29645,"registerId":"qld-act-2015-035-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"pt.1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Preliminary","content":"# Preliminary","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"sec.1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"### sec.1 Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Referendum Act 2015 .","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"pt.2","sectionType":"part","heading":"Submitting Bill to electors for voting","content":"# Submitting Bill to electors for voting","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"sec.2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Bill to be submitted to electors","content":"### sec.2 Bill to be submitted to electors\n\nThis section applies if the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015 is passed by the Legislative Assembly.\nIn accordance with the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 , section 4 , the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015 is to be submitted for the approval or otherwise of the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly.\n(sec.2-ssec.1) This section applies if the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015 is passed by the Legislative Assembly.\n(sec.2-ssec.2) In accordance with the Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 , section 4 , the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015 is to be submitted for the approval or otherwise of the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"sec.3","sectionType":"section","heading":"How vote is taken","content":"### sec.3 How vote is taken\n\nFor the purpose of section 2 , a referendum is to be held under the Referendums Act 1997 .","sortOrder":4}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation maintains its narrow, original purpose: providing the mechanism to submit a specific constitutional amendment to voters. It has not expanded beyond this single, focused objective."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely short — only 3 operative sections","No defined terms section","Minimal conditional logic (only one trigger: passage of the Amendment Bill)","Simple cross-references to two existing Acts (Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 and Referendums Act 1997) without complex integration","No exceptions, exemptions, or nested conditions"],"plain_english_summary":"This law sets up a **public vote (referendum)** on whether to change the Queensland Constitution to introduce fixed four-year terms for Parliament.\n\n**What it does:**\n- If the Queensland Parliament passes a separate bill (the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015), this Act requires that bill to be put to Queensland voters for approval.\n- The vote must be conducted as a **referendum** under Queensland's existing referendum rules (the Referendums Act 1997).\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- **Queensland voters** — they get to vote on whether to change the Constitution.\n- **The Queensland Government** — it must organise and hold the referendum.\n\n**Why it matters:**\nFixed-term parliaments mean elections happen on a set date rather than whenever the government chooses to call one. This law doesn't make that change itself — it just ensures voters get a direct say on the change, as required by Queensland's Constitution."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act does exactly what its title suggests — it provides the legal mechanism to submit a fixed-term parliament constitutional amendment to a public referendum. There is no indication of scope creep or deviation from its original, narrow procedural purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Very short Act with only three operative sections","Purely procedural — it triggers a process rather than creating substantive rights or obligations","Relies heavily on other Acts (Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 and Referendums Act 1997) for the substance of how the referendum is conducted, meaning the reader needs to consult those Acts for full detail","Conditional operation — it only applies if a separate Bill is first passed by the Legislative Assembly, adding a minor layer of contingency"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act requires a public referendum — run under the Referendums Act 1997 — to approve a proposed constitutional amendment introducing fixed-term parliaments if the Amendment Bill passes the Legislative Assembly. It gives enrolled South Australian voters the final say, potentially removing the Premier’s ability to time elections for political advantage."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"sec.2","severity":"medium","reasoning":"This is a drafting absurdity where the operative provisions appear to have been accidentally doubled. The section header and body text contain the same provisions as the labelled subsections. This creates ambiguity about whether each obligation arises once or twice, and whether any distinction was intended between the unnumbered and numbered versions. While likely a formatting or compilation error, it represents a genuine structural flaw that could cause interpretive confusion.","confidence":0.92,"description":"Section 2 duplicates its own content verbatim. The section body states the provisions once in plain text, then immediately repeats them identically as subsections (sec.2-ssec.1) and (sec.2-ssec.2), creating a structural redundancy where the same legal obligations are stated twice within the same section."},{"type":"other","section":"sec.2","severity":"low","reasoning":"Whilst conditional referendum legislation is not inherently unusual, it is logically curious that the entire operative content of the Act is contingent on a separate bill passing. If the Amendment Bill fails or is never introduced, this Act is a nullity. A more robust drafting approach would either incorporate the bill or provide a fallback. The severity is low because this is a known legislative technique, but it does represent a logical fragility.","confidence":0.65,"description":"Section 2 is conditional on the Amendment Bill being 'passed by the Legislative Assembly', but a referendum Act that only activates upon passage of the very bill it is designed to facilitate creates a potential bootstrapping problem. If the Amendment Bill is never passed, the Referendum Act has no operative effect whatsoever, making the Act's existence potentially entirely redundant."},{"type":"other","section":"sec.1","severity":"low","reasoning":"The document structure shows 'sec.1 Short title' appearing as both a section heading and a subsection heading without differentiation. While this appears to be a formatting/compilation artefact rather than a substantive legal flaw, in a strictly parsed legal instrument it could create interpretive uncertainty about document hierarchy.","confidence":0.78,"description":"The Act has a duplicate section numbering issue at the top level. Both the Part 1 heading and the section within it are labelled 'sec.1 Short title', and similarly the content headings repeat the section label, suggesting a structural malformation in the document hierarchy that could create ambiguity about the operative hierarchy of provisions."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"sec.2 (body text, unnumbered)","section_b":"sec.2-ssec.1 and sec.2-ssec.2","confidence":0.88,"description":"The body of section 2 states the operative provisions in full without subsection labels, then those identical provisions are restated as formally numbered subsections (ssec.1) and (ssec.2). This creates a contradiction in legislative structure: the unnumbered text suggests the provisions operate at the section level, while the numbered subsections suggest they operate at a subsection level, potentially creating two parallel sets of obligations with identical content but different legal addresses."}]},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act does not change the substantive subject-matter of the proposed constitutional amendment. It only prescribes that, if the `Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015` is passed by the Legislative Assembly, the Bill must be submitted to electors under Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 s4 and decided by referendum conducted under the Referendums Act 1997 (secs.2–3)."},"complexity_factors":["Very short, procedural text (only secs.2–3)","Conditional operation tied to passage by the Legislative Assembly (sec.2)","Relies on external statutes for procedure: Constitution Act Amendment Act 1934 s4 and Referendums Act 1997 (sec.2–3)","No substantive amendment mechanism set out in this Act (only submission and referendum mechanics)","Low discretion for administrators — a mandatory submission and use of existing referendum procedure (secs.2–3)","Administrative burden limited to conducting a referendum under established law (sec.3)"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act requires that if the `Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Bill 2015` is passed by the Legislative Assembly it must be put to a popular vote. Electors qualified to vote for the Legislative Assembly decide the amendment in a referendum held under the Referendums Act 1997 (see secs.2–3)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015","history":"/api/acts/constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015/history","analysis":"/api/acts/constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/constitution-fixed-term-parliament-referendum-act-2015/documents"}}