Senate defeats ABCC bill, giving double dissolution election trigger
The Senate has voted down the ABCC legislation giving Prime Minister Turnbull the trigger to force a double dissolution election.
Crossbenchers Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir and John Madigan sided with Labor and the Greens to defeat the government bill in a division shortly after 6pm Monday night.
The construction watchdog bill was defeated 36-34, but as it was its second rejection it provided the PM with the option to dissolve both house of parliament.
Prime Minister Turnbull threatened to push the parliament to a double dissolution election for July 2 if the bill to reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission did not pass the Senate, which he recalled last month to force a vote.
Political observers are banking on the PM will call an election after the federal budget is handed down on May 3.
The double dissolution election must be called before May 12, otherwise the poll would only cover the House of Representatives and half of the Senate.
Earlier in the day senior Labor senator Stephen Conroy described the recall of parliament as a travesty of democracy, likening it to the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government by Governor-General John Kerr.
"What we've had today is the ghost of 1975 revisited upon us - the long, dead arm of Sir John Kerr crawl out of his grave."
Sir Peter had overturned the will of a democratically-elected Senate in a tawdry political stunt that demeaned his office, Senator Conroy said.
"Never has the need for a republic been more evidenced than today," Senator Conroy said.
"Never in modern history has a government prorogued a parliament to obtain a political advantage and that is what this government has done."
The senator was repeatedly warned by Senate President Stephen Parry to stop reflecting adversely on both the Queen and the governor-general.
Senator Conroy said the recall of parliament had nothing to do with trade union reform and was about clearing out the crossbench in a double-dissolution election following the passage of Senate voting changes.
The prime minister's commitment to having union reforms passed was just "crocodile tears".
