Section 46 only applied "until the
Parliament otherwise provides". a Senator whose eligibility to sit was questioned in the
High Court, Parliament passed the
Common Informers (Parliamentary Disqualifications) Act 1975 ("Common Informers Act"), which replaced the constitutional scheme of penalties for members sitting while ineligible. If Webster was found to have sat whilst ineligible, the penalty under the constitution might have exceeded $57,200. Under the Common Informers Act, the quantum of damages which can be recovered is significantly reduced. A person found to be ineligible is liable for a single payment of $200 for sitting in Parliament on or before the day they received notice of the suit challenging their eligibility, and a $200 payment for every day they sit in Parliament after receiving notice of the suit. A twelve-month statute of limitations has been introduced, and it is made explicit that a person may not be penalised twice for the same sitting.
David Gillespie The Common Informers Act was invoked in the matter of
Alley v Gillespie. The suit brought under the Common Informers Act was against Nationals MP
David Gillespie. It was alleged that Gillespie was in breach of
s 44(v) of the Constitution because his family company, Goldenboot Pty Ltd, owned part of a shopping centre in Port Macquarie, NSW, in which an Australia Post franchise operated. The following question was heard on 12 December 2017 by the Full Court of the High Court: Can and should the High Court decide whether the defendant was a person declared by the Constitution to be incapable of sitting as a Member of the House of Representatives for the purposes of section 3 of the Common Informers (Parliamentary Disqualifications) Act 1975 (Cth) ("Common Informers Act")?On 21 March 2018 the High Court unanimously determined that the answer to the question was "no", ==See also==