CHAP. VII] THE UPPER HOUSES 
523 
sitting of the members of the Senate and of the House of 
Representatives.! 
The members present at the joint sitting may deliberate 
and shall vote together upon the proposed law as last 
proposed by the House of Representatives, and upon 
amendments, if any, which have been made therein by 
one House and not agreed to by the other, and any 
such amendments which are affirmed by an absolute 
majority of the total number of the members of the Senate 
and House of Representatives shall be taken to have been 
carried ; and if the proposed law, with the amendments, 
if any, so carried is affirmed by an absolute majority 
of the total number of the members of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, it shall be taken to have been 
duly passed by both Houses of the Parliament, and shall be 
presented to the Governor-General for the King’s assent. 
Special provision is made for the case of differences 
between the two Houses, with regard to the amendment of 
the Constitution, by s. 128 of the Constitution, which is as 
follows :— 
This Constitution shall not be altered except in the 
following manner :— 
The proposed law for the alteration thereof must be 
passed by an absolute majority of each House of the Parlia- 
ment, and, not less than two nor more than six months after 
its passage through both Houses, the proposed law shall be 
submitted in each State to the electors qualified to vote for 
the election of members of the House of Representatives. 
But if either House passes any such proposed law by an 
absolute majority, and the other House rejects or fails to 
pass it, or passes it with any amendment to which the first- 
mentioned House will not agree, and if after an interval of 
three months the first-mentioned House in the same or the 
next session again passes the proposed law by an absolute 
majority with or without any amendment which has been 
made or agreed to by the other House, and such other House 
rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with any amendment 
to which the first-mentioned House will not agree, the 
Governor-General may submit the proposed law as last 
! Under the Constitution, the number of members of the House of 
Representatives must be as nearly as possible double that of the Senate. 
At present the Senate has 36, the House of Representatives 75, members,