45

45. VOTING (1) Save as otherwise provided in sections 17(7), 18(2), 41(2), 41(3), 41(4) and 41(5), any question proposed for decision in the Senate or the House shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting. (2) A question shall not be regarded as having been validly determined by a vote in the Senate or the House unless at least 6 members, or such greater number of members as Parliament may prescribe, take part in the voting. (3) The reference to all the members of the House in sections 17(7), 18(2), 41(2), 41(3), 41(4) and 41(5) shall not include the Speaker if he or she was elected from among persons who were not members of the House. (4) The President or other Senator presiding in the Senate and a Speaker who was elected from among the members of the House or other member presiding in the House shall not vote unless on any question the votes are equally divided, in which case he or she shall have and exercise a casting vote: Provided that in the case of the question of the final reading of such a bill as is referred to in section 41(2) or 41(3) or the question of a motion for such a resolution as is referred to in section 41(4) or 41(5) a Speaker who was so elected or other member presiding in the House shall have an original vote but no casting vote. (5) A Speaker who was elected from among persons who were not members of the House shall have neither an original nor a casting vote. (6) If, upon any question before the House the votes of the members are equally divided and no casting vote may be exercised, the motion shall be lost.