Governments can be dissolved and new election called

The House of Representatives, but not the Senate, can be dissolved at any time by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister. The term of the House expires 3 years after its first meeting if not dissolved earlier. The Governor-General can dissolve the Senate only by also dissolving the House of Representatives, (a double dissolution) and only in limited circumstances spelled out in the Constitution.

There is a convention that the Governor-General only orders a dissolution on the advice of the Prime Minister. This convention was demonstrated in the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by the Governor General Sir John Kerr in 1975. Sir John claimed that dissolving the House of Representatives was his duty and "the only democratic and constitutional solution" to the political deadlock over supply. Whitlam refused to advise Sir John to call an election, and Sir John replaced him with a caretaker Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. Fraser promptly advised a double dissolution, and Sir John acted in accordance with that advice.