Succession to the Crown Act 2015

Succession to the Crown Act 2015
Parliament of Australia
Long title An Act to change the law relating to royal succession and royal marriages, and for related purposes
Citation	No. 23 of 2015
Territorial extent	States and territories of Australia
Enacted by	Australian House of Representatives
Enacted	17 March 2015[1]
Enacted by	Australian Senate
Enacted	19 March 2015[1]
Royal assent	24 March 2015[1]
Commenced	26 March 2015[2]
Legislative history
First chamber: Australian House of Representatives
Bill title	Succession to the Crown Bill 2015
Introduced by	Christian Porter
First reading	5 March 2015
Second reading	17 March 2015
Third reading	17 March 2015
Second chamber: Australian Senate
Bill title	Succession to the Crown Bill 2015
Member(s) in charge	Michaelia Cash
First reading	18 March 2015[3]
Second reading	19 March 2015[4]
Third reading	19 March 2015[5]
Related legislation
Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 Australia Act 1986
Status: Current legislation

The Succession to the Crown Act 2015 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, which was enacted at the request of all six Australian states as required by the Australian Constitution. The Australian acts were the final part of the Perth Agreement's legislative program agreed by the prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms to modernise the succession to the crowns of the sixteen Commonwealth realms, while continuing to have in common the same monarch and royal line of succession,^[6][7] as was the case at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931.

As the Statute of Westminster ended the ability of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Australia Acts eliminated the remaining possibilities for the UK to legislate with effect to the Australian states, Australia had the most challenging legal environment of the Commonwealth realms, as each of the six state governments and the federal government has a separate direct relationship with the monarch.

It was brought into effect simultaneously with the similar laws enacted by the other Commonwealth realms after the Governor-General proclaimed the law to commence at "the beginning of 26 March 2015 by United Kingdom time".^[2]