The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Constitutional Review (also referred to as the Constitution Review Committee) was set up by resolution of the Twenty Second Parliament in both the House of Representatives and the Senate on 24 May 1956. The Committee held its first meeting on 12 June 1956.
 
Its function was:
 
 "to review such aspects of the working of the Constitution as the
 Committee considers it can most profitably consider, and to make
 recommendations for such amendments of the Constitution as the
 Committee thinks necessary in the light of experience." (1)
 
The Committee was composed of eight members of the House of
Representatives and four Senators, both sides of these Houses being represented. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were ex-officio members of the Committee. The Committee had power to sit during sittings and adjournments of the Parliament. It therefore formally lapsed on 8 November 1956 with the recess following the First Session of the Twenty Second Parliament. In fact the Committee continued to work during the recess. The Committee was formally reconstituted during the Second Session of the Twenty Second
Parliament by the House of Representatives on 20 March 1957 and by the Senate on 21 May 1957. The Senate suggested that the Committee's terms of reference be amended in order to give the Committee power to sit during recesses of the Parliament and this amendment was agreed to by the House of Representatives on 28 March 1957. The Senate received a message to this effect on 3 April 1957. The Committee was therefore constituted until the discharge of the Twenty Second Parliament on 14 October 1958. It was, however, reconstituted by motion of the House of Representatives on 27 February 1958 and of the Senate on 12 March 1958 following the opening of the Third Session of the Twenty Second Parliament.
 
The first report of the Committee was presented and ordered to be printed on 1 October 1958. In view of substantial differences between Government and Opposition members on desirable alteration to the Constitution it was decided not to conduct the proceedings in public. Nor was there an open invitation to the public to appear before the Committee. The Committee attempted to consider all aspects of the Constitution, its operation since 1901 and the foreseeable future demands on it. The First Report of the Committee contained only a summary of its recommendations. It proposed that, should the Committe be reconstituted during the Twenty Third Parliament, a further report would be presented including explanatory draft constitutional amendments, and supporting exposition to show the considerations leading to the amendments proposed. (2)
 
The Committee was reconstituted during the Twenty Third Parliament by resolution of the House of Representatives on 30 April 1959 and by the Senate on 6 May 1959. Following these resolutions it met again on 12 May 1956. The Committee's function was:
 
 "to prepare a report or reports to each House of the Parliament
 setting forth, so far as the Committee thinks it desirable to do
 so -  

 (a) Further explanation of the recommendations and other matters 
     contained in the Report of the Joint Committee on Constitutional
     Review laid before each House of Parliament on the 1st day of 
     October 1958 and
 
 (b) further information with respect to the considerations and 
     reasons on which those recommendations were based." (3)
 
The second, and final, Report from the Joint Committee on
Constitutional Review was presented and ordered to be printed on 26 November 1959. The Report dealt in detail with Commonwealth
Legislative Machinery and Concurrent Legislative Powers and in a section of Other Recommendations mentioned Interstate Road Transport, New States and Alteration of the Constitution. The following
appendices were contained in the Report: Mr Downer's Reservation on Industrial Relations, Senator Wright's Dissenting Report, the 1958 Report from the Joint Committee on Constitutional Review and the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1901-59.
 
The Committee's staff continued to collect press cuttings relating to its work until 2 June 1960. Members of the Committee were:
 
 Chairman  : Senator Neil O'Sullivan,
 Members   : Senator P J Kennelly
           : Senator N E McKenna
           : Senator Reg C Wright
           : The Hon Arthur A Calwell
           : The Hon A R Downer
           : The Hon D H Drummond
           : The Hon Len W Hamilton
           : The Hon P E Joske
           : The Hon Reg T Pollard
           : The Hon E J Ward
           : The Hon E G Whitlam
 
Senator J A Spicer was originally appointed Chairman of the Committee but was subsequently appointed Chief Judge of the Commonwealth
Industrial Court and retired from the Senate on 13 August 1956. On 24 October 1956 the Senate appointed the Attorney-General, Senator Neil O'Sullivan, to fill this vacancy. Although the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were ex-officio members of the Committee they did not attend or participate in its proceedings.
 
Staff of the Committee were:
 
 J E Richardson, Attorney-General's Department -
 Legal Secretary
 
 K O Bradshaw, Usher of the Black Rod -
 Clerk of the Committee
 
The Committee referred to the reports of two previous inquiries into the constitution: Report of the Royal Commission on the Constitution, 21 November 1929 (see CA 2450); and Report from the [Senate] Select Committee appointed to consider and report upon the Constitution Alteration (Avoidance of Double Dissolution Deadlocks) Bill, 28 November 1950 (see CA 3924).
 
The Joint Committee on Constitutional Review refers, on pages 4-5 in its second report (1959), to the value of the work of the Royal Commission as reference material and the Committee's records include a copy of the above Senate Select Committee report.
 

References
 
1. Parliamentary Debates, 24 May 1956.
 
2. Report from the Joint Committee on Constitutional Review.
   Canberra: Government Printer, 1958, p 6.
 
3. Report from the Joint Committee on Constitutional Review.
   Canberra: Government Printer, 1959, p 1.
Historical agency address
Parliament House, Canberra
Legislation administered
Creation: House of Representatives Resolution of 24 May 1956; Senate Resolution of 29 May 1956.