The Legislative Council was a body appointed by the Prime Minister since the colonial days, and by the 1940s it was seen as ineffectual and obsolete.
However, its abolition would involve a complex constitutional process, so Holland appointed new councillors with the task to draft the laws that would eventually dissolve the body, hence the nickname.
The leader of the National Party, Sidney Holland, introduced a private member's bill to abolish it in 1947.
[2] Even before Holland started appointing new members, the opposition termed the incoming legislative councillors the "suicide squad" in April 1950.
On 1 December 1950, the Legislative Council met for the last time, and by a majority of ten voted itself out of existence.