Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives
44th Parliament
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Leadership
The Hon. Tony Smith MP, Liberal
Since 10 August 2015
The Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, Liberal
Since 18 September 2013
The Hon. Tony Burke MP, Labor
Since 18 October 2013
Structure
Seats 150
Political groups

Government (90)

Opposition (55)

Crossbench (5)

Elections
Full preferential voting
Last election
 7 September 2013
Next election
 Next federal election
Meeting place
House of Representatives chamber
Parliament House
Canberra, ACT, Australia
Website

House of Representatives

  1. ↑ 16 LNP MPs sit in the Liberal party room and 6 in the National party room.
  2. ↑ Sits in Liberal party room
  3. ↑ Current independent MPs: Andrew Wilkie (Denison) and Cathy McGowan (Indi).
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Inside the House of Representatives

The Australian House of Representatives is one of the two houses (chambers) of the Parliament of Australia. It is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being referred to as the upper house. The term in office of members of the House of Representatives is a maximum of three years from the date of the first sitting of the House, but may be abridged if an early election is called or if Parliament is dissolved. A member of the House may be referred to as a "Member of Parliament" ("MP" or "Member"), while a member of the Senate is usually referred to as a "Senator".

The present Parliament is the 44th Federal Parliament of Australia. The most recent federal election was held on 7 September 2013 and the new House first sat on 12 November 2013. The Liberal/National Coalition won 90 seats out of 150 and formed the government. The Labor Party holds 55 seats and forms the opposition. The Australian Greens, Palmer United Party and Katter's Australian Party each hold a single seat, while the remaining two are held by independents.[1] Unless an election is called earlier, the term of the House will expire on 11 November 2016.

The House of Representatives currently consists of 150 members, elected by and who represent single member districts, known as electoral divisions (commonly referred to as "electorates" or "seats"). The number of members is not fixed, but can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions, which are required on a regular basis. The most recent overall increase in the size of the House, which came into effect at the 1984 election, increased the number of members from 125 to 148. It reduced to 147 at the 1993 election, returned to 148 at the 1996 election, and has been 150 since the 2001 election.

Each division elects one member using full-preference preferential voting. After the 1918 Swan by-election, which Labor unexpectedly won with the largest primary vote, the Nationalist government led by Billy Hughes changed the lower house voting system from first-past-the-post to full-preference preferential voting, effective from the subsequent 1919 election. The system has remained in place, allowing the Coalition parties to safely contest the same seats. The system would continuously benefit the Coalition until the 1990 election, which was the first time Labor obtained a net benefit from preferential voting.[2]

Origins and role

The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Imp.) of 1900 established the House of Representatives as part of the new system of dominion government in newly federated Australia. The House is presided over by the Speaker. Members of the House are elected from single member electorates (geographic districts, commonly referred to as "seats" but officially known as "Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives"). One vote one value legislation requires all electorates to have approximately the same number of voters with a maximum 10% variation. However, the baseline quota for the number of voters in an electorate is determined by the number of voters in the state in which that electorate is found. Consequently, the electorates of the smallest states and territories have more variation in the number of voters in their electorates, with the smallest holding around 60,000 voters and the largest holding around 120,000 voters. Meanwhile, the largest states have electorates with more equal voter numbers, with most electorates holding 85,000 to 100,000 voters. Voting is by the 'preferential system', also known as instant-runoff voting. A full allocation of preferences is required for a vote to be considered formal. This allows for a calculation of the two-party-preferred vote.

The number of electorates in each state and territory is determined by population. The parliamentary entitlement of a state or territory is established by the Electoral Commissioner dividing the number of the people of the Commonwealth by twice the number of Senators. The population of each state and territory is then divided by this quota to determine the number of members to which each state and territory is entitled. Under the Australian Constitution all original states are guaranteed at least five members. The Federal Parliament itself has decided that the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory should have at least one member each.

According to the Constitution, the powers of both houses are nearly equal, with the consent of both houses needed to pass legislation. The difference mostly relates to taxation legislation. In practice, by convention, the person who can control a majority of votes in the lower house is invited by the Governor-General to form the Government. In practice that means that the leader of the party (or coalition of parties) with a majority of members in the House becomes the Prime Minister, who then can nominate other elected members of the government party in both the House and the Senate to become ministers responsible for various portfolios and administer government departments. Bills appropriating money (supply bills) can only be introduced in the lower house and thus only the party with a majority in the lower house can govern. In the current Australian party system, this ensures that virtually all contentious votes are along party lines, and the Government always has a majority in those votes.

The Opposition party's main role in the House is to present arguments against the Government's policies and legislation where appropriate, and attempt to hold the Government accountable as much as possible by asking questions of importance during Question Time and during debates on legislation. By contrast, the only period in recent times during which the government of the day has had a majority in the Senate was from July 2005 (following the 2004 election) to December 2007 (following the Coalition's defeat at the federal election that year). Hence, votes in the Senate are usually more meaningful. The House's well-established committee system is not always as prominent as the Senate committee system because of the frequent lack of Senate majority.

In a reflection of the United Kingdom House of Commons, the predominant colour of the furnishings in the House of Representatives is green. However, the colour was tinted slightly in the new Parliament House (opened 1988) to suggest the colour of eucalyptus trees. Also, unlike the House of Commons, the seating arrangement of the crossbench is curved, similar to the curved seating arrangement of the United States House of Representatives. This suggests a more collaborative, and less oppositional, system than in the United Kingdom parliament (where all members of parliament are seated facing the opposite side).

Australian parliaments are notoriously rowdy, with MPs often trading colourful insults. As a result, the Speaker often has to use the disciplinary powers granted to him or her under Standing Orders.[3]

Since 2015, Australian Federal Police officers armed with assault rifles have been present in both chambers of the Federal Parliament.[4]

Federation Chamber

The Federation Chamber is a second debating chamber that considers relatively uncontroversial matters referred by the House. The Federation Chamber cannot, however, initiate or make a final decision on any parliamentary business, although it can perform all tasks in between.[5]

The Federation Chamber was created in 1994 as the Main Committee, to relieve some of the burden of the House: different matters can be processed in the House at large and in the Federation Chamber, as they sit simultaneously. It is designed to be less formal, with a quorum of only three members: the Deputy Speaker of the House, one government member, and one non-government member. Decisions must be unanimous: any divided decision sends the question back to the House at large.

The Federation Chamber was created through the House's Standing Orders:[6] it is thus a subordinate body of the House, and can only be in session while the House itself is in session. When a division vote in the House occurs, members in the Federation Chamber must return to the House to vote.

The Federation Chamber is housed in one of the House's committee rooms; the room is customised for this purpose and is laid out to resemble the House chamber.[7]

Due to the unique role of what was then called the Main Committee, proposals were made to rename the body to avoid confusion with other parliamentary committees, including "Second Chamber"[8] and "Federation Chamber".[9] The House of Representatives later adopted the latter proposal.[10]

The concept of a parallel body to expedite Parliamentary business, based on the Australian Federation Chamber, was mentioned in a 1998 British House of Commons report,[11] which led to the creation of that body's parallel chamber Westminster Hall.[12]

The composition of the House

The 2013 election was held on 7 September 2013, which resulted in the victory of the Coalition led by Tony Abbott with a 90–55 margin, thereby ending the minority government held by the previous Labor Party government.

House of Representatives (IRV) – Turnout 93.23% (CV) – Informal 5.91%[13]
Party Votes % Swing (pp) Seats Change (seats)
  Australian Labor Party 4,311,365 33.38 −4.61 55 −17
  Coalition        
  Liberal Party of Australia 4,134,865 32.02 +1.56 58 +14
  Liberal National Party (QLD) 1,152,217 8.92 −0.20 22 +1
  National Party of Australia 554,268 4.29 +0.56 9 +2
  Country Liberal Party (NT) 41,468 0.32 +0.01 1 0
  Australian Greens 1,116,918 8.65 −3.11 1 0
  Palmer United Party 709,035 5.49 +5.49 1 +1
  Katter's Australian Party 134,226 1.04 +0.73 1 0
  Independents 177,217 1.37 −0.84 2 −1
  Other 583,348 4.52 +0.41 0 0
  Total 12,914,927     150
Two-party-preferred vote
  Liberal/National Coalition 6,908,710 53.49 +3.61 90 +18
  Australian Labor Party 6,006,217 46.51 −3.61 55 −17

Final distribution of seats

Party Seats held Percentage of House
  Liberal/National/LNP/CLP Coalition
90
60%
  Australian Labor Party
55
36.67%
  Independent[1]
2
1.33%
  Australian Greens
1
0.67%
  Palmer United Party
1
0.67%
  Katter's Australian Party
1
0.67%
  Total
150
100%

Lower house primary, two-party and seat results since 1910

A two-party system has existed in the House of Representatives since the two non-Labor parties merged in 1909. The 1910 election was the first to elect a majority government, with the Australian Labor Party concurrently winning the first Senate majority. A two-party-preferred vote (2PP) has been calculated since the 1919 change from first-past-the-post to preferential voting and subsequent introduction of the Coalition. ALP = Australian Labor Party, L+NP = grouping of Liberal/National/LNP/CLP Coalition parties (and predecessors), Oth = other parties and independents.

House of Representatives results and polling
Primary vote 2PP vote Seats
ALP L+NP Oth. ALP L+NP ALP L+NP Oth. Total
7 September 2013 election 33.4% 45.6% 21.1% 46.5% 53.5% 55 90 5 150
3–5 Sep 2013 poll 33% 46% 21% 46% 54%
21 August 2010 election 38.0% 43.3% 18.8% 50.1% 49.9% 72 72 6 150
17–19 Aug 2010 poll 36.2% 43.4% 20.4% 50.2% 49.8%
24 November 2007 election 43.4% 42.1% 14.5% 52.7% 47.3% 83 65 2 150
20–22 Nov 2007 poll 44% 43% 13% 52% 48%
9 October 2004 election 37.6% 46.7% 15.7% 47.3% 52.7% 60 87 3 150
6–7 Oct 2004 poll 39% 45% 16% 50% 50%
10 November 2001 election 37.8% 43.0% 19.2% 49.0% 51.0% 65 82 3 150
7–8 Nov 2001 poll 38.5% 46% 15.5% 47% 53%
3 October 1998 election 40.1% 39.5% 20.4% 51.0% 49.0% 67 80 1 148
30 Sep – 1 October 1998 poll 44% 40% 16% 53% 47%
2 March 1996 election 38.7% 47.3% 14.0% 46.4% 53.6% 49 94 5 148
28–29 Feb 1996 poll 40.5% 48% 11.5% 46.5% 53.5%
13 March 1993 election 44.9% 44.3% 10.7% 51.4% 48.6% 80 65 2 147
11 Mar 1993 poll 44% 45% 11% 49.5% 50.5%
24 March 1990 election 39.4% 43.5% 17.1% 49.9% 50.1% 78 69 1 148
11 July 1987 election 45.8% 46.1% 8.1% 50.8% 49.2% 86 62 0 148
1 December 1984 election 47.6% 45.0% 7.4% 51.8% 48.2% 82 66 0 148
5 March 1983 election 49.5% 43.6% 6.9% 53.2% 46.8% 75 50 0 125
18 October 1980 election 45.2% 46.3% 8.5% 49.6% 50.4% 51 74 0 125
10 December 1977 election 39.7% 48.1% 12.2% 45.4% 54.6% 38 86 0 124
13 December 1975 election 42.8% 53.1% 4.1% 44.3% 55.7% 36 91 0 127
18 May 1974 election 49.3% 44.9% 5.8% 51.7% 48.3% 66 61 0 127
2 December 1972 election 49.6% 41.5% 8.9% 52.7% 47.3% 67 58 0 125
25 October 1969 election 47.0% 43.3% 9.7% 50.2% 49.8% 59 66 0 125
26 November 1966 election 40.0% 50.0% 10.0% 43.1% 56.9% 41 82 1 124
30 November 1963 election 45.5% 46.0% 8.5% 47.4% 52.6% 50 72 0 122
9 December 1961 election 47.9% 42.1% 10.0% 50.5% 49.5% 60 62 0 122
22 November 1958 election 42.8% 46.6% 10.6% 45.9% 54.1% 45 77 0 122
10 December 1955 election 44.6% 47.6% 7.8% 45.8% 54.2% 47 75 0 122
29 May 1954 election 50.0% 46.8% 3.2% 50.7% 49.3% 57 64 0 121
28 April 1951 election 47.6% 50.3% 2.1% 49.3% 50.7% 52 69 0 121
10 December 1949 election 46.0% 50.3% 3.7% 49.0% 51.0% 47 74 0 121
28 September 1946 election 49.7% 39.3% 11.0% 54.1% 45.9% 43 26 5 74
21 August 1943 election 49.9% 23.0% 27.1% 58.2% 41.8% 49 19 6 74
21 September 1940 election 40.2% 43.9% 15.9% 50.3% 49.7% 32 36 6 74
23 October 1937 election 43.2% 49.3% 7.5% 49.4% 50.6% 29 44 2 74
15 Sep 1934 election 26.8% 45.6% 27.6% 46.5% 53.5% 18 42 14 74
19 Dec 1931 election 27.1% 48.4% 24.5% 41.5% 58.5% 14 50 11 75
12 Oct 1929 election 48.8% 44.2% 7.0% 56.7% 43.3% 46 24 5 75
17 Nov 1928 election 44.6% 49.6% 5.8% 48.4% 51.6% 31 42 2 75
14 Nov 1925 election 45.0% 53.2% 1.8% 46.2% 53.8% 23 50 2 75
16 Dec 1922 election 42.3% 47.8% 9.9% 48.8% 51.2% 29 40 6 75
13 Dec 1919 election 42.5% 54.3% 3.2% 45.9% 54.1% 25 38 2 75
5 May 1917 election 43.9% 54.2% 1.9% – – 22 53 0 75
5 Sep 1914 election 50.9% 47.2% 1.9% – – 42 32 1 75
31 May 1913 election 48.5% 48.9% 2.6% – – 37 38 0 75
13 Apr 1910 election 50.0% 45.1% 4.9% – – 42 31 2 75
Polling conducted by Newspoll and published in The Australian. Three percent margin of error.

See also

References

External links

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