How does the Australian Parliament work?

How does the Australian Parliament work?

The Australian Parliament is made of two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each house debates a proposed law and votes on it. The proposal turns into law only after both houses agree and the Governor-General signs it.

Our Common Bond covers this in Part 3. It is a topic you can learn in one evening if you keep the pieces separate.

What are the two houses?

The House of Representatives has two nicknames, the Lower House and the People's House. The country is cut into federal electorates, and each electorate picks one Member of Parliament (MP). A state or territory with more people gets more MPs. There are over 150 of them.

The Senate goes by the Upper House, the House of Review and the States' House. It has 76 senators. Each state elects 12, and the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory elect two each. So a small state has the same number of senators as a big one.

A simple way to hold this in your head: the House of Representatives follows the number of people. The Senate follows the states.

Both houses also discuss issues that matter to the whole nation.

How is a law made?

The steps are short.

1. A member of Parliament suggests either a brand new law or an edit to one that already exists. This proposal is called a Bill.
2. The House of Representatives and the Senate each consider, debate and vote on it.
3. If the majority in each house agrees, the Bill goes to the Governor-General.
4. The Governor-General signs it. This signing is called Royal Assent, and the Bill is now law.

Learn the order and the name of each step. A question may ask who signs, or what the signing is called. The people who vote are not the same as the person who signs.

Who forms the government?

After a federal election, the party or group of parties with the most seats in the House of Representatives usually forms the government, and its leader becomes the Prime Minister. You may hear this government called the Federal Government or the Commonwealth Government.

The next biggest party or group sits as the Opposition, and its leader is the Leader of the Opposition.

The Prime Minister recommends who becomes a minister. Each minister looks after one area of government, such as employment or the Treasury, and that area is a portfolio. The ministers who hold the biggest portfolios sit together in the Cabinet, where the government makes its main decisions. The Governor-General approves the Prime Minister and the ministers.

Some members belong to no party. They are called independents. Anyone in Australia may join a political party, but nobody has to. The booklet names four main ones: the Liberal Party of Australia, the Australian Labor Party, the Nationals and the Australian Greens.

Where do you fit in?

You help choose the members. In a federal election, citizens vote for people to represent them in both houses. You can also contact your elected representative about a law you think should change, and they should consider what you say. For voting itself, read how voting works in Australia.

How to remember it

Say it aloud as a story: people vote, members meet in two houses, a Bill is debated, both houses agree, the Governor-General signs, it is law. Then add the government: the biggest group in the House of Representatives picks the Prime Minister.

For the people involved, see the guide to Australia's Head of State. For the whole part, read Part 3, government and the law. Then test yourself with the free practice test.

Check yourself

• Can you name both houses and say how each one is chosen?
• Can you put the steps of a Bill in order, and say who signs it?
• Who leads the government, and how does that person get the job?