Australian Senate

  • Lab 31

Opposition 34

  • Liberals 24
  • LNP 6
  • Nationals 3
  • CLP 1

Cross Bencher 11

  • Greens 9
  • DLP 1
  • Independent 1

The Senate is the upper house of the Australian Parliament in the two-chamber system of the country. The meetings will be held in Canberra at Parliament House.

Origin and role of the Senate

The Senate was created by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act of 1900 as part of the Dominion - state nature of the newly formed Australian state. Unlike in other Westminster systems, the Australian House of Lords plays a very active role. The Senate was designed less modeled on the British House of Lords, but more like the Senate of the United States, since here each state is represented equally.

Although the Prime Minister is always a member of the House of Representatives, but as a minister members of both chambers may be appointed. In addition, the balance of power between the two houses in relation to the legislative are almost balanced. The House of Lords may not introduce Appropriation Bill into Parliament as in many other bicameral systems and may also introduce any new taxes. These rights are subject to the lower house.

This balance between the two chambers has various causes. First, it goes back to the time when the Australian Constitution was created because of the conflict between the two chambers in 1909, which ultimately limited the powers of the House of Lords, still lay in the future. On the other hand brought the strong role of the Senate, the desire of the authors of the Constitution, expressed that he could stabilize the system. In addition, the smaller states in a strong Senate were interested, as these were concerned the interests of the larger states would otherwise be very dominate.

In practice, laws are usually introduced by the government, which can rely on a majority in the House of the Parliament. The Senate then has the opportunity to approve the law or reject it. In most cases, the MPs vote according to the positions of their parties.

Since smaller states are over-represented in the Senate, the Senate is necessarily a relatively unrepresentative body. Tasmania selects the same number of senators as New South Wales, in which six million people out of a population of 450,000 inhabitants.

In contrast to the House of Representatives, which is dominated by two main parties, the Senate is relatively pluralisitisch. This is due to the fact that the Senate is elected in every state for a system of proportional representation.

Size

Over time, the size of the Senate has changed. The Constitution of the Australian state provides that the number of senators is as half as large as the number of MPs in the House of Representatives. Consequently, results in an enlarged House of Representatives, which was carried out in the past repeatedly, usually also an enlargement of the Senate with him. Currently, six states, each with twelve and the two territories are represented by two Senators. Here, the senators of the Northern Territory also represent the voters of the Indian Ocean Territories ( Christmas Island and Cocos Islands ) and the senators of the Australian Capital Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory of voters.

Parties in the Australian Senate

The following parties are currently represented in the Senate:

In the past, the Australian Democrats, Family First Party, Liberal Movement, One Nation Party and the Nuclear Disarmament Party held seats in the Senate. Usually it is very difficult for an independent candidate to be elected to the Senate as they have to advertise in its entire state for votes. The only exception in recent history was in this context, the Tasmanian Brian Harradine.

Parliament House (Canberra) Australian federal election, 2013 Liberal National Party of Queensland Parliament of Australia Democratic Labor Party (historical) Parliament of Victoria Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly Australian federal election, 1984 Australian federal election, 1987 Australian federal election, 1990 Australian federal election, 1993 Australian federal election, 1996 Australian federal election, 1998 Australian federal election, 2001 Australian federal election, 2004
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