Parliament of Australia
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The Australian Parliament (Parliament of Australia), also Commonwealth Parliament (Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Australia. It is a bicameral parliament based on the Westminster system, but with some additional powers of influence along the lines of the United States Congress. Under Section 1 of the Constitution of Australia, the Parliament consists of three components: the Queen of Australia (who is in personal union with the Queen of the United Kingdom as well as the other Commonwealth Realms), the Australian Senate, and the Australian House of Representatives. The Queen is represented here by the Governor-General.
The lower house, the House of Representatives, consists of 151 members representing the various Australian constituencies. This number is not fixed and, along with changes in the electoral system, can change from time to time. The 1984 federal election saw the largest increase in members. The number of people's representatives increased from 125 to 148 in that year. In the 1993 elections, there were only 147, while in 1996, there were 148 members again. From the 2001 to 2019 federal elections, the number of MPs remained constant at 150, but since 2019 there have been 151. Each electoral district (English: division) is represented by one MP. There are 76 members in the Senate. Each state provides twelve of them. There are also two members from each territory. Senators are elected by single transferable vote. Representatives of both houses sit in different chambers of Parliament House in the capital Canberra. The current Parliament (as of 2018) is the 45th Parliament since the formation of the Australian federation in 1901.
History
The Commonwealth Parliament opened in Melbourne on 9 May 1901. The only building in the whole of Melbourne large enough to accommodate the 14,000 guests was the Royal Exhibition Building. From 1901 to 1927, they met in Old Parliament House, borrowed from the Parliament of Victoria (which moved to the Royal Exhibition Building instead). On 9 May 1927, Parliament moved to the new capital, Canberra. In what was intended only as a transitional building, the Australian Parliament eventually met for over 60 years. The current Parliament House was opened on 9 May 1988. Australia has the fourth longest continuously functioning democracy in the world.
Composition
Under Section 1 of the Australian Constitution, it is stated that the British Queen is a constituent of Parliament. However, the Governor-General of Australia actively conducts day-to-day political business as a representative of the British Crown. He is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The upper house in the Australian Parliament is the Senate, which has 76 members. Like the United States Senate, which it was modeled after, the Senate has an equal number of members from each state regardless of its population. The Constitution allows Parliament to change the number of Senators, but all six Australianstates must be equally represented. Furthermore, each founding state must be represented by at least six senators.
Until 1949, each state could elect the constitutional minimum number of six senators. From 1949 onwards, ten and, since 1984, twelve representatives of each state were allowed to be elected.
Parliament can determine the number of deputies in the House of Representatives. However, according to the Constitution, the number should be at least twice the number of senators. According to the Constitution, the lower house has 151 deputies. Each state gets seats according to its population, with each founding state having at least five seats secured. According to the Constitution, no representation of the territories is secured. In 1922, the Northern Territory was given a seat and so was the Capital Territory in 1948. However, this limited representation only lasted until 1968.
From 1901 to 1949 there were always 74 or 75 members in the house. Between 1949 and 1984, it had between 121 and 127 members. Since 1984, the House of Commons has always had between 148 and 151 Members.
