The number of questions including supplementary questions asked at question time in recent years has averaged around thirty-five. Questions without notice may be put to a minister relating to public affairs with which he or she is officially connected, or to any matter of administration for which the minister is personally responsible or in respect of which he or she represents another minister.
However, there is no corresponding obligation on those questioned to give an answer. However, political realities dictate that ministers must demonstrate that they have a firm understanding and command of the matters for which they are responsible by answering questions in a competent manner. In party political terms it is important that a minister performs well at question time.
Supplementary questions are considered inappropriate for the purpose of introducing additional material, or for proposing a new question. Anne Ruston, during question time in the Senate. Supplementary questions must be actually and accurately related to the original question and must relate to or arise from the answer. It is not in order to ask a supplementary question of another minister. As mentioned earlier, in addition to answering questions concerning their own portfolios, each Senate minister also represents one or more ministers in the House and responds to questions concerning matters for which House ministers are responsible.
Apart from the questions asked orally in the Senate chamber each sitting day, senators may also at any time address written questions on notice to ministers and other senators. In a typical year senators ask about questions on notice. These questions and the answers to them are not usually read in the chamber, though they are published in Hansard. Standing orders require that answers to questions on notice be supplied within thirty days.
If a minister does not supply an answer within that period, and does not give an explanation, when asked, of why the answer has not been provided, a senator may move, without notice, a relevant motion— usually a motion for the answer to be tabled by a specific date. Ministers normally comply with such orders. For further details of the procedures for questioning ministers see Senate Brief No. Ministers from the Senate are frequently invited to appear before Senate committees to give evidence and answer questions.
Ministers from the House of Representatives have also occasionally given evidence. While many of the more detailed answers are provided by government officials, ministers are responsible for answering questions about policy matters which public servants are not required to comment on see Senate Brief No.
Simon Birmingham, appearing before estimates. While the ministry as a whole is responsible to the House of Representatives, in that it can hold office only so long as it has the confidence of that House, individual ministers are responsible, in effect, only to the Prime Minister because it is he who advises the Governor-General to appoint or dismiss ministers. Because the Senate cannot appoint or dismiss ministers it cannot hold them responsible, but it can hold them accountable, that is, require them to explain and to give an account of their policies and actions.
When the government party does not hold a majority of votes in the Senate, the non-government senators can use their combined voting power to make Senate ministers accountable by, for example, answering questions, appearing before committees, and providing documents requested by the Senate. This was regarded as a dramatic and unusual event at the time but in fact this is a power which the Senate has exercised on a regular basis since Censure resolutions may have an important political impact and for this reason have frequently been moved and carried in the Senate.
Clerk of the Senate. The Deputy to the Clerk of the House, this person is the principal procedural adviser to the President of the Senate and to Senators. Appointed by the Public Service Commission, the Clerk of the Senate as Deputy Head of the Office of the Parliament is assigned a wide range of procedural and administrative duties. See: Table Officers. The clause of a bill stating the date upon which an Act will be enforced. Such a clause may indicate that an Act or some part of it will come into force on a date to be proclaimed by the President or it may state the actual date.
The absence of such a clause in an Act means that the Act comes into force on the date of Assent. There are several types of committees: sessional, special and joint committees as well as Committees of the Whole. Committee Clerk. The procedural Clerk acting as administrative officer and adviser on parliamentary procedure to a committee.
The Committee Clerk takes the minutes of proceedings at all committee meetings and may draft rulings on procedural questions as well as the reports for the committee chairman. The receiving of oral evidence by a committee either publicly or in camera. Committee of the Whole. All of the Members of the House sitting in the Chamber as a committee.
Such committees usually sit to scrutinize a bill, clause by clause. Detailed study of the clauses of a bill by a committee could be a committee of the Whole or a select committee. This stage, which may include the taking of evidence or the receiving of documents, is the first at which amendments may be proposed to specific provisions of the bill.
Agreement with a committee report, including the conclusions or recommendations it contains. Concurrence is arrived at in the House by the adoption of a motion. A conflict arising from any interest, pecuniary or other, which interferes with a Member's ability to perform his or her functions. Following the adoption of an amendment to the text of a motion or bill, subsequent amendment s to that text made necessary simply for coherence.
Any offence against the authority or dignity of Parliament, including disobedience to its commands or libel against it or its Members. Punishment for such an offence may take a variety of forms, up to and including imprisonment. To change political allegiance, signified by taking a seat as an independent or among the Members of a new party, usually located across the Chamber from one's former party. A motion which, because of its substantive nature or procedural importance, is subject to debate before being put to a vote.
Regulations made by Ministries, Departments, Independent Institutions or agencies by virtue of the power conferred on them by some Act of Parliament. Delegated legislation are usually reviewed by the Statutory Instruments Committee of the Senate before laying. Deputy Speaker. Title given to the Member elected by the House of Representatives to this office. The Deputy Speaker replaces the Speaker when the latter is unavoidably absent.
A topic which a member requests to have discussed before the sitting is adjourned. It is left to the discretion of the Speaker to agree that the matter is definite, urgent and of public importance.
To remain on the Order Paper at the end of a session without a final decision having been taken. Motions and bills which "die" are lost and are not proceeded with further, unless they are re-introduced in the next session. A superseding motion designed to dispose of the original question before the House, either for the time being or permanently. Motions to adjourn the debate and motions to adjourn the House are examples of dilatory motions. To cancel an order previously made by the House, often with a view to presenting some alternative.
The order for second reading of a bill must be discharged before the subject matter of the bill can be referred to a committee. The bringing to an end of a Parliament, either at the conclusion of its five-year term or by proclamation of the President. It is followed by a general election. A vote; the dividing of the members into the ayes and nays in order to reach a decision. A list giving the results of a recorded division. Any place or territorial area entitled to return an MP to represent it in the House of Representatives.
During debate, MPs are identified not by their own names but often by the name of their electoral district. A debate held on a motion to adjourn, devoted to the discussion of a specific and important matter requiring urgent consideration.
Such a debate has the effect of interrupting the business then before the House. The part of a bill giving the appropriate authorities the power to bring the provisions of the bill into force. Legislation which confers the power to do something; many Government proposals, such as international trade agreements, require such measures before they can be acted upon. A short paragraph preceding the sections of an Act, which indicates the authority by which it is made. Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice.
A procedural authority providing a complete description of the rules, practices and precedents in the United Kingdom's House of Commons at Westminster. Commonly referred to as Erskine May or simply May. The departmental expenditure plans, consisting of Main Estimates, tabled annually, and Supplementary Estimates, tabled as required. An amendment which, although it is not expressed in the same terms, would have the same effect as an amendment proposing the negative of the motion under consideration.
Such an amendment is not in order. The action of the House in ridding itself of one of its Members who is, in its opinion, unfit for membership in the House. An obstructive tactic consisting of the use of excessively long speeches to delay the business of the House or of a committee. An electoral system in which the candidate receiving more votes than any other candidate is declared elected, whether or not the winner has received an absolute majority of the votes.
The first-past-the-post system is used to elect Members to the House of Representatives. A purely formal stage in the passage of a bill, taken together with the order for printing.
The motion for first reading and printing is deemed carried without question put. The twelve month period, from October 1 to September 30, used by the Government for budgetary and accounting purposes. That part of the Chamber of the House reserved for the Members and the officials of the House. Non-procedural term, meaning a vote during which party discipline is not imposed on individual Members. Compare: party vote. The first row of seats in the House of Representatives which, on the Government side, are occupied by the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet Ministers and, on the Opposition side, by the leaders of the Opposition and principal opposition Members.
Areas in the House set aside for the public, the press and distinguished visitors who wish to attend a sitting. An election following dissolution at which MPs are selected for every electoral district. MPs are elected by a simple plurality of the votes, which are cast by secret ballot. Any bill or motion introduced in the House by a Minister or Parliamentary Secretary. A clause protecting a prerogative of an individual or a collectivity from being affected by the new legislation.
A document containing Government policy proposals, issued for discussion purposes. Such a document does not represent a Government commitment to introduce legislation or to adopt a particular position. See: Official Report. House Bill. A bill, either public or private, which is first introduced in the House of Representatives. After it has been passed by the House of Representatives, a House bill is sent to the Senate. House copy of a bill. The copy of a bill in the care of the Clerk of the House which is used as a working copy by the House.
A motion of a routine nature dealing with administrative or purely formal matters necessary to expedite House business. Impute bad motives or motives different from those acknowledged to a Member. The election of a presiding officer in the House or in committee when the candidate is not present. A meeting from which the public is excluded.
Committees routinely meet in this way to deal with administrative matters and to consider draft reports. A Member who is not a member of a recognized political party. A study undertaken by a standing or special committee of the House. It may be initiated as a result of a standing or special order or, in the case of a Departmental Joint Select Committee, it may be initiated by the committee itself. A direction by the House to a committee which has already received an order of reference, further defining its course of action or empowering it to do something.
There are two types of instructions: permissive and mandatory. A clause of a bill which contains the definitions of certain terms used in the bill. The first presentation of a bill to Parliament for its consideration. Leave to introduce a bill is granted automatically, without debate, amendment or question put.
A Bill is only introduced in the First House. It is read a First time in the Second House. A committee made up of a proportionate number of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It may be either a statutory required by law or a special select committee. The official presentation of papers, reports and other documents to the Parliament.
This involves the actual putting of copies of such material on the Table. Leader of the House. The Minister responsible for managing the Government's business in the House of Representatives, including the negotiations with the Opposition Chief Whip.
The Senate was intended to be a house of review, a way of keeping the government that usually controls the House of Reps in check. Members in the House of Reps represent a geographic area - also known as electorates, or seats - made up of roughly , voters each. At the moment there are members of the House of Reps.
But that's going to increase by one seat in the federal election. South Australia will lose a seat - due to its shrinking population - while both Victoria and the ACT will each gain a seat. Unlike the House, the number of Senators are spread equally across states, regardless of their populations. There's 12 each in the states, and two each in the territories, taking us to 76 in total. Which gives the less populated states an edge, because to be elected a senator, you need roughly 14 per cent of the vote.
Fourteen per cent of Tasmania's population is a damn sight smaller than 14 per cent of Victoria's. You've probably noticed that there are a lot of independents and minor parties - that is - not the big two - in Senate. It's got to do with how we vote in the Senate - a system called proportional voting.
Under this system, when a candidate hits the required quota to get them elected, all subsequent votes go to either whoever the candidate has preferenced, or who you as a voter has marked as your second-in-line. Australian Parliament House is currently closed to the public. Home Senators and Members.
Search for Senators and Members. A senator is a member of the Australian Senate, elected to represent a state or territory. There are 76 senators, 12 from each state and two each from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
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