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Parliament of Australia facts for kids

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Parliament of Australia
47th Parliament of Australia
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Houses Senate
House of Representatives
History
Founded 9 May 1901; 123 years ago (9 May 1901)
Leadership
Elizabeth II
Since 6 February 1952
David Hurley
Since 1 July 2019
Slade Brockman, Liberal
Since 18 October 2021
Andrew Wallace, Liberal
Since 23 November 2021
Structure
Seats 227 (151 MPs, 76 Senators)
Australian House of Representatives chart.svg
House of Representatives political groups
Government (77)

     Labor (77)

Opposition (58)
Coalition
     Liberal (43)
     National (15)

Crossbench (16)
     Independent (10)
     Greens (4)
     Katter's Australian (1)

     Centre Alliance (1)
2022 Election Australian Senate - Composition of Members.svg
Senate political groups
Effective 1 July 2022

Government (26)
     Labor (26)

Opposition (32)
Coalition
     Liberal (26)
     National (6)

Crossbench (18)
     Greens (12)
     One Nation (2)
     Lambie Network (2)
     United Australia (1)

     Independent (1)
Length of term
House: 3 years
Senate: 6 years
Elections
Instant-runoff voting
Single transferable vote
18 May 2019
Senate last election
18 May 2019 (half)
21 May 2022
Senate next election
21 May 2022 (half)
Redistricting Redistributions are carried out on a state-by-state basis by the Australian Electoral Commission.
Meeting place
Parliament House at dusk, Canberra ACT.jpg
Parliament House
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Australia
Parliament House Canberra (281004929)
Australian Parliament, Canberra

The Parliament of Australia is the federal governing system in Australia. It was formed on May 9, 1901. The parliament is bicameral, which means it has two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was copied mainly from the way the United Kingdom's Parliament was run, the Westminster system, but it also has some ideas from the United States Congress. The laws which control the way the parliament is set up and its powers are part of the Australian Constitution. The Parliament meets in a special building, Parliament House, in Canberra.

The parliament has four main functions:

  • It makes, changes and improves the laws (legislation)
  • Represents the people of Australia
  • It watches what the government is doing
  • It is where the government is formed

The Australian Parliament first met in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne in 1901. It then took over the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne until it moved to Canberra in 1927. A new building for the Parliament was finished in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of European settlement in Australia.

House of Representatives

Australian house of representatives04
House of Representatives

There are 151 members of the House of Representatives, each one elected for a three year term. Each member represents about 150,000 people living in an electorate. The boundaries of each electorate are often changed to keep the number of people in each electorate is the same. The size of each electorate can be very different. The electorate of Durack, in Western Australia, covers an area of 1.3 million square kilometres, while Wentworth in New South Wales is only 26 square kilometres.

The government is formed by the political party (or group of political parties) who have the most members in the House. The House is set out in the British style, even using the green colours of the House of Commons. The Speaker sits at the front; the members of the government sit on the seats to his right, and the opposition sits on the seats to his left. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, government ministers, and the shadow ministers, sit at a large table in the centre.

Senate

Australian senate z
Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the Australian Parliament. There are 76 members in the Senate. There are 12 senators for each Australian state, and 2 for each territory. The Senate makes and changes legislation. To become law, legislation must be passed by both houses and then be signed by the Governor-General.

The colours in the Australian Senate are red, as in the British House of Lords. The senators sit in a U shape around a central table. The head of the Senate, known as the President, sits at the head of the table. On their right are the government senators, and on their left the opposition. Senators from minor political parties and Independent senators sit at the bottom of the U shape.

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Parlamento de Australia para niños

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