How Does the House of Representatives Conduct Business

Virtually the House of Representatives

The Firm of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Australian Federal Parliament, the other being the Senate. It is sometimes called the 'people'southward house' or the 'business firm of government'.

Composition

The House currently has 151 Members. Each Member represents an balloter division. The boundaries of these electorates are adjusted from time to time and so that they all contain approximately equal numbers of electors—considering of the distribution of Australia'due south population they vary greatly in expanse (from a few square kilometres to over two meg square kilometres). Members are elected by a system known as preferential voting, under which voters rank candidates in lodge of preference.

Each House of Representatives may continue for up to three years, subsequently which full general elections for a new House must be held. Elections are oftentimes held before the end of this period.

The main political parties represented in the House are the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia. In recent years in that location has also been a number of independent parties and Members.

Encounter too:

• Infosheet eight – Elections for the Business firm of Representatives

Functions

Makes laws—The House'due south central function and the one which takes upwardly most of its fourth dimension is the consideration and passing of new laws and amendments or changes to existing laws. Any Member can introduce a proposed police (pecker) but most are introduced by the Government. To become law, bills must be passed by both the Firm of Representatives and the Senate. They may start in either house but the majority of bills are introduced in the Business firm of Representatives.

Determines the Government—After an ballot the political party (or coalition of parties) which has the virtually Members in the Firm of Representatives becomes the governing party. Its leader becomes Prime Minister and other Ministers are appointed from among the party's Members and Senators. To remain in office a Government must keep the support of a majority of Members of the Firm.

Publicises and scrutinises government administration—Debate of legislation and ministerial policy statements, discussion of matters of public importance, committee investigations, asking questions of Ministers (during question time—at ii pm—Members may ask Ministers questions without notice on matters relating to their piece of work and responsibilities; questions can also be asked on notice for written answer).

Represents the people—Members may present petitions from citizens and raise citizens' concerns and grievances in debate. Members as well raise issues of concern with Ministers and government departments.

Controls government expenditure—The Government cannot collect taxes or spend coin unless immune past law through the passage of revenue enhancement and cribbing bills. Expenditure is also examined by parliamentary committees.

Run across also:

• Infosheet 19 – the Business firm, Government and Opposition

Sittings

The normal sitting pattern for the House extends from Feb to March, May to June and August to December. During these periods the House normally meets in blocks of two sitting weeks followed by two non-sitting weeks. Normally the House sits from Mon to Thursday each sitting week.

The order of business for each sitting is set downwards by the rules of the House (the Firm of Representatives Standing and Sessional Orders). The largest proportion of time is taken up with debate on authorities business—mainly the consideration of bills. On Mon, 'private Members' day', time is reserved for debating reports from parliamentary committees and business sponsored by both government and non-government backbenchers.

All proceedings are open up to the public.

See also:

• Infosheet2 – A typical sitting mean solar day
• Sitting agenda

Committees

The House has a comprehensive system of standing committees. These include:

• investigative committees—These committees carry out inquiries on matters of public policy or government assistants. They have evidence from the public and report to the Business firm with recommendations for government action. The system of general purpose standing committees parallels the functions of government, for example, Ancient and Torres Strait Islander Affairs; Economics, Finance and Public Administration; Education and Vocational Training; and

• domestic or internal committees—These committees are concerned with the performance of the House, for example, Procedure, Privileges, Members' Interests.

There are several joint committees on which both Members and Senators serve together, for example, the Public Accounts and Audit Committee.

Encounter also:

• Infosheet iv – Committees

The Sleeping accommodation

The photo at left shows the Chamber of the House in activeness.

At the heart is the Speaker's Chair and the Tabular array of the Firm. The two Clerks at the Table advise the Chair and Members about procedure and record the formal minutes of proceedings. Hansard reporters sit at the modest central table to record the debates. Each Member has his or her ain seat, with regime Members to the right of the Speaker and opposition and other non-government Members to the left. Ministers and senior opposition Members (the shadow ministry) sit on the facing forepart benches and speak from the Table, other Members speak from their places.

With the exception of question time, Members are rarely all present in the Bedroom at the aforementioned fourth dimension, but are engaged in piece of work elsewhere, including participating in committee meetings and debates in the Main Committee. Members tin watch what is happening in the Chamber at all times from their offices through the Parliament Business firm internal boob tube system.

Behind the Speaker's Chair at get-go floor level is the press gallery, reserved for media representatives. On the other three sides of the Bedchamber are the public galleries, which are e'er open to visitors.

See likewise:

The Federation Sleeping room

The Federation Chamber provides an additional forum for the 2d reading and consideration in detail stages of bills and debate of committee reports and papers presented to the House. One of the Firm of Representatives commission rooms is dedicated to this function and fitted out equally a small-scale Chamber. Its proceedings are likewise open to the public.

See likewise:

• Infosheet xvi – The Federation Bedchamber

The Speaker

The first activeness of the House following an election is to elect one of its Members to be Speaker. The Speaker presides over the sittings of the House and is responsible for its administration. The Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker are besides elected. A console of other Members, appointed past the Speaker, provides assistance in presiding over the House and the Primary Committee. When in the Chair these Members are referred to as 'Deputy Speaker'.

See also:

• Infosheet 3 – The Speaker

Inter-Parliamentary Relations

The International and Parliamentary Relations Role (IPRO) provides advice and support relevant to the conduct of the Parliaments international and regional affairs. It provides general support for inter-parliamentary conferences and incoming and outgoing parliamentary delegations; training support for other parliaments, particularly the smaller parliaments in our region; and communication to the Presiding Officers and members on international parliamentary matters.

The IPROs objective is to support external relations for the Parliament with a view to achieving productive and amicable international and regional relationships with other parliaments and parliamentary bodies and organisations.

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Source: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/About_the_House_of_Representatives

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