The Houses of Parliament: The House of Representatives

Question 1

Members

Answer 1

The “House” has 151 members representing 151 individual geographies (electorates) in Australia (every inch of Australia is covered). The people in each electorate vote for the member who will represent them.

Question 2

Election

Answer 2

There is an election for the “House” every 3 years. All Australian citizens over the age of 18 must vote (compulsory).

Question 3

Australian Citizen

Answer 3

Can stand for election in their electorate. In the Westminster system most of the successful candidates belong to a political party. The major parties in Australia are Australian Labor Party (ALP); the Liberal Party (LP); the National Party (NP); the Greens (GP); One Nation (ON).

Question 4

Party

Answer 4

After each election the party/ parties with the most elected members are asked by the Governor General to be the government. The party with the next highest number of elected members forms the “opposition”.

Question 5

The “House” seating

Answer 5

In the “House” the government sits on the right-hand side of the speaker’s chair and the opposition sit on the left side.

Question 6

Speaker of the “House”

Answer 6

The Speaker of the “House” is selected by the “House” members by majority vote which means that the party who wins the election gets to choose the Speaker. The Speaker is the “umpire” and must be impartial.