Australian House of Representatives explained

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House of Representatives
Legislature:47th Parliament of Australia
Coa Pic:Coat of Arms of Australia.svg
House Type:Lower house
Body:Parliament of Australia
Leader1 Type:Speaker
Leader1:Milton Dick
Party1:Labor
Election1:26 July 2022
Leader2 Type:Leader of the House
Leader2:Tony Burke
Party2:Labor
Election2:1 June 2022
Leader3 Type:Manager of Opposition Business
Leader3:Paul Fletcher
Party3:Liberal
Election3:5 June 2022
Members:151
Structure1:Australian House of Representatives chart.svg
Structure1 Res:250px
Term Length:3 years
Voting System1:Instant-runoff voting
Last Election1:21 May 2022
Next Election1:2025
Session Room:Australian House of Representatives - Parliament of Australia.jpg
Meeting Place:House of Representatives Chamber
Parliament House
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Australia

The Australian House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are set down in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

The term of members of the House of Representatives is a maximum of three years from the date of the first sitting of the House, but on only one occasion since Federation has the maximum term been reached. The House is almost always dissolved earlier, usually alone but sometimes in a double dissolution alongside the Senate. Elections for members of the House of Representatives are often held in conjunction with those for the Senate. A member of the House may be referred to as a "member of parliament" ("MP" or "member"), while a member of the Senate is usually referred to as a "senator". Under the conventions of the Westminster system, the government of the day and the prime minister must achieve and maintain the confidence of this House in order to gain and remain in power.

The House of Representatives currently consists of 151 members, elected by and representing single member districts known as electoral divisions (commonly referred to as "electorates" or "seats"). The number of members is not fixed but can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions, which are required on a regular basis. The most recent overall increase in the size of the House, which came into effect at the 1984 election, increased the number of members from 125 to 148. It reduced to 147 at the 1993 election, returned to 148 at the 1996 election, increased to 150 at the 2001 election, and stands at 151 as of the 2022 Australian federal election.[1]

The House of Representatives chamber is designed to seat up to 172 members, with provision for an ultimate total of 240 to be accommodated.[2]

Each division elects one member using full-preferential instant-runoff voting. This was put in place after the 1918 Swan by-election, which Labor unexpectedly won with the largest primary vote and the help of vote splitting in the conservative parties. The Nationalist government of the time changed the lower house voting system from first-past-the-post to full-preferential voting, effective from the 1919 general election.

Origins and role

The Constitution of Australia of 1900 established the House of Representatives in a newly federated Australia. The House is presided over by the speaker. Members of the House are elected from single member electorates (geographic districts, commonly referred to as "seats" but officially known as "Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives"). One vote, one value legislation requires all electorates to have approximately the same number of voters with a maximum 10% variation. However, the baseline quota for the number of voters in an electorate is determined by the number of voters in the state in which that electorate is found. Consequently, the electorates of the smallest states and territories have more variation in the number of voters in their electorates. Meanwhile, all the states except Tasmania have electorates approximately within the same 10% tolerance, with most electorates holding 85,000 to 105,000 voters. Federal electorates have their boundaries redrawn or redistributed whenever a state or territory has its number of seats adjusted, if electorates are not generally matched by population size or if seven years have passed since the most recent redistribution.[3] Full preferential voting is used in elections, a type of instant-runoff voting. A full allocation of preferences is required for a vote to be considered formal. This allows for a calculation of the two-party-preferred vote.

Under section 24 of the Constitution, each state is entitled to members based on a population quota determined from the "latest statistics of the Commonwealth". These statistics arise from the census conducted under the auspices of section 51(xi).[4] Until its repeal by the 1967 referendum, section 127 prohibited the inclusion of Aboriginal people in section 24 determinations as including the Indigenous peoples could alter the distribution of seats between the states to the benefit of states with larger Aboriginal populations.[5] Section 127, along with section 25 (to discourage, but still allow, racial prohibitions on voting by reducing a state's representation if they did so)[6] and the race power,[7] have been described as racism built into Australia's constitutional DNA,[8] and modifications to prevent lawful race-based discrimination have been proposed.[9]

The parliamentary entitlement of a state or territory is established by the electoral commissioner dividing the number of the people of the Commonwealth by twice the number of senators. This is known as the "nexus provision". The reasons for this are twofold, to maintain a constant influence for the smaller states and to maintain a constant balance of the two Houses in case of a joint sitting after a double dissolution. The population of each state and territory is then divided by this quota to determine the number of members to which each state and territory is entitled. Under the Australian Constitution all original states are guaranteed at least five members. The federal Parliament itself has decided that the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory should have at least one member each.

According to the Constitution, the powers of both Houses are nearly equal, with the consent of both Houses needed to pass legislation. The difference mostly relates to taxation legislation. In practice, by convention, the person who can control a majority of votes in the lower house is invited by the governor-general to form the government. In practice that means that the leader of the party (or coalition of parties) with a majority of members in the House becomes the prime minister, who then can nominate other elected members of the government party in both the House and the Senate to become ministers responsible for various portfolios and administer government departments. Bills appropriating money (supply bills) can only be introduced or amended in the lower house and thus only the party with a majority in the lower house can govern. In the current Australian party system, this ensures that virtually all contentious votes are along party lines, and the government party usually has a majority in those votes in the lower house.

The opposition party's main role in the House is to present arguments against the government's policies and legislation where appropriate and attempt to hold the government accountable as much as possible by asking questions of importance during question time and during debates on legislation. By contrast, the only period in recent times during which the government of the day has had a majority in the Senate was from July 2005 (when the senators elected at the 2004 election took their seats) to July 2008 (when the senators elected at the 2007 election took their seats). Hence, votes in the Senate are usually more meaningful. The House's well-established committee system is not always as prominent as the Senate committee system because of the frequent lack of Senate majority.

In a reflection of the United Kingdom House of Commons, the predominant colour of the furnishings in the House of Representatives is green. However, the colour was tinted slightly in the new Parliament House (opened 1988) to suggest the colour of eucalyptus trees. Also, unlike the House of Commons, the seating arrangement of the crossbench is curved, similar to the curved seating arrangement of the United States House of Representatives. This suggests a more collaborative, and less oppositional, system than in the United Kingdom parliament (where all members of parliament are seated facing the opposite side).

Australian parliaments are notoriously rowdy, with MPs often trading colourful insults. As a result, the speaker often has to use the disciplinary powers granted to him or her under standing orders.[10]

Since 2015, Australian Federal Police officers armed with assault rifles have been present in both chambers of the federal Parliament.[11]

Electoral system

See also: Electoral system of Australia.

From the beginning of Federation until 1918, first-past-the-post voting was used in order to elect members of the House of Representatives but since the 1918 Swan by-election which Labor unexpectedly won with the largest primary vote due to vote splitting amongst the conservative parties, the Nationalist Party government, a predecessor of the modern-day Liberal Party of Australia, changed the lower house voting system to instant-runoff voting, which in Australia is known as full preferential voting, as of the subsequent 1919 election.[12] This system has remained in place ever since, allowing the Coalition parties to safely contest the same seats.[13] Full-preference preferential voting re-elected the Hawke government at the 1990 election, the first time in federal history that Labor had obtained a net benefit from preferential voting.[14]

From 1949 onwards, the vast majority of electorates, nearly 90%, are won by the candidate leading on first preferences, giving the same result as if the same votes had been counted using first-past-the-post voting. The highest proportion of seats (up to 2010) won by the candidate not leading on first preferences was the 1972 federal election, with 14 of 125 seats not won by the plurality candidate.[15]

Allocation process for the House of Representatives

The main elements of the operation of preferential voting for single-member House of Representatives divisions are as follows:[16] [17]

Following the full allocation of preferences, it is possible to derive a two-party-preferred figure, where the votes have been allocated between the two main candidates in the election. In Australia, this is usually between the candidates from the Coalition parties and the Australian Labor Party.

Relationship with the government

Under the Constitution, the governor-general has the power to appoint and dismiss the "Queen's Ministers of State" who administer government departments. In practice, the governor-general chooses ministers in accordance with the traditions of the Westminster system that the government be drawn from the party or coalition of parties that has a majority in the House of Representatives, with the leader of the largest party becoming prime minister.

A sub-set of the most important ministers then meet in a council known as Cabinet. Cabinet meetings are strictly private and are frequently held to discuss vital issues and make policy decisions. The Constitution does not recognise the Cabinet as a legal entity; it exists solely by convention. Its decisions do not in and of themselves have legal force. However, it serves as the practical expression of the Federal Executive Council, which is Australia's highest formal executive body.[19] In practice, the Federal Executive Council meets solely to endorse and give legal force to decisions already made by the Cabinet. All members of the Cabinet are members of the Executive Council. While the governor-general is the nominal presiding officer, he almost never attends Executive Council meetings. A senior Cabinet member holds the office of Vice-President of the Executive Council and acts as presiding officer of the Executive Council in the absence of the governor-general. The Federal Executive Council is the Australian equivalent of the executive councils and privy councils in other Commonwealth realms such as the King's Privy Council for Canada and the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.[20]

A minister must be a senator or member of the House of Representatives at the time of their appointment, or become one within three months of their appointment. This provision was included in the Constitution (section 64) to enable the inaugural ministry, led by Edmund Barton, to be appointed on 1 January 1901, even though the first federal elections were not scheduled to be held until 29 and 30 March.[21]

After the 1949 election, Bill Spooner was appointed a minister in the Fourth Menzies ministry on 19 December, however his term as a Senator did not begin until 22 February 1950.[22]

The provision was also used after the disappearance and presumed death of the Liberal prime minister Harold Holt in December 1967. The Liberal Party elected John Gorton, then a senator, as its new leader, and he was sworn in as prime minister on 10 January 1968 (following an interim ministry led by John McEwen). On 1 February, Gorton resigned from the Senate to stand for the 24 February by-election in Holt's former House of Representatives electorate of Higgins due to the convention that the prime minister be a member of the lower house. For 22 days (2 to 23 February inclusive) he was prime minister while a member of neither house of parliament.[23]

On a number of occasions when ministers have retired from their seats prior to an election, or stood but lost their own seats in the election, they have retained their ministerial offices until the next government is sworn in.

Committees

See also: Australian House of Representatives committees. In addition to the work of the main chamber, the House of Representatives also has a large number of committees which deal with matters referred to them by the main House. They provide the opportunity for all MPs to ask questions of ministers and public officials as well as conduct inquiries, examine policy and legislation.[24] Once a particular inquiry is completed the members of the committee can then produce a report, to be tabled in Parliament, outlining what they have discovered as well as any recommendations that they have produced for the government to consider.[25]

The ability of the chambers of Parliament to establish committees is given in section 49 of the Constitution, which states that, "The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, and of the members and the committees of each House, shall be such as are declared by the Parliament, and until declared shall be those of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and of its members and committees, at the establishment of the Commonwealth."[25]

Parliamentary committees can be given a wide range of powers. One of the most significant powers is the ability to summon people to attend hearings in order to give evidence and submit documents. Anyone who attempts to hinder the work of a Parliamentary committee may be found to be in contempt of parliament. There are a number of ways that witnesses can be found in contempt. These include refusing to appear before a committee when summoned, refusing to answer a question during a hearing or to produce a document, or later being found to have lied to or misled a committee. Anyone who attempts to influence a witness may also be found in contempt.[26] Other powers include, the ability to meet throughout Australia, to establish subcommittees and to take evidence in both public and private hearings.[25]

Proceedings of committees are considered to have the same legal standing as proceedings of Parliament, they are recorded by Hansard, except for private hearings, and also operate under parliamentary privilege. Every participant, including committee members and witnesses giving evidence, are protected from being prosecuted under any civil or criminal action for anything they may say during a hearing. Written evidence and documents received by a committee are also protected.[26] [25]

Types of committees include:[26]

Standing committees, which are established on a permanent basis and are responsible for scrutinising bills and topics referred to them by the chamber; examining the government's budget and activities and for examining departmental annual reports and activities.

Select committees, which are temporary committees, established in order to deal with particular issues.

Domestic committees, which are responsible for administering aspects of the House's own affairs. These include the Selection Committee that determines how the House will deal with particular pieces of legislation and private members business and the Privileges Committee that deals with matters of parliamentary privilege.

Legislative scrutiny committees, which examine legislation and regulations to determine their impact on individual rights and accountability.

Joint committees are also established to include both members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Federation Chamber

The Federation Chamber is a second debating chamber that considers relatively uncontroversial matters referred by the House. The Federation Chamber cannot, however, initiate or make a final decision on any parliamentary business, although it can perform all tasks in between.[27]

The Federation Chamber was created in 1994 as the Main Committee, to relieve some of the burden of the House: different matters can be processed in the House at large and in the Federation Chamber, as they sit simultaneously. It is designed to be less formal, with a quorum of only three members: the deputy speaker of the House, one government member, and one non-government member. Decisions must be unanimous: any divided decision sends the question back to the House at large.

The Federation Chamber was created through the House's standing orders:[28] it is thus a subordinate body of the House, and can only be in session while the House itself is in session. When a division vote in the House occurs, members in the Federation Chamber must return to the House to vote.

The Federation Chamber is housed in one of the House's committee rooms; the room is customised for this purpose and is laid out to resemble the House chamber.[29]

Due to the unique role of what was then called the Main Committee, proposals were made to rename the body to avoid confusion with other parliamentary committees, including "Second Chamber"[30] and "Federation Chamber".[31] The House of Representatives later adopted the latter proposal.[32]

The concept of a parallel body to expedite Parliamentary business, based on the Australian Federation Chamber, was mentioned in a 1998 British House of Commons report,[33] which led to the creation of that body's parallel chamber Westminster Hall.[34]

Current House of Representatives

See also: Results of the 2022 Australian federal election (House of Representatives) and Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 2022–2025.

The current Parliament is the 47th Australian Parliament. The most recent federal election was held on 21 May 2022, with the 47th Parliament first sitting in July 2022.

The 2022 election saw the incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government defeated, with the opposition Albanese-led Labor Party gaining 77 seats in the 151 seat House of Representatives, for a two-seat majority government, while the Coalition lost 18 seats to finish with 58 seats, their worst result since 1946 (the first election after the formation of the current Liberal Party).

On the crossbench, the Australian Greens gained three seats, upping their total from one to four, while the Centre Alliance and Katter's Australian Party held their current standing of one seat each, and independents gained seven seats to bring their total to ten, six of these being teal independents.[35]

On 23 December 2022, Andrew Gee MP quit the National Party to become an independent, citing his disappointment over the party's opposition to the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.[36]

On 1 April 2023, Labor's Mary Doyle was elected in a by-election for the division of Aston, replacing former Liberal cabinet minister Alan Tudge and increasing the Labor majority to three seats.

House of Representatives primary, two-party and seat results

Prior to the 1909 merger of the two non-Labor parties, a three-party system existed in the chamber, with a two-party system in place since.

The 1910 election was the first to elect a majority government, with the Australian Labor Party also winning the first Senate majority.

A two-party-preferred vote (2PP) has been calculated since the 1919 change from first-past-the-post to preferential voting, and subsequent introduction of the Coalition. ALP = Australian Labor Party, L+NP = grouping of Liberal/National/LNP/CLP Coalition parties (and predecessors), Oth = other parties and independents.[37]

+House of Representatives results
Election
Year
LabourFree TradeProtectionistIndependentOther
parties
Total
seats
height=4 colspan=2
width=201stwidth=4019011428312 75
2nd1903232526 1Revenue Tariff75
Election
Year
LabourAnti-SocialistProtectionistIndependentOther
parties
Total
seats
height=4 colspan=2
3rd190626262111Western Australian75
Election
Year
LabourLiberalIndependentOther
parties
Total
seats
height=4 colspan=2
4th191042312 75
5th19133738  75
6th191442321 75
Primary vote2PP voteSeats
ALPL+NPOth.ALPL+NPALPL+NPOth.Total
5 May 1917 election43.9%54.2%1.9%2253075
13 December 1919 election42.5%54.3%3.2%45.9%54.1%25382
16 December 1922 election42.3%47.8%9.9%48.8%51.2%29406
14 November 1925 election45.0%53.2%1.8%46.2%53.8%23502
17 November 1928 election44.6%49.6%5.8%48.4%51.6%31422
12 October 1929 election48.8%44.2%7.0%56.7%43.3%46245
19 December 1931 election27.1%48.4%24.5%41.5%58.5%145011
15 September 1934 election26.8%45.6%27.6%46.5%53.5%18421474
23 October 1937 election43.2%49.3%7.5%49.4%50.6%29432
21 September 1940 election40.2%43.9%15.9%50.3%49.7%32366
21 August 1943 election49.9%31.3%27.1%58.2%41.8%49196
28 September 1946 election49.7%39.3%11.0%54.1%45.9%43265
10 December 1949 election46.0%50.3%3.7%49.0%51.0%47740121
28 April 1951 election47.6%50.3%2.1%49.3%50.7%52690
29 May 1954 election50.0%46.8%3.2%50.7%49.3%57640
10 December 1955 election44.6%47.6%7.8%45.8%54.2%47750122
22 November 1958 election42.8%46.6%10.6%45.9%54.1%45770
9 December 1961 election47.9%42.1%10.0%50.5%49.5%60620
30 November 1963 election45.5%46.0%8.5%47.4%52.6%50720
26 November 1966 election40.0%50.0%10.0%43.1%56.9%41821124
25 October 1969 election47.0%43.3%9.7%50.2%49.8%59660125
2 December 1972 election49.6%41.5%8.9%52.7%47.3%67580
18 May 1974 election49.3%44.9%5.8%51.7%48.3%66610127
13 December 1975 election42.8%53.1%4.1%44.3%55.7%36910
10 December 1977 election39.7%48.1%12.2%45.4%54.6%38860124
18 October 1980 election45.2%46.3%8.5%49.6%50.4%51740125
5 March 1983 election49.5%43.6%6.9%53.2%46.8%75500
1 December 1984 election47.6%45.0%7.4%51.8%48.2%82660148
11 July 1987 election45.8%46.1%8.1%50.8%49.2%86620
24 March 1990 election39.4%43.5%17.1%49.9%50.1%78691
13 March 1993 election44.9%44.3%10.7%51.4%48.6%80652147
2 March 1996 election38.7%47.3%14.0%46.4%53.6%49945148
3 October 1998 election40.1%39.5%20.4%51.0%49.0%67801
10 November 2001 election37.8%43.0%19.2%49.0%51.0%65823150
9 October 2004 election37.6%46.7%15.7%47.3%52.7%60873
24 November 2007 election43.4%42.1%14.5%52.7%47.3%83652
21 August 2010 election38.0%43.3%18.7%50.1%49.9%72726
7 September 2013 election33.4%45.6%21.0%46.5%53.5%55905
2 July 2016 election34.7%42.0%23.3%49.6%50.4%69765
33.3%41.4%25.2%48.5%51.5%68776151
32.6%35.7%31.7%52.1%47.9%775816

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Determination of membership entitlement to the House of Representatives . 31 August 2017 . 31 August 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170831130456/http://www.aec.gov.au/media/media-releases/2017/08-31.htm . live.
  2. Web site: The Chamber . Parliament of Australia . 2 August 2022 . 7 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220707095004/http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice7/HTML/Chapter4/The_Chamber . live.
  3. Web site: Electoral Redistributions during the 45th Parliament . Barber, Stephen . 25 August 2016 . 22 March 2017 . 19 July 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180719111243/https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Redist45thParl . live.
  4. (xi)
  5. Web site: Australian 1967 Referendum . 9 November 2016 . creativespirits.info . Jens . Korff . 8 October 2014 . 19 September 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120919060735/https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/australian-1967-referendum . live.
  6. Web site: House Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs . 23 June 2008 . Reforming our Constitution: A roundtable discussion . 2023-12-13 . www.aph.gov.au . en-AU.
  7. (xxvi)
  8. George . Williams. George Williams (lawyer) . Removing racism from Australia's constitutional DNA . 2012 . 37 . 3 . . 151–155 . 10.1177/1037969X1203700302 . 2144763 . 145522774.
  9. Book: Jan 2012 . Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution . Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution . Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution . 978-1-921975-29-5 . . 14 August 2020 . 21 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201021155805/https://antar.org.au/sites/default/files/expert_panel_report_.pdf/ . live.
  10. News: Barking, biting dog House . . 27 February 2009 . Madigan, Michael . 22 August 2010 . 14 June 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110614171104/http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/barking_biting_dog_house-40410887.html?viewAllComments=y . live.
  11. News: Armed guards now stationed to protect Australian MPs and senators in both chambers of Federal Parliament . The Sydney Morning Herald . 9 February 2015 . 11 June 2017 . 12 February 2015 . https://archive.today/20150212163849/http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/armed-guards-now-stationed-to-protect-australian-mps-and-senators-in-both-chambers-of-federal-parliament-20150209-139ya3.html . live.
  12. Web site: A Short History of Federal Election Reform in Australia . Australian electoral history . Australian Electoral Commission . 2007-06-08 . 2007-07-01 . 4 March 2022 . http://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20220304225953/https://aec.gov.au/Elections/history-of-electoral-reform.htm . live.
  13. Web site: Green . Antony . Antony Green . History of Preferential Voting in Australia . Antony Green Election Guide: Federal Election 2004 . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 2004 . 2007-07-01 . 3 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181203110847/http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2004/guide/prefhistory.htm . live.
  14. Web site: The Origin of Senate Group Ticket Voting, and it didn't come from the Major Parties . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 3 February 2017 . 6 February 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170206081953/http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2015/09/the-orogins-of-senate-group-ticket-voting-and-it-wasnt-the-major-parties.html . live.
  15. Web site: Green . Antony . 2010-05-11 . Preferential Voting in Australia . 2020-11-01 . www.abc.net.au . en-AU . 1 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201101145953/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-05-12/preferential-voting-in-australia/9389472 . live.
  16. Web site: Preferential Voting . Australianpolitics.com . 16 June 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100514095358/http://australianpolitics.com/elections/features/preferential.shtml . 14 May 2010 . dmy.
  17. Web site: How the House of Representatives votes are counted . Australian Electoral Commission . 2 May 2015 . 13 February 2013 . 2 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150502122008/http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/counting/hor_count.htm . live.
  18. Web site: How does Australia's voting system work? . The Guardian . 14 August 2016 . 14 August 2013 . 31 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220531143922/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/14/how-does-australia-s-voting-system-work . live.
  19. Book: Federal Executive Council Handbook 2021 . Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet . 2021 . 978-1-925364-53-8 . en-AU.
  20. Book: Hamer, David . The executive government . Department of the Senate (Australia) . 2004 . 0-642-71433-9 . 113 . 30 April 2017 . 10 September 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160910172141/http://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/senate/pubs/hamer/book.pdf . live.
  21. Martha . Rutledge . Sir Edmund (Toby) Barton (1849–1920) . barton-sir-edmund-toby-71 . 1979 . 7 . 8 February 2010 . 8 August 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130808030541/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barton-sir-edmund-toby-71 . live.
  22. Starr . Graeme . 2000 . A160350b . Spooner, Sir William Henry (1897–1966) . 7 January 2008.
  23. Web site: John Gorton Prime Minister from 10 January 1968 to 10 March 1971 . National Museum of Australia . 3 March 2017 . 23 September 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180923231449/http://www.nma.gov.au/primeministers/john_gorton . live.
  24. Web site: Committees . aph.gov.au . 3 March 2017 . 22 February 2017 . http://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20170222152345/http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees . live.
  25. Web site: Odgers' Australian Senate Practice Fourteenth Edition Chapter 16 - Committees . 2017 . 19 March 2017 . 20 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052009/http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Odgers_Australian_Senate_Practice/Chapter_16 . live.
  26. Web site: Infosheet 4 - Committees . aph.gov.au . 22 February 2017 . 17 October 2016 . http://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20161017121253/http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/00_-_Infosheets/Infosheet_4_-_Committees . live.
  27. "The Structure Of The Australian House Of Representatives Over Its First One Hundred Years: The Impact Of Globalisation," Ian Harris
  28. http://www.aph.gov.au/house/pubs/standos/chapter14.htm Standing and Sessional Orders
  29. http://www.peo.gov.au/students/fss/fss08.html Main Committee Fact Sheet
  30. The Second Chamber: Enhancing the Main Committee , House of Representatives
  31. Renaming the Main Committee , House of Representatives
  32. House of Representatives Vote and Proceedings
  33. Web site: Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons First Report . House of Commons of the United Kingdom . 7 December 1998 . 20 June 2007 . 13 November 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071113233718/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmmodern/60/6013.htm . live.
  34. http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN03939.pdf House of Commons Standard Note—Modernization: Westminster Hall
  35. Web site: 2022 Federal Election . 2022-09-15 . Australian Electoral Commission . en-AU . 29 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220929114347if_/https://results.aec.gov.au/27966/Website/HouseDefault-27966.htm . live.
  36. News: 2022-12-23 . Federal MP Andrew Gee quits National Party over Indigenous Voice stance . en-AU . ABC News . 2022-12-24 . 24 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221224002936/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-23/andrew-gee-resigns-national-party-indigenous-voice/101804776 . live.
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