In the Senate

Senate Guide Contents:

The Australian Senate The Origins of the Senate The Election of Senators The state of the Parties The role and powers of the Senate Senate Committees Queensland Representation in the Senate Further Information Senate Briefs

The Australian Senate
The Senate is one of the houses of federal Parliament, the other being the House of Representatives. Democratically elected, and with full legislative power, it is generally considered to be, apart from the Senate of the United States of America, the most powerful legislative upper chamber in the world. 

The Origins of the Senate
The federation of the Australian colonies had been proposed as early as 1848, but it was not until the 1890s that serious moves were made to bring it about. By then, Australia consisted of six British colonies, each self-governing in relation to domestic matters, each staunchly independent of the others, but all linked by a common culture and heritage and possessing a number of common interests.

Delegates from these colonies gathered at a series of conventions in 1891, 1897 and 1898 at which they devised a constitution for a federated Australia in which the legislative powers of the Commonwealth were divided between the house of Representatives and the Senate. Named after the upper house of the United States congress, the Senate was intended to represent the less populous and wealthy colonies (Tasmania, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia,) which were especially concerned that the new federal Parliament was not dominated by New South Wales and Victoria. To this end state was to have equal representation in the Senate in contrast to the house of representatives whose members were elected in each state in proportion to their population.

As Melbourne was the first capital of the new commonwealth, the Senate first met on 9 May 1901 in the chamber of the Legislative Council of Victoria. It continued to meet there until the opening of the provisional Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927. The Senate first sat in the new Parliament House on 10 May 1988.

The Election of Senators
The Constitution provides that Senators will be elected for six year terms, twice the length of the terms for members of the House of Representatives. The Senate would have a continuous, but rotating membership, with half of the membership of the Senate retiring every three years.

Since federation several constitutional changes have been made with regard to the election of Senators. First, the number of Senators representing each state has been increased from the original six. In 1948 the number was increased to 10 and in 1983 to 12. A further change in 1975 allowed for the election of two Senators from the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. As a result of these changes the current size of the Senate is 76 members - 12 from each state and two from each of the territories.

Second, there has been a change in the way Senators are elected. Until 1948, a 'first past the post' and the group preference systems was used. This meant that all Senate seats in any state could be won by candidates of the same party. The legislative change in 1948 introduced a system known as proportional representation. This system helps ensure that parties gain representation in proportion to their share of the vote. Its adoption has led to the smaller parties and independents gaining representation in the Senate and to the party or coalition of parties forming government rarely winning a majority of its seats.

The state of the Parties
Following the federal election in 2007, the representation of the parties in the Senate became:

The role and powers of the Senate
The Australian Senate is one of the most powerful upper houses of parliament anywhere in the world. Originally, its two main responsibilities were to represent the interests of the states and to act as a house of review watching over the Executive branch of government. But with the growing discipline of political parties in the parliament, the first of these became increasingly less important. Today, a Senator's political affiliation is likely to be more significant in determining the way he or she votes than the state they represent.

The Senate's powers are defined by the Constitution which requires that all proposed laws must be passed by both houses of the parliament. The Senate's law-making powers are equal to those of the House of Representatives except that it cannot introduce or amend proposed laws that authorise expenditure for the ordinary annual services of the government or that impose taxation. The Senate can however, request that the House of Representatives make amendments to financial legislation and it can refuse to pass any bill. If the two houses have a disagreement over a piece of legislation, the Constitution provides a method of resolution which includes a simultaneously dissolution of both houses of then parliament and if necessary, a joint sitting of the two houses.

Senate Committees
The Senate's role as a house of review and as a watchdog of the executive branch of government has led to the development of a comprehensive range of standing committees. These committees have several purposes: to examine important or controversial issues of the day, to advise the Senate in its task of making and amending laws, to keep a watchful eye on government decision-making and to provide an opportunity for organisations and individuals to make representations to parliament.

Senate committees fall into two broad categories according to purpose and method of operation.

Select Committees are ad hoc committees created by the Senate to inquire into some specific matter and to report back to the Senate within a set time. Since then select committees have submitted over 100 reports to the Senate on a diversity of subjects. Standing Committees are permanent committees of the Senate and exist for the life of the whole of any one Parliament, their members being appointed at the commencement of each Parliament.

The Senate has three types of standing committee. There are eight Domestic Committees dealing with matters relating to the internal operations of the Senate, including privileges, publications, appropriations and staffing, procedure, library services, the provision of facilities in Parliament House and senators' pecuniary and other interests.

The Senate Standing Committees look at bills and aspects of government policy or administration. They were first established in 1970 and were restructured in 1994 and again in 2006. Committees have been established in the following areas;

• Community Affairs
• Economics
• Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education
• Environment, Communications, Information Technology, and the Arts
• Finance and Public Administration
• Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
• Legal and Constitutional
• Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport

Queensland Representation in the Senate
Queensland's current representation in the Senate with the expiry of term is:

Further Information

• (Further information also available from the Senate Website: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/index.htm)
• Guidelines for Committee Chairs, Senate Committee Office, Department of the Senate, Canberra, October 1994.
• Harry Evans (ed.), Odgers' Australian Senate Practice 8th edition, A.G.P.S., Canberra, 1997.
• Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing Committees: The First Twenty Years 1970-1990, Department of the Senate, Canberra.

Senate Briefs

1. Electing Australia's Senators
2. The Opening of Parliament
3. Women in the Senate
4. Senate Committees
5. Consideration of Estimates by the Senate's Legislation Committees
6. The President of the Senate
7. Disagreement Between the Houses
8. The Senate and Legislation
9. Origins of the Senate
10. Role of the Senate
11. Parliamentary Privilege
12. Questions

B. Galligan & J. Warden, `The Design of the Senate', in Convention Debates, Legal Books Pty Ltd, Sydney, 1986, Vol.VI, p. 89.
 

Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing Committees: The First Twenty Years 1970-1990, Department of the Senate, Canberra.