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The Parliament of Australia is a bicameral parliament consisting of the Queen, the House of Representatives (the "lower house") and the Senate (the "upper house" or "house of review"). Section 1 of the Constitution of Australia provides that: "The legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Federal Parliament, which shall consist of the Queen, a Senate, and a House of Representatives, and which is herein-after called 'The Parliament,' or 'The Parliament of the Commonwealth'."
1 History
The Commonwealth Parliament was opened on 9 May 1901 in the Royal Exhibition Building. Thereafter, from 1901 to 1927 it met in Parliament House, Melbourne, which it borrowed from the parliament of the state of Victoria (which sat in the Exhibition Building). On May 9, 1927 the Parliament moved to the new national capital at Canberra, where it met in what is now called Old Parliament House . Intended to be temporary, this building in fact housed the Parliament for more than 60 years. The permanent Parliament House, Canberra was opened in May 9, 1988.
From 1901 to 1949, the House of Representatives had either 74 or 75 members, while the Senate had 36 members, six from each state. In 1949 the House was enlarged to 121 members and the Senate to 60 (ten from each state). The Senate grew to 64 members in 1975Events January January 1 Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up and are sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail on February 21 January 5 The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, i when the two mainland territories (the Australian Capital TerritoryAustralian Capital Territory ACT , chiefly the site of Canberra (population 309,500 as at 16/10/2004), Australia's capital city, is situated between the country's two largest and rival cities, Melbourne and Sydney. Description The ACT is wholly surrounded and the Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory Territory flag ( In detail) Coat of Arms ( In detail) Capital Darwin Administrator Ted Egan Chief Minister Clare Martin Area — Land — Marine — Total 1 349 129 km˛ 71 839 km˛ 1 420 968 km˛ Population (2002) Density 197 700 0. 15/km˛ Time were allowed to elect two Senators each. In 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe the House was enlarged to 148 members and the Senate to 76 (twelve from each state and two from each territory).
2 Composition
At the head of Parliament is the Queen (or King) of AustraliaThe title Queen of Australia has existed since 1973, when the Parliament of Australia passed the Royal Style and Titles Act (1973 . This act repealed sections of the Royal Style and Titles Act (1953) which had been passed at the time of Queen Elizabeth II, presently HM Queen Elizabeth IIGolden Jubilee in 2002, wearing her Canadian orders) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary), styled HM The Queen (born April 21, 1926) is the Queen regnant and Head of State of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland an (who is also Queen of the United Kingdom). However, the monarch's Australian constitutional functions are delegated to the Governor-GeneralThe Governor-General of Australia is the highest constitutional officer in the Commonwealth of Australia. The Governor-General is the representative in Australia of the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, who resides in the United Kingdom.. The powers of both the monarch and Governor-General are largely ceremonial, and are almost always exercised on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Like the United States Senate, on which it was modeled, the Australian Senate has an equal number of Senators from each state, regardless of population. Under the Constitution, Parliament may determine the number of Senators, provided that each Original State is represented by an equal number of Senators. If any new State were to admitted to the Commonwealth, however, Parliament could determine the number of Senators that State would have. Until 1949 each State elected six Senators (the minimum stipulated by the Constitution). The number increased to ten from the elections of 1949, and to the present number (twelve) from the elections of 1984. Since 1975, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have each elected two Senators.
The Constitution requires that the House of Representatives be as near as possible twice the size of the Senate. Thus from 1901 to 1949 the House had either 74 or 75 members. Between 1949 and 1984 it had between 121 and 127 members. In 1977 the High Court ordered that the size of the House be reduced from 127 to 124 members because it was more than twice the size of the Senate. As a result, in 1984 both the Senate and the House were enlarged, and since then the House has had between 148 and 150 members.
