Frequently Asked Questions
Note: This page contains links to PDF files for more information see
Accessing files.
A schedule of proposed parliamentary sittings is published in advance
of the sittings.
The actual sittings of the House of Representatives adhere very closely
to the schedule. Occasionally circumstances require some departure from
it. Nevertheless, the schedule is a very useful guide to the sittings.
It is provided in HTML tabular
and text versions.
The regular sitting times of the House of Representatives are set out
in its standing orders. These
provide for it to meet at the following times:
Mondays - from 12:30pm to 9:30pm
Tuesdays - from 2pm to 9:30pm
Wednesdays - from 9:00am to 8pm.
Thursdays - from 9:00am to 5pm.
Occasionally circumstances require some change to these times.
The routine of business chart shows
the categories of business the House
of Representatives and the Main
Committee normally deal with on each day of a sitting week.
The Notice Paper is the House's formal
agenda and lists in order of priority all of the government business,
private Members' business and business before the Main Committee awaiting
the House's consideration. The Notice Paper also includes details of the
questions lodged by Members for written answers by Ministers and the membership
of, and inquiries currently being conducted by, the House of Representatives
and joint committees.
The Daily Program (PDF format 14kb)
provides in more detail the proposed business of the House of Representatives
for a particular sitting.
The Votes and Proceedings (available in PDF)
is the official record (or minutes) of the proceedings of the House of
Representatives. It records in concise form the decisions made by the
House, papers presented, legislation presented or considered, motions
moved, the attendance of Members and any other business which takes place.
The parliamentary debates, often referred to as Hansard, record what
was said in the House. The debates are available in HTML
and PDF.
The Work of the Session is a
periodic summary of the business completed by the House of Representatives
and House and joint committees. It is usually published twice each year.
The most recent issue and back issues from 1990 are available in PDF.
The text of most bills before the Parliament are available at Billsnet.
Explanatory memoranda and amendments proposed in connection with the bills
are also available at this site. Acts of the Commonwealth Parliament (bills
after they have been passed by both Houses and become law) can be found
at the Attorney-General's ScalePlus
page.
If you know the name of the federal electoral division in which you live,
refer to the List of Members by electoral
division.
If you do not know the name of the electoral division in which you live
the Australian Electoral Commission
should be able to help. It is responsible for providing electoral information
and can be contacted
for information on divisional boundaries. A map
of Australian electoral divisions is available online from the AEC
site.
Biographical information on each Member is also available on the Members'
Home Pages.
The List of Members provides contact
details including postal addresses, telephone, facsimile and email (if
the Member has a parliamentary email account) information for all Members
of the House including Ministers.
You can also email your local Member via a Feedback Form (available for
those Members with email accounts) which is located on the Member's
Home Pages .
The House has a number of rules regarding the form and content of petitions.
A recommended form of a petition is contained in Infosheet
11.
Only a Member of the House can present a petition to the House. This
does not necessarily have to be the petitioner's local Member. Petitions
are presented following question time every sitting Monday.
The petition's presentation is noted in the Votes and Proceedings (available
in PDF), with the full text printed in
Hansard. The Clerk
refers every petition to the relevant Minister, who may subsequently lodge
a response to the petition for presentation to the House after the presentation
of petitions on a sitting Monday. In some cases a Minister may order administrative
action to be taken.
The text of the Australian Constitution is available in HTML
and Word 6.0 format.
A summary of issues covered and other information about the Constitution
is available in Infosheet 13.
Green is the colour traditionally used by the British House of Commons,
and the Australian House of Representatives followed that tradition when
the old Parliament House was being built and furnished in 1926-7. The
shades of green selected in the present Chamber represent the grey-green
tones of native eucalypts.
Of all the proceedings of the House, the question period is the time
when the intensity of partisan politics is most clearly evident. Although
the purpose of questions is ostensibly to seek information or press for
action, they are, because public attention focuses so heavily on question
time, often a vehicle for political opportunism. Opposition Members are
tempted in their questioning to stress those matters which will embarrass
the Government. On the other hand, government Members are tempted to provide
Ministers with an opportunity to present government policies and actions
in a favourable light, or to embarrass the Opposition. Questions without
notice by their very nature may raise significant difficulties for the
Chair. The necessity to make instant decisions on the application of the
rules on the form and content of questions is one of the Speaker's most
demanding tasks. The noise at question time is not typical of other proceedings,
either in the Chamber or at meetings
of parliamentary committees.
For more information on question time see Infosheet
1.
A quorum is the minimum number of Members required to be present in the
House to constitute a meeting of the House. It is set by law to be one-fifth
of the total membership. With 150 Members, this makes a quorum of thirty,
including the occupant of the Chair.
The House may, and often does, operate with fewer than 30 Members present.
Because of the demands placed on Members it is necessary that they spend
a large amount of time on other duties outside the
Chamber.
At any time during a sitting any Member may draw the lack of a quorum
(the state of the House) to the Chair's attention, and a count must be
made. If a quorum is not present, the bells are rung until enough Members
are present to form a quorum. If, after 4 minutes, a quorum still isn't
present, the Chair may adjourn the House until the next sitting day, or
suspend the sitting for a short period, in which case, if there is not
a quorum when the Chair resumes, the House is adjourned to another day.
The Ministry is selected from among members of the governing party or
parties. In the case of the Liberal-National Party Coalition, the two
Party Leaders determine the number of Ministers from each party and which
Members and Senators will be appointed from each party. The Prime Minister
determines the portfolio responsibilities of each Minister.
The Australian Labor Party, when in government, elects its Ministers
by a ballot of all Labor Members and Senators. The Prime Minister, who
is also chosen by ballot, then determines the portfolio responsibilities
of each of the Ministers.
Ministers are actually appointed by the Governor-General.
The Cabinet consists
of the Prime Minister and senior Ministers,
and decides on all major government policy matters.
The Clerk of the House of Representatives
is responsible for advising the Speaker
and Members on parliamentary procedure. The Clerk's position in the Chamber
is seated at the Table, in front of the Speaker. He or she is assisted
in the Chamber by the Deputy Clerk,
who sits at the Table to the left of the Clerk.
The Clerk is appointed by the Governor-General,
on the recommendation of the Speaker, and serves all Members of the House
equally. He or she administers the Department of the House of Representatives,
which provides support services to the House, its committees and Members.
The standing orders are the continuing rules of procedure adopted by
the House; the sessional orders are temporary rules which, in most cases,
expire at the end of a session - usually when the House is dissolved for
a general election. The current version available:
The Parliamentary Relations Office (PRO) provides advice and support relevant to the conduct of the Parliaments international and regional affairs. It also 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 advice to the Presiding Officers and members on international parliamentary matters.
You can refer to our list of Infosheets.
If you have a general topic in mind, the Index
is recommended. The site map for the
Parliament site provides a general perspective. The site's search
engine may be more useful for locating specific items of information.
The Department of the House of Representatives conducts seminars
and workshops on the operations of the House which are open to anyone
on payment of a fee.
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