President of the Australian Senate
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The President of the Australian Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer of the lower house is the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Australian Senate occupies a different position in the Australian Parliament to the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, on which the Australian Parliament is partly modelled, because the Senate has always been a popularly-elected body.
Section 17 of the Constitution of Australia says:
- The Senate shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business, choose a senator to be the President of the Senate; and as often as the office of President becomes vacant the Senate shall again choose a senator to be the President. The President shall cease to hold his office if he ceases to be a senator. He may be removed from office by a vote of the Senate, or he may resign his office or his seat by writing addressed to the Governor-General.
The President is elected by the Senate in a secret ballot. The Clerk conducts the election. The Presidency has always been a partisan office and the nominee of the government party has nearly always been elected– although this cannot be guaranteed since the government of the day does not necessarily have a majority in the Senate. The President is assisted by an elected Deputy President. The traditional practice has been that the government nominates a Senator to be elected as President, and the Opposition nominates a Senator to be Deputy President. If there are no other nominations, no election is required, however the Australian Greens in 2005 and again in 2007 put forward Senator Kerry Nettle as a rival candidate when the position of President was vacant. Neither government nor opposition Senators supported that candidacy.[1]
Between July 2005 and July 2008 the Liberal and National parties had a majority in the Senate, but the practice of allowing an Opposition Senator to be Deputy President was maintained.
The position of President has been disproportionately held by Senators representing the least populous states and territories. Of the 21 Senate presidents since 1901, 13 have come from the least populous states (Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania) or the Australian Capital Territory, and only eight have come from the three most populous states (New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland).
Unlike the Speaker, the President has a deliberative, but not a casting vote (in the event of an equality of votes, the motion fails). This is because the Senate is in theory a states' house, and depriving the President of a deliberative vote would have robbed one of the states or territories one of its Senators' votes (in practice the Senate has always been a party house).
Like the Speaker, the President continues to attend party meetings, and at general elections stands as a party candidate. On the other hand, the President does not usually take part in debates in the Senate and does not speak in public on party-political issues. He or she is expected to conduct the business of the Senate in an impartial manner.
The President’s principal duty is to preside over the Senate, although he or she is assisted in this by the Deputy President and a panel of Acting Deputy Presidents, who usually preside during routine debates. The occupant of the Chair must maintain order in the Senate, uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure) and protect the rights of backbench Senators. The President, in conjunction with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also administers Parliament House, Canberra, with the assistance of administrative staff.
Although the President does not have the same degree of disciplinary power as the Speaker does, the Senate is not as rowdy as most Australian legislative chambers, and thus his or her disciplinary powers are seldom exercised.
[edit] Presidents of the Senate
| Member | Party, State | Term in Office |
| Hon Sir Richard Baker | FT-AS, SA | 9 May 1901 to 31 December 1906 |
| Hon Sir Albert Gould | AS-Lib, NSW | 20 February 1907 to 30 June 1910 |
| Hon Henry Turley | ALP, Qld | 1 July 1910 to 8 July 1913 |
| Hon Thomas Givens | ALP-Nat, Qld | 9 July 1913 to 30 June 1926 |
| Hon Sir John Newlands | Nat, SA | 1 July 1926 to 13 August 1929 |
| Hon Sir Walter Kingsmill | Nat-UAP, WA | 14 August 1929 to 30 August 1932 |
| Hon Patrick Lynch | UAP, WA | 31 August 1932 to 30 June 1938 |
| Hon John Hayes | UAP, Tas | 1 July 1938 to 30 June 1941 |
| Hon James Cunningham | ALP, WA | 1 July 1941 to 4 July 1943 (died in office) |
| Hon Gordon Brown | ALP, Qld | 23 September 1943 to 19 March 1951 |
| Hon Edward Mattner | Lib, SA | 12 June 1951 to 7 September 1953 |
| Hon Sir Alister McMullin | Lib, NSW | 8 September 1953 to 30 June 1971 |
| Hon Sir Magnus Cormack | Lib, Vic | 17 August 1971 to 11 April 1974 |
| Hon Justin O'Byrne | ALP, Tas | 9 July 1974 to 11 November 1975 |
| Hon Sir Condor Laucke | Lib, SA | 17 February 1976 to 30 June 1981 |
| Hon Sir Harold Young | Lib, SA | 18 August 1981 to 4 February 1983 |
| Hon Douglas McClelland | ALP, NSW | 21 April 1983 to 23 January 1987 |
| Hon Kerry Sibraa | ALP, NSW | 17 February 1987 to 1 February 1994 |
| Hon Michael Beahan | ALP, WA | 1 February 1994 to 20 August 1996 |
| Hon Margaret Reid | Lib, ACT | 20 August 1996 to 19 August 2002 |
| Hon Paul Calvert | Lib, Tas | 19 August 2002 to 13 August 2007 |
| Hon Alan Ferguson | Lib, SA | 14 August 2007 to 25 August 2008 |
| Hon John Hogg | ALP, QLD | 26 August 2008 to present |
The current Deputy President is Senator Alan Ferguson (Lib, SA)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Senate Debates, 9 August 2005; 14 August 2007.
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