Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Totally Explained

Everything about Speaker Of The Australian House Of Representatives totally explained

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The other presiding officer is the President of the Senate.
   The office of Speaker is created by the Constitution of Australia. The authors of the Constitution intended that the House of Representatives should be as nearly as possible a replica of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
   Section 35 of the Constitution provides:
The House of Representatives shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business, choose a member to be the Speaker of the House, and as often as the office of Speaker becomes vacant the House shall again choose a member to be the Speaker.
   The Speaker is elected by the House of Representatives in a secret ballot. The Clerk conducts the election. The first Speaker, Sir Frederick Holder, sat as an independent after his election as Speaker, but since his death in 1909 the Speakership has been a partisan office and the nominee of the government party has always been elected. Unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons in Britain, the Speaker continues to attend party meetings, and at general elections stands as a party candidate.
   There is no convention in Australia that the Speaker shouldn't be opposed in his or her constituency, and three Speakers (Groom in 1929, Nairn in 1943 and Aston in 1972) have been defeated at general elections. Because the Speaker is always the nominee of the governing party, there's no expectation that a Speaker will continue in office following a change of government. While the Opposition sometimes nominates one of its own members for Speaker after a general election, this is understood to be a symbolic act, and party discipline is always followed in any ballot.
   Although Australian Speakers are supposed to behave with reasonable impartiality, they see it as part of their duty to support the Government of the day in getting its business through the House, and generally rule in favour of the Government on the frequent points of order raised by Opposition members. Speakers are regularly accused of favouring the Government, and on occasion motions of dissent in the Speaker's rulings or motions of no confidence in the Speaker are moved. These are always defeated along party lines.
   On the other hand, the Speaker isn't an active political figure like the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He or she doesn't take part in debates in the House, doesn't vote in the House except in the (rare) event of a tied vote, and doesn't speak in public on party-political issues (except at election time in his or her own constituency). He or she's expected to conduct the business of the House in an impartial manner, and generally does so. The Speaker is assisted by two elected Deputy Speakers, one of whom, by convention, comes from the Opposition party.
   The Speaker's principal duty is to preside over the House, although he's assisted in this by the Deputy Speakers and a panel of Acting Speakers, who usually preside during routine debates. The occupant of the Chair must maintain order in the House, uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure), rule on points of order, and protect the rights of backbench members. The Speaker, in conjunction with the President of the Senate, also administers Parliament House, Canberra, with the assistance of an administrative staff.
   Australian parliaments are notoriously rowdy, and the Speaker frequently exercises the disciplinary powers available under Standing Orders. The Speaker may summarily order a Member to excuse him or herself from the House for one hour. For more serious offences, the Speaker may "name" a Member: he says "I name the Honourable Member for X," following the House's convention that Members are always referred to by their electorate. The House then votes on a motion to suspend the Member for 24 hours. (The House also had the power to expel a Member, but this happened only once, in 1920 the member was Hugh Mahon. Under Section 8 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act, 1987 (External Link) the House no longer has the power to expel a member from membership of the House.)
   Most Speakers have been senior backbenchers of the party holding office at the start of a new Parliament, or at the time of the death or resignation of an incumbent Speaker. Four Speakers have been former government ministers (Watt, Groom, Cameron and Sinclair), one a former Parliamentary Secretary (Martin), and one (Snedden) both a former minister and a former Leader of the Opposition. There is no convention in Australia that Speakers should resign from Parliament on the end of their term: two Speakers (Makin and Scholes) have become Cabinet ministers after having been Speaker.
   There have been several memorable clashes between Speakers and the governments which caused them to be elected.
In 1929 Speaker Sir Littleton Groom declined to come into the House and cast a vote in committee when his vote would have saved the Bruce government from defeat. As a result he was expelled from the Nationalist Party and defeated in his constituency at the subsequent election.
In 1975 the Whitlam government refused to support Speaker James Cope when he named a government minister for disrespect to the Chair: normally this would have resulted in the minister's suspension from the House. The Speaker resigned on the spot, although he was under no obligation to do so.
In 1982 Speaker Sir Billy Snedden refused to insist that an opposition frontbencher, Bob Hawke, retract an allegation that the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, was a liar. Snedden stood his ground despite furious demands from government members that Hawke either be made to retract or be named.
For more information on Speakers of Houses of Parliament, see Speaker.
Speakers of the House of Representatives

Party Term in Office Comments

Independent May 9, 1901 July 23, 1909 Died in office, collapsing in the Speaker's Chair attempting to control a raucus house during a 14-hour parliamentary session

Commonwealth Liberal Party July 23, 1909 June 30, 1910

Australian Labor Party July 1, 1910 July 8, 1913 First time in role.

Commonwealth Liberal Party July 9, 1913 October 7, 1914 First time in role.

Australian Labor Party October 8, 1914 June 13, 1917 Second time in role.

Nationalist Party of Australia June 14, 1917 February 27, 1923 Second time in role.

Nationalist Party of Australia February 28, 1923 January 12, 1926

Nationalist Party of Australia January 13, 1926 October 11, 1929 Defeated in his own seat

Australian Labor Party November 20, 1929 February 16, 1932

United Australia Party February 17, 1932 August 7, 1934

United Australia Party October 23, 1934 November 19, 1940

United Australia Party November 20, 1940 June 21, 1943 Defeated in his own seat

Australian Labor Party June 22, 1943 February 21, 1950

Liberal Party of Australia February 22, 1950 August 9, 1956 Died in office

Liberal Party of Australia August 29, 1956 October 31, 1966

Liberal Party of Australia February 21, 1967 November 2, 1972 Defeated in his own seat

Australian Labor Party February 27, 1973 February 27, 1975

Australian Labor Party February 27, 1975 16 February, 1976

Liberal Party of Australia February 17, 1976 February 4, 1983

Australian Labor Party April 22, 1983 February 11, 1986 First Speaker whose son was a later Speaker

Australian Labor Party February 11, 1986 August 28, 1989 First female Speaker

Australian Labor Party August 29, 1989 February 8, 1993

Australian Labor Party May 4, 1993 April 30, 1996

Liberal Party of Australia April 30, 1996 March 3, 1998

National Party of Australia March 4, 1998 November 10, 1998

Liberal Party of Australia November 10, 1998 November 16, 2004

Liberal Party of Australia November 16, 2004-February 12, 2008

Australian Labor Party February 12, 2008-present First Speaker whose father was a previous Speaker

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