Senate
This fact sheet explores the Senate, which is part of the Australian Parliament. It includes information about the role, appearance and origins of the Senate.
What will I learn?
- The Senate is one of 2 houses of the Australian Parliament.
- The Senate has an important role representing Australians and making laws.
- Parts of the Senate were inspired by the British and United States systems of government.
The Senate from behind the President of the Senate's chair
DPS Auspic
The Senate from behind the President of the Senate's chair
DPS Auspic
Description
The Senate is a large room with red furnishings. Seats and desks for senators are arranged in a horse-shoe shape around a large central table.
Copyright information
Permission should be sought from DPS AUSPIC for third-party or commercial uses of this image. To contact DPS AUSPIC email: auspic@aph.gov.au or phone: 02 6277 3342.
What is the Senate?
The Senate is one of 2 houses of the Australian Parliament. The other house is the House of Representatives. The Senate is also known as the upper house. Senators represent Australia's states and territories and are elected by the people of Australia in federal elections.
Role
Role of the Senate
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Role of the Senate
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
The Senate:
- decides matters of national interest
- represents the interests of people in their states or territories
- proposes, debates and votes on bills and amendments
- examines issues in committees
- scrutinises executive government.
Copyright information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Non-commercial – You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
No derivatives – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
Role of the Senate
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Role of the Senate
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
The Senate:
- decides matters of national interest
- represents the interests of people in their states or territories
- proposes, debates and votes on bills and amendments
- examines issues in committees
- scrutinises executive government.
Copyright information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Non-commercial – You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
No derivatives – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
The Senate is made up of 76 senators. Each of Australia’s states is equally represented in the Senate by 12 senators. The Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory are each represented by 2 senators.
In the Senate:
- Senators represent the views of Australians and discuss matters of national and international importance.
- National laws are made and changed, by debating and voting on bills – proposed laws. A bill must be agreed to in identical form by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed into law by the Governor-General to become a law.
- The work of the government is scrutinised – closely examined – especially in Question Time and through committees.
Appearance
The Senate meets in a large red room in Australian Parliament House. The red tones used in the Senate reflect colours found in Australia’s natural environment.
The seats in the Senate are arranged in rows to form a U-shape. The President of the Senate sits at the open end of the U-shape and is responsible for running meetings of the Senate. Government senators sit to the right of the President and opposition senators to the left. The Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate sit in front of their teams at the central table. Minor parties and independents sit in the seats in the curved section of the U-shape.
The Senate has 4 viewing galleries. The one behind the President’s Chair is for the press gallery. The other galleries are open to the public, so anyone can watch meetings of the Senate.
Origins
The drafters of the Australian Constitution looked at the British – Westminster – and the United States systems when developing the Australian system of government. From Britain they took the idea of 2 houses of parliament working together to make laws. From the United States, they took the name ‘Senate’ and equal representation from each state. Red was chosen for the Senate because it reflects the red of the House of Lords, the upper house of the UK Parliament.
