Parliament of Australia

The **Parliament of Australia**  is the federal governing system in Australia. It was formed on 9 May 1901. The parliament is bicameral, which means it has two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was copied mainly from the way the United Kingdom's Parliament was run, the Westminster system, but it also has some ideas from the United States Congress. The laws which control the way the parliament is set up and its powers are part of the Australian Constitution. The Parliament meets in a special building, Parliament House, in Canberra.

The parliament has four main functions:
- It makes and changes the laws (legislation)
- Represents the people of Australia
- It watches what the government is doing
- It is where the government is formed

The Australian Parliament first met in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne in 1901. It then took over the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne until it moved to Canberra in 1927. A new building for the Parliament was finished in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of European settlement in Australia.

## House of Representatives

There are 151 members of the House of Representatives, each one elected for a three-year term. Each member represents about 150,000 people living in an electorate. The boundaries of each electorate are often changed to keep the number of people in each electorate is the same. The size of each electorate can be very different. The electorate of Durack, in Western Australia, covers an area of 1.3 million square kilometres, while Wentworth in New South Wales is only 26 square kilometres.

The government is formed by the political party (or group of political parties) who have the most members in the House. The House is set out in the British style, even using the green colours of the House of Commons. The Speaker sits at the front; the members of the government sit on the seats to his right, and the opposition sits on the seats to his left. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, government ministers, and the shadow ministers, sit at a large table in the centre.

## Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the Australian Parliament. There are 76 members in the Senate. There are 12 senators for each Australian state, and 2 for each territory. The Senate makes and changes legislation. To become law, legislation must be passed by both houses and then be signed by the Governor-General.

The colours in the Australian Senate are red, as in the British House of Lords. The senators sit in a U shape around a central table. The head of the Senate, known as the President, sits at the head of the table. On their right are the government senators, and on their left the opposition. Senators from minor political parties and Independent senators sit at the bottom of the U shape.

## Related page

- Parliamentary procedure

## Other websites

- Parliament of Australia website

## Infobox (legislature)

- **background color**: #224C98
- **name**: Parliament of the Commonwealth
- **legislature**: 48th Parliament of Australia
- **coa pic**: Coat of Arms of Australia.svg
- **coa caption**: Commonwealth Coat of Arms
- **logo pic**: Parliament_House_at_dusk,_Canberra_ACT.jpg
- **logo caption**: Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament House
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Australia
- **house type**: Bicameralism, Bicameral
- **houses**: Australian Senate, Senate
Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives
- **leader1 type**: Monarchy of Australia, Monarch
- **leader1**: Charles III
- **leader2 type**: Governor-General of Australia, Governor-General
- **leader2**: Sam Mostyn
- **election2**: 1 July 2024
- **leader3**: Sue Lines
- **leader3 type**: President of the Senate (Australia), President of the Senate
- **party3**: Australian Labor Party, Labor
- **election3**: 26 July 2022
- **leader4 type**: Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, Speaker of the House of Representatives
- **leader4**: Milton Dick
- **party4**: Australian Labor Party, Labor
- **election4**: 26 July 2022
- **leader5 type**: Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister
- **leader5**: Anthony Albanese
- **party5**: Australian Labor Party, Labor
- **election5**: 23 May 2022
- **leader6 type**: Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition
- **leader6**: Sussan Ley
- **party6**: Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal
- **election6**: 13 May 2025
- **members**: 226 (76 Senators, 150 MPs)
- **house1**: Australian Senate, Senate
- **house2**: Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives
- **structure1**: File:2025 Australian Senate - Composition of Members.svg
- **structure1 res**: 250px
- **structure2**: File:Australian House of Representatives chart.svg
- **structure2 res**: 250px
- **term length**: Australian Senate, Senate: 6 years for state senators, 3 years for territory senators (fixed except under double dissolution)
Australian House of Representatives, House: 3 years (maximum)
- **voting system1**: Single transferable vote (proportional representation)
- **last election1**: 2025 Australian Senate election, 3 May 2025 (half)
- **next election1**: Next Australian federal election, On or before 20 May 2028 (half)
- **voting system2**: Optional preferential voting, Full Instant-runoff voting, preferential voting
- **last election2**: 2025 Australian federal election, 3 May 2025
- **next election2**: Next Australian federal election, On or before 23 September 2028
- **redistricting**: Redistribution (Australia), Redistributions at least every seven years by the Redistribution Committee
- **session room**: Australian Senate - Parliament of Australia.jpg
- **meeting place**: Senate Chamber
- **session room2**: Australian House of Representatives - Parliament of Australia.jpg
- **meeting place2**: House of Representatives Chamber