Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. As the principal authority of the House, the Speaker plays a pivotal constitutional, procedural, and symbolic role in maintaining order, upholding the rules of debate, and representing the House in its relations with the Crown, the Senate, and external institutions both domestically and internationally.

The position of Speaker, derived from the Westminster parliamentary tradition, was established by Section 35 of the Australian Constitution, which provides that the House must, as its first order of business following an election, choose one of its own Members to serve as Speaker. The Speaker holds office at the pleasure of the House and remains in place until they resign, are replaced by a vote, or cease to be a Member.

While the Speaker is typically drawn from the governing party or coalition, and often retains formal party membership, the expectation is that upon election to the Speakership, the Member assumes a strictly impartial posture in the Chair. The Speaker refrains from political debate, abstains from voting (except in the case of a tie, where they exercise a casting vote), and withdraws from active participation in party deliberations. In this role, the Speaker becomes the ultimate arbiter of Standing Orders, conventions, and discipline within the House chamber.

The Speaker’s responsibilities encompass:

 Presiding over debates, ensuring proceedings are conducted in an orderly, lawful, and respectful manner in accordance with the Standing Orders;
 Interpreting and enforcing parliamentary rules, including the naming and suspension of disorderly Members under Standing Order 94A;
 Certifying the passage of bills and communications to the Governor-General, the Senate, and other constitutional officers;
 Chairing the Standing Committee on Procedure, and providing procedural advice to Members and Committees;
 Representing the House at ceremonial occasions, including the State Opening of Parliament and international parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The Speaker is supported in their duties by the Clerk of the House of Representatives and other officers of the Department of the House of Representatives, including Deputy Speakers, the Serjeant-at-Arms, and procedural advisors. The office also has statutory responsibilities under the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988, including shared oversight of parliamentary security and decorum within the chamber.

 Incumbent Speaker 
As of July 2025, the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives is the Honourable Milton Dick MP, a member of the Australian Labor Party representing the Division of Oxley in Queensland. He was elected as the 32nd Speaker of the House on 26 July 2022, at the commencement of the 47th Parliament, following Labor’s victory in the 2022 federal election.

Mr Dick, who entered Parliament in 2016, previously served as Manager of Opposition Business in the House and was known for his experience in party organisation and public communications. Since assuming the Speakership, he has been noted for his firm but respectful command of the Chamber, his commitment to the accessibility and integrity of parliamentary processes, and his outreach to younger Australians to promote civic engagement and trust in democratic institutions.

Under Speaker Dick’s tenure, the House has seen strengthened enforcement of Standing Orders, greater support for Members with respect to procedural advice and broadcasting reforms, and a renewed focus on parliamentary education initiatives. He is also a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and represents the House at international legislative forums and official ceremonies.

Election

The speaker is elected by the House of Representatives in a secret ballot. The Clerk of the Australian House of Representatives holds the election. There must always be a speaker, and if the position becomes vacant, then an election must take place before the parliament can do anything else.

In Australia the speaker generally remains an active member of their party. They continue to attend party meetings, and at general elections they stand as party candidates. However, Sir Frederick Holder and Peter Slipper resigned from their parties and sat as independents.

The speaker can be opposed at a general election.  Three speakers, Groom in 1929, Nairn in 1943 and Aston in 1972 have been defeated at general elections. Because the speaker is always a member of the governing party, they have not continued as speaker following a change of government. The opposition sometimes selects one of its own members for speaker after a general election. This is a symbolic act, and the governing party always supports its own candidates.

Speakers do not have to resign from Parliament at the end of their term. Two speakers, Makin and Scholes, have become cabinet ministers after having been speaker.

Most speakers have been long serving party members. Four speakers have been former government ministers Watt, Groom, Cameron and Sinclair. Martin had been a former parliamentary secretary. Snedden had been both a former minister and Leader of the Opposition.  Holder and Watt were former state premiers.

Origin
The name "speaker" comes from early times in the House of Commons of England. "Mr Speaker" was the Member of Parliament chosen to speak for them to the king. The first recorded use of the term "speaker" was in 1377.

In earlier times when the king was very powerful, he would usually only call the parliament together in order to get it to agree to new taxes. The speaker would report parliament’s decisions to the king. This was dangerous if it was not what the king wanted to hear. It was not uncommon for early speakers to be beheaded, with another being "murdered".  This has led to the modern symbolic show of refusal by a member on being elected speaker. In early days a member’s struggle to avoid being forced into the chair could have been completely genuine. In Australia the tradition is continued by the act of the new speaker being escorted to the chair.

Role
The Speaker's main duty is to be the person in charge of the House. The Speaker is helped by two Deputy Speakers and a group of Acting Speakers. The second Deputy Speaker is elected from an opposition party. These often take charge during routine debates. The Speaker's role is to:
 keep order in the House
 uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure) 
 rule on points of order
 protect the rights of backbench members. 
 be in charge of Parliament House, with the President of the Senate.

Australian parliaments can be very noisy and often members behave badly. The Speaker has powers to control their behaviour as part of the Standing Orders. The Speaker can tell a Member to leave the House for one hour. For more serious offences, the Speaker may "name" a Member. The Speaker will say "I name the Honourable Member for X." In Parliament Members are always called by the name of their electorate. The House then votes on a motion to remove the Member for 24 hours. The House also had the power to permanently expel a Member. This happened once to Hugh Mahon in 1920. In 1987 a new law was passed and Members can no longer be expelled from the Parliament.

Impartiality
Australian speakers are supposed to be impartial; they are meant to be fair and not to take sides in arguments. They do not take part in debates and they do not usually vote, unless in a rare case the vote is tied. They do not speak out in public about party politics except as part of their own election campaign.

Although not an active political position, the speakers see it as part of their duty to get the government's legislation passed through the house. They usually agree with the government on points of order brought up by opposition members. If the members are unhappy with the speaker they can try to pass motions of dissent, or even of no confidence. These are nearly always defeated as members vote to support their party. 

There have been several famous clashes between speakers and the government.

In 1929 Speaker Sir Littleton Groom would not come come into the house and vote. His vote would have saved the Bruce government from defeat. 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 Jim Cope when he named government minister Clyde Cameron. Normally the minister would have been suspended. The speaker resigned on the spot. This is the only occasion on which a government failed to support a speaker after a member had been named.
In 1982 Speaker Sir Billy Snedden refused to make Bob Hawke take back his claim 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.

In 2011, the Speaker Harry Jenkins survived after the house did not support his decision to name Liberal MP Bob Baldwin. The government moved that Baldwin be suspended, but he was supported by the Coalition, independent MP Rob Oakeshott and WA Nationals MP Tony Crook. The vote on suspending Baldwin for 24 hours failed 71–72. Normally the speaker would have resigned, but the House of Representatives immediately approved a motion of confidence in the speaker which was passed. Speaker Jenkins continued in office.Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 31 May 2011, 5286–86.

Independent and non-government speakers
There have been speakers who were not members of the government. Former LNP member Peter Slipper became an independent when the Labor government offered him the job in 2011. Frederick Holder was elected for the Free Trade Party at the first federal election in 1901. He resigned from the party and was an independent speaker until his death in 1909.  After the 1940 election, the United Australia Party's Walter Nairn was speaker during the John Curtin's Labor government that was formed in 1941. Opposition MP Carty Salmon was the speaker for Andrew Fisher's Labor government  after the 1910 election. At the 1913 election, Labor's Charles McDonald was asked to remain as speaker by the incoming one-seat-majority Commonwealth Liberal Party. He refused but became speaker again after Labor won the 1914 election. McDonald stayed in the job even when the Nationalist Party took government.

Benefits
A member who is elected speaker is given the title 'The Honourable'. With the approval of the sovereign, this title can be used for life. It is usually only given to those who have served as speaker for three years or more. Harry Jenkins, was the first speaker to ask that "The Hon." not be used for him.

Copying the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, the traditional dress of the speaker is court dress. This can include a black silk gown (similar to a Queen's Counsel gown), a wing collar and a lace jabot or bands (another variation included a white bow tie with a lace jabot), bar jacket, and a full-bottomed wig. The wig used by the speaker was donated by Herbert 'Doc' Evatt when he was elected to the House in 1951. He had worn the wig when he was a High Court justice (1930–1940). The wig is currently on loan from the speaker's office to the Museum of Australian Democracy. On formal occasions they may also wear court shoes and hose. The dress of speakers has often changes according to the party in power, but it is the personal choice of the speaker. All Labor party speakers have worn business suits, following the example set by their first speaker, Charles McDonald.

The speaker, currently, no longer wears the full traditional dress. Billy Snedden (1976–1983) was the last speaker to do so. The Labor practice resumed from 1983 until the election of the Howard Government in 1996. The new speaker Bob Halverson chose to wear the court dress of the speaker upon his election in April 1996, but without the wig.Commonwealth Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives , 30 April 1996, 7. Speaker Ian Sinclair chose to wear normal business clothes during his brief term in 1998. However speakers Andrew and Hawker brought back the wearing of the silk gown. Speaker Jenkins resumed Labor practice from 2007 until the election of Peter Slipper in late 2011. Speaker Slipper wore traditional dress with a white long tie or bow tie. He wore a wing collar with white bow tie and bands on the occasion of his first formal procession into parliament. Speaker Burke returned to the Labor practice of wearing normal business clothes.

List of speakers

 # Name Party State  Term start Term end 1  Frederick Holder    Independent  South Australia  9 May 1901  23 July 1909 2  Carty Salmon    Commonwealth Liberal  Victoria  28 July 1909  19 February 1910 3  Charles McDonald    Labor  Queensland  1 July 1910  23 April 1913 4  Elliot Johnson    Commonwealth Liberal  New South Wales  9 July 1913  30 July 1914 3  Charles McDonald    Labor  Queensland  8 October 1914  26 March 1917 4  Elliot Johnson    Nationalist  New South Wales  14 June 1917  6 November 1922 5  William Watt    Nationalist  Victoria  28 February 1923  3 October 1925 6  Littleton Groom    Nationalist  Queensland  13 January 1926  16 September 1929 7  Norman Makin    Labor  South Australia  20 November 1929  27 November 1931 8  George Mackay    United Australia  Queensland  17 February 1932  7 August 1934 9  George Bell    United Australia  Tasmania  23 October 1934  27 August 1940 10  Walter Nairn    United Australia  Western Australia  20 November 1940  21 June 1943 11  Sol Rosevear    Labor  New South Wales  22 June 1943  31 October 1949 12  Archie Cameron    Liberal  South Australia  22 February 1950  9 August 1956 13  John McLeay    Liberal  South Australia  29 August 1956  31 October 1966 14  William Aston    Liberal  New South Wales  21 February 1967  2 November 1972 15  Jim Cope    Labor  New South Wales  27 February 1973  27 February 1975 16  Gordon Scholes    Labor  Victoria  27 February 1975  11 November 1975 17  Billy Snedden    Liberal  Victoria  17 February 1976  4 February 1983 18  Harry Jenkins Sr.    Labor  Victoria  21 April 1983  20 December 1985 19  Joan Child    Labor  Victoria  11 February 1986  28 August 1989 20  Leo McLeay    Labor  New South Wales  29 August 1989  8 February 1993 21  Stephen Martin    Labor  New South Wales  4 May 1993  29 January 1996 22  Bob Halverson    Liberal  Victoria  30 April 1996  3 March 1998 23  Ian Sinclair    National  New South Wales  4 March 1998  31 August 1998 24  Neil Andrew    Liberal  South Australia  10 November 1998  31 August 2004 25  David Hawker    Liberal  Victoria  16 November 2004  17 October 2007 26  Harry Jenkins Jr.    Labor  Victoria  12 February 2008  24 November 2011 27  Peter Slipper    Independent  Queensland  24 November 2011  9 October 2012 28  Anna Burke    Labor  Victoria  9 October 2012  12 November 2013 29  Bronwyn Bishop    Liberal  New South Wales  12 November 2013  2 August 2015 30  Tony Smith    Liberal  Victoria  10 August 2015  23 November 2021 31  Andrew Wallace    Liberal  Queensland  23 November 2021  26 July 2022  32  Milton Dick    Labor  Queensland  26 July 2022  incumbent 

References

Category:Government of Australia
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