Inaugural holder Sir Richard Baker Deputy Senator Sue Lines | Formation 9 May 1901 | |
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Appointer Elected by the Australian Senate | ||
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, the House of Representatives, is the Speaker.
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The Australian Senate is modelled on the Senate of the United States and occupies a different position in the Australian Parliament from that of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Senate has always been a popularly elected body.
Since 7 July 2014, the President has been Stephen Parry (Lib, Tas). The Deputy President is Sue Lines (ALP, Vic).
Constitution provisions
Section 17 of the Constitution provides:
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.
Election
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.
The position of President has been disproportionately held by Senators representing the least populous states and territories. There have been 24 presidents of the Senate since 1901. Of these 15 have come from the least populous states (Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania) or the Australian Capital Territory, and 9 have come from the three most populous states (New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland).
Following the election of the Howard government at the 1996 election, Labor's Mal Colston became an independent MP and Deputy President of the Senate.
Impartiality
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.
Role
The President's principal duty is to preside over the Senate, to maintain order in the Senate, uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure) and protect the rights of backbench Senators. He or she is assisted by the Deputy President and a panel of Acting Deputy presidents, who usually preside during routine debates.
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.
The President, in conjunction with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also administers Parliament House, Canberra, with the assistance of administrative staff. The President has accountability obligations to the Parliament for the Department of the Senate.