By making the speakership a political gift of the party in power, Australia is missing a major opportunity for democratic renewal of its parliament.
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Articles on Parliament
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Britain looks set for another hung parliament after the May 7 election – a prospect that gets people surprisingly muddled. Australia could teach Britain’s leaders a lesson in caretaker governments.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made two key pledges in recent weeks – to begin “good government” and to no longer give “the benefit of doubt” to people suspected of planning terrorist activities in Australia…
While counting continues in the Queensland election, one possibility is a hung parliament with neither major party holding a majority. Prior to the election, both party leaders indicated that they would…
Barely 30 MPs showed up to the parliamentary debate on the delay of the Chilcot inquiry’s report. Yet, as I have explained before, there is much riding on the publication of this report on the UK’s involvement…
It’s not often that parliamentary procedure hits the headlines so the debate (if you can call it that) in the House of Commons about whether the UK would opt in to various parts of European legislation…
An article of faith in the Scottish independence debate has – quite rightly – been that it was for Scotland, and only Scotland, to decide whether it should remain part of the UK. But it is equally clear…
The vote, in the end, was decisive, with the Better Together campaign winning with 55% of ballots cast. As a Glaswegian living in Southampton, I’ve watched from afar, saddened not to be in my home nation…
Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has had the last laugh on the serious question of security at Australia’s Parliament. Earlier this year, security was slackened in a bid to save A$400,000. MPs’ staff and…
As the Chief Officer of the House of Commons, the speaker is well used to being in the spotlight. But in recent weeks, John Bercow has dominated the airwaves more than at any point since his election in…
Your common-law wife and husband do not exist. Next month will see the latest stage in the latest attempt to improve the legal standing for people that live together but choose not to marry. With nearly…
Almost all the politicians sworn in today for the new Parliament are much constrained, glued to the parties that put them there. That imposes disciplines at multiple levels. Clive Palmer, as he showed…
The Coalition will introduce its draft bill to repeal the Clean Energy Act into parliament next week. The bill would effectively remove the current carbon tax and its planned replacement, an emissions…
If you believe the recent media reports about the composition of the Senate from July 1 next year, you’d think we were facing three years of the Clive Palmer’s Palmer United Party (PUP) “bloc” holding…
With the end of each parliament there inevitably comes a series of announcements that particular parliamentarians will not be contesting the next election. Usually, these decisions are justified by the…
The federal government has announced that it will gag debate on 53 bills in the Senate next week. One of them, the proposed constitutional amendment on the recognition of local government, is to be limited…
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has confirmed he plans to move a motion of no confidence against Julia Gillard’s government in the next two parliamentary sitting weeks. But in the event a no confidence motion…
A casual vacancy in the Victorian Legislative Council has now been filled. The replacement member for the Western Metropolitan Region in the upper house, union official Cesar Melhem, enters Victorian parliament…
Malcolm Turnbull’s call to change Question Time is admirable. He has proposed looking to the British system, where the Prime Minister is only required to answer questions one day a week, giving other ministers…
The Education Office of the Western Australian State Parliament introduces students to the “real world” of politics and policy making though an internship program. The parliamentary internship looks a…
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Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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Professor emerita, University of Sydney
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Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Public Procurement, Bangor University
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Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Senior Professorial Lecturer, Co-Director Transatlantic Policy Center, American University School of International Service
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Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Manchester
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Associate Professor, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Stirling
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Professor of Global Legal Studies, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
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Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong
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Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University
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Associate Professor of Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin University
