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Our parliament: 9. Presiding officers

9.1 Who are the Presiding Officers?

The presiding officers are members of parliament with the further title and role of President or Speaker. The President chairs meetings of the Senate, while the Speaker chairs meetings of the House of Representatives. Both are elected by fellow senators and members.

In addition, the President and Speaker are jointly responsible for the general running of Parliament House including security, maintenance, the parliamentary library, Hansard, and other essential services. Either separately or together, the presiding officers are involved in many ceremonial duties and often represent the Parliament of Australia at meetings in Australia and overseas.

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9.2 What does the President do?

The President chairs sittings of the Senate. The President makes sure that the rules of the Senate, called the standing orders, are followed and that order is maintained.

The President maintains the authority of the Senate, and protects its rights and privileges. The President is the spokesperson for the Senate in its relations with the House of Representatives, the Governor-General, the government, the courts and other parliaments and people.

The President does not usually take part in debates, but votes like other senators. This ensures that all states have equal representation when votes are taken. In the event of a tied vote, a question is 'resolved in the negative' (lost), because a majority has not been reached.

The current President of the Senate is Senator the Honourable John Hogg.

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9.3 How is the President elected?

The President is one of the current 76 senators of the Senate.

The President is elected on the first sitting day after 30 June following a Senate election. The Clerk of the Senate calls for nominations for the position of President. If only one senator is nominated the Senate calls that senator to be the President. If more than one senator is nominated the Clerk conducts a secret ballot. The current practice is that a single senator is nominated from the government to become President, and the opposition agrees not to contest the position. Sometimes minor parties do contest the position for President and a secret ballot follows.

In exchange for the opposition accepting the governing party's nominated senator as President, the government party agrees to an opposition senator being the Deputy President.

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9.4 Where did the title of President come from?

Although the title 'President' is derived from the United States of America's Congress (their legislature), the President of the Senate does not have the powers of an American President.

The role of the President of the Senate is different to that of presiding officers of upper houses in other countries, such as the Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom's House of Lords or the Speaker of the Senate in the Canadian upper house.

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9.5 What does the Speaker do?

The Speaker chairs sittings of the House of Representatives. The Speaker ensures that the rules of the House of Representatives, called standing orders, are followed and that order is maintained.

The Speaker maintains the authority of the House of Representatives and protects its rights and privileges. The Speaker is the spokesperson for the House of Representatives in its relations with the Senate, the Governor-General, the government, the courts and other parliaments and people.

The Speaker does not usually take part in debates or chamber votes. This ensures that the Speaker is impartial and does not favour the government, even though the Speaker is usually a member of the political party in government. The only time the Speaker casts a vote in the chamber is when the vote is tied. The Speaker then has a casting vote to break the deadlock.

The current Speaker of the House of Representatives is the Hon Mr Peter Slipper MP.

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9.6 How is the Speaker elected?

The Speaker is one of the current 150 members of the House of Representatives.

At the beginning of each new parliament following a federal election, one of the first tasks of the members of the House of Representatives is to choose a new Speaker. The Clerk of the House of Representatives calls for nominations to the position of Speaker. Usually there is only one nomination which comes from the party that has formed government. The House accepts this candidate without a vote. On other occasions the major political parties each nominate a candidate for Speaker and all members vote in a secret ballot for a candidate.

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9.7 Why is there a Speaker?

The office of Speaker is an ancient one dating back to 13th century England. Early English parliaments needed someone to speak to the monarch (ruling king or queen) about decisions made by the parliament. At that time the monarch was all-powerful and some Speakers were executed, murdered, imprisoned or expelled from office for speaking on behalf of the parliament.

The practice of having the Speaker escorted by the Serjeant-At-Arms with the Mace for protection stems from these times.

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9.8 Who are parliamentary officers?

Parliamentary officers carry out the routine work of the Parliament. Parliamentary officers are parliamentary servants who help senators and members carry out their duties in the chamber and on parliamentary committees.

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