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Get the latest on Australia's federal Parliament

Today's Parliament is the 43^rd to be elected since Federation in 1901. It was officially opened on 28 September 2010 following the federal election held on 21 August 2010.

The Parliament is made up of 226 parliamentarians – 150 members in the House of Representatives and 76 senators in the Senate.

According to section 28 of the Australian Constitution, elections for the House of Representatives must be held at least every three years. The latest possible date for the next federal election is Saturday, 30 November 2013. Half-Senate elections are usually held at the same time as House of Representatives elections.

Generally, the government is formed by the party or coalition of parties that has a majority in the House of Representatives. After the election in August 2010, neither of the two main political parties won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. The government was subsequently formed after the Australian Labor Party reached an agreement with Independents, Rob Oakeshott MP, Tony Windsor MP, Andrew Wilkie MP and minority party representative, Adam Bandt MP. This situation is called a 'minority government'.

Today's parliament looks like this: