The Richard Baker Senate Essay Prize
The Richard Baker Senate Essay Prize, named in honour of the first President of the Australian Senate, is a prize awarded annually to the best student essay in each state and territory on a topic that promotes knowledge of the Australian Senate and its work.
Entries for the 2009 Prize have now closed, but the Prize will be offered again next year, so look out for the new topic in early 2010.
Useful resources about the Senate
Information about the role of the Senate can be found at:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/ pubs/index.htm
Senate briefs on a number of topics and issues:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/ pubs/briefs/index.htm
Senate Brief: No 4 Senate Committees
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/ pubs/briefs/brief04.htm
Senate Brief: No 5 Consideration of Estimates by the Senate's Legislation Committees
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/ pubs/briefs/brief05.htm
Senate Brief: No 8 The Senate and Legislation
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/ pubs/briefs/brief08.htm
Odgers' Australian Senate Practice - Twelfth Edition [Full description]
A detailed reference work on all aspects of the Senate's powers, procedures and practices
Richard Chaffey Baker,
First President of the Senate
(9 May 1901 to 31 December 1906)
Sir Richard Baker had a profound influence on the creation, founding and early development of the Senate, both as a framer of the Constitution, and as the presiding officer of the Senate during its earliest formative years.
At the federal Convention of 1897/8, where he was a powerful advocate of a new constitutional order for the Australian Commonwealth, he argued for a Senate that was a 'strong, a powerful, and a living house ...' which would be an equal partner with the House of Representatives in the consideration and review of legislation.
In the first federal parliament, as President of the Senate, Baker continued to assert the power and independence of the Senate. This tradition of independence and originality has been a model for subsequent presidents.