REFLECTIONS ON PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT
REFLECTIONS ON PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT As the two Presiding Officers of the Australian Federal Parliament both retire, they reflect on the challenges and privileges of their roles in Parliament. Of the many changes in the Australian Parliament since the onset of the pandemic, two sets of doors left open to reduce contact with surfaces is unremarkable. But for the past 18 months, on sitting days, this arrangement has provided the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate in the Australian Federal Parliament each with a direct line of sight, from his Chair, along the east-west ‘legislative’ axis of the building straight into the Chamber of his counterpart. The Presiding Officers face each other, though at a distance of 163 metres and with the Members’ Hall in between, the business of ‘the other place’ blending into the backdrop: the red ochre hues of the Senate, and the eucalyptus grey-green of the House. Within these walls, the 46th Parliament of Australia is drawing to a close, and it will be the final one for the Speaker, Hon. Tony Smith MP, and the President, Senator Hon. Scott Ryan. Earlier this year,
“The Presiding Officers face each other, though at a distance of 163 metres and with the Members’ Hall in between, the business of ‘the other place’ blending into the backdrop: the red ochre hues of the Senate, and the eucalyptus grey-green of the House.”
both Presiding Officers announced their intention to retire from the Parliament at the next election, and in late September 2021, the President said he would bring this forward, deciding not to return when Parliament resumed on 18 October for the final sitting weeks of 2021. Members of the governing Liberal Party, the two are highly regarded, on all sides, as true Parliamentarians with an unwavering respect for the institution of Parliament. In recent times, the pandemic has added complexity to the roles of the Presiding Officers who, under the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988, have management and control of the parliamentary precincts. “As a team,” the Speaker says, “the amount of time and consideration we’ve given to Chamber activities has been transformed by Coronavirus and that has been very, very important in terms of enabling the House to keep sitting, which is vital.” Paying tribute to the efforts of the two Presiding Officers, the Prime Minister of Australia, Rt Hon. Scott Morrison MP, said that “Together, they have worked through complex legal and jurisdictional issues and ensured that the Parliament has been able to function freely.” The Speaker and the President, who have known each other for over 30 years, have a close relationship. They share an extensive knowledge of, and interest in, history and politics. Both are alumni of the University of Melbourne, where each held the position of President of the Melbourne University Liberal Club, six years apart. Prior to entering Parliament, both had worked as researchers at the Institute of Public Affairs, a Melbourne-based independent public policy think-tank, and both were on the staff of the former Treasurer, Hon. Peter Costello – the Speaker as his senior political adviser from 1998 to 2001 and as his media adviser for the eight years prior to that. The President had also worked as a senior adviser (to the
Fleur Hall is works at the Department of the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament and is a regular contributor to The Parliamentarian. Read her regular Parliamentary Report and Third Reading reports on pages 421-423.
398 | The Parliamentarian | 2021: Issue Four | 100 years of publishing
