From Parliament in the Twenty-first Century (Halligan, J., & Informit. 2007. Parliament in the Twenty-First Century Institutional Reform and Emerging Roles. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Publishing.):
- in the 20th C the rise of disciplined parties (rather than individuals) meant individual politicians now represented their party rather than the concerns of their constituents
- generally the Westminster system has changed in the 20th C as much of the business of the chamber has been transfered to small groups of Members siting as committees. This has the effect of:
- reducing overload in the chamber
- less partisan discussion of matters as committees are made of Members from all parties
- individual Members can make a more concrete contribution
- easier communication with citizens
From "The Australian System of Government" & "The House Government and Opposition" & "The Constitution" & "Committees" (retrieved from http://www.aph.gov.au/publications/index.htm)
- in the Australian system there are three powers:
- legislative
- parliament
- the Queen (represented by the Governor-General)
- house of representatives
- states are represented by Members proportionate to the state's population
- senate
- minority partys have greater power
- each state is represented by equal numbers in the senate
- both house of reps and senate have to agree to pass a law (an "act of parliament")
- parliament authorises the executive to spend public money on proposals
- is a forum for debate
- committees formed from groups of Members and Senators
- investigative powers
- get feedback from citizens
- made of members of a mixture of partys and generally agree
- "take parliament to the people"
- inform the government on issues
- executive
- party with the majority of members in the house of representatives makes up the executive government
- make up the cabinet (ministers and prime-minister)
- responsible to the parliament
- members taken from the parliament
- needs majority support from the parliament to stay in power
- judicial
- high court and other federal courts
- rules as to whether something the government does complies with the constitution
- rules on interpretations of the constitution
- constitution can only be changed by a referendum
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| http://www.peo.gov.au/students/cl/aph.html |
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