DPS AUSPIC/Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
You are free to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work.
Attribution – you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
Non-commercial – you may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No derivative works – you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
The Australian Government is formed by the party or coalition of parties with the support of the majority – more than half – of members elected to the House of Representatives.
The government has many jobs including:
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
This diagram illustrates the role of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives: is where government is formed; decides matters of national interest; represents the interests of people in their electorates; proposes, debates and votes of bills and amendments; examines issues in committees; and scrutinises executive government.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
You are free to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work.
Attribution – you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
Non-commercial – you may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No derivative works – you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
The opposition is formed by the largest party or coalition of parties that are not in government. The opposition is sometimes called the alternative government.
The opposition has many jobs including:
Discover the role and work of the Australian House of Representatives with this introductory video.
Minor parties only have a small number of members elected to Parliament.
Independents are members of Parliament who don’t belong to a political party.
Sometimes, minor parties and independents are called the crossbench because they sit on the seats that curve around at the end of the Senate and House of Representatives.
I am a member of the House of Representatives chosen to run the meetings of the House.
My job is to:
I am the leader of the Australian Government. My party or coalition of parties has the support of the majority – more than half – of the members in the House of Representatives.
My job is to:
We are members of the Australian Government who have been given an area of responsibility – a portfolio – for how Australia is run. Some areas of responsibility are health, foreign affairs and the environment.
Our job is to:
We are members of the government who are not ministers.
Our job is to:
I am the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties that are not in government. I may become prime minister if my party gets the support of more than half of the members in the House of Representatives.
My job is to:
We are members of the opposition who have been given the responsibility of scrutinising – closely examining – the work of ministers. We also develop our own ideas for how Australia should be run.
If the opposition becomes the government, we may become ministers, so it is important we know about the government departments we are responsible for examining.
We are members of the opposition who are not shadow ministers.
Our job is to:
I help the Speaker of the House of Representatives run meetings of the House. I am an expert on the rules of the House. I work here but I am not an elected member of parliament.
My job is to:
I help the Clerk and the Speaker of the House of Representatives run meetings of the House. I am an expert on the rules of the House. I work here but I am not an elected member of parliament.
My job is to:
I am responsible for taking care of the Mace. I work here but I am not an elected member of parliament.
My job is to:
I am the symbol of authority of the House of Representatives and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. At the start of each day, the Serjeant-at-Arms carries me into the House and places me on the table. The House can only meet if I am in my place on the table.
We record what is said in Parliament. We work here but we are not elected members of parliament.
Our job is to:
We are journalists, photographers, camera people and researchers who report on Parliament. We work for different media organisations and have offices here in Parliament House.
Our job is to: