About The House - Australian House Of Representatives

We're bringing the #Fridayquiz to Facebook! This week, we saw some movement in the Chamber with some Members moving to different roles. But why is it so? Who is responsible for choosing where Members sit?
The Members themselves The Speaker The Clerk... Party Whips
Leave your answer in the comments, and we'll post the correct answer at 4.30pm AEST. Be in it to win it!
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#30yearsAPH – In October of 2014, the House adjourned early as mark of respect to the memory of the late Gough Whitlam. Two years later, the electorate of Throsby was renamed Whitlam in honour of Australia's 21st Prime Minister. Incidentally, this portrait of Whitlam won the 1972 Archibald Prize. Whitlam liked his friend's portrait so much he asked Parliament to purchase it instead of commissioning a new portrait. Image credit: Clifton Pugh (1924-1990) The Hon. Edward Gough W...hitlam AC QC, 1972 Oil on masonite Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection
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What would you say?
Imagine you have just been elected to Parliament and now it's time for your first speech in the House of Representatives Chamber. All your family, friends and colleagues are watching… not to mention the entire nation.
This nationwide competition is open to all Australian students enrolled in years 10 to 12. Entries close 19 October 2018.
... First, second and third place winners will be flown to Canberra with a parent or guardian to present their speech lives at Parliament House.
Find out more: http://www.aph.gov.au/myfirstspeech
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Speaker of the House, the Hon Tony Smith MP - Federal Member for Casey, has announced that a by-election will be held in the division of Wentworth on Saturday 20 October. The by-election follows the resignation of the Hon Malcolm Turnbull. If you live in Wentworth, the electoral roll closes on Monday 24 September. Check or update your enrolment with the AEC - Australian Electoral Commission here:

The sitting week marches on, with the House meeting at 9.30am today. What's on the agenda today? Find out with the Daily Program at aph.gov.au/House

The House sits today from 12pm, with Tuesday mornings set aside for party room meetings. Here's today's Daily Program, featuring the resumption of debate on the Family Law Amendment (Family Violence and Cross-examination of Parties) Bill 2018 and the Modern Slavery Bill 2018.

The Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples has tabled an interim report. We joined Committee Co-Charis Mr Julian Leeser MP and Senator Patrick Dodson to discuss what the Committee has learned so far, and the work yet to be done.

A roundup of events in the House, time running out for feedback on Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, and we get to the bottom of how and why the Speaker allocates the call. A fully loaded About the House Newsletter is just hours away from your inbox! If you're not subscribed, it's not too late. Visit aph.gov.au/athnewsletter and sign up before 3pm to avoid missing out.

Good morning and welcome to a new sitting week in the House. Members will meet at 10am today, with the morning set aside for Private Members' Business. You can read the full Daily Program, as well as follow the Live Minutes, on ParlWork at parlwork.aph.gov.au/House

#ICYMI, House Review is published at the end of each sitting period and recaps any procedurally noteworthy events in the Chamber. You can read the latest edition, covering the 13-23 August sitting fortnight, here:

#30yearsAPH – in 2013, Prime Minister Julia Gillard was replaced by Kevin Rudd. The Government under Mr Rudd is ultimately defeated by the Coalition under Tony Abbott at that year’s general election. Here are some shots from the opening of the 44th Parliament on 12 November.

Spring is here! An interesting feature of the parliamentary sitting calendar is that we break a year into autumn, winter and spring sitting periods, but they extend a bit further than the actual seasons. We've been in the spring sitting since August, but next week will be the first spring sitting to actually happen in spring. At Parliament House, spring is known for two things - magpies and bogong moths (the magpies love to eat the bogongs). Here's a shot taken by Auspic snapper David Foote during the last sitting fortnight - a magpie waiting to speak to the media at the House of Representatives doors. See the full sitting calendar at: www.aph.gov.au/calendar

It's a #30yearsAPH double feature! In November of 2011, Members and Senators met in the House of Representatives to hear from visiting US President Barack Obama. In 2012, Speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper stood down and was replaced by Australia’s second female Speaker, Anna Burke.

This week's newsletter covers the events of last week in Parliament, the launch of a brand new edition of House of Representatives Practice, and a review of the House's petitioning system. We also examine the origin of a word heard around parliament that doesn't describe anything that happens in the Chamber. What is a 'spill'? Subscribe to find out.

#30yearsAPH – 2010 saw the appointment of Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who replaced Kevin Rudd. The subsequent election resulted in a hung parliament, with Labor ultimately retaining government in minority with the support of cross bench MPs.

Could someone please tell Malcolm Turnbull to stop wasting tax-payers money by not doing anything useful, where he instead blames others, yells and looks unbelievably smug during Parliament and his 'career' as our PM; and for him to *finally* do the job that we pay him to do (and do things that he inferred he would do when he was under Tony Abbott, and pre-Abbott) - to actually run Australia for *all* Australians? Not just behave like a puppet of the right-wing hateful Australian population, and a 'wanna-be' Tony Abbott.



We had so much faith in you Malcolm Turnbull. Do you care that many of us have lost our faith in you?



For yet another politician with a mega-ego, you'd think that Turnbull would *want* to be remembered for good/useful things in Australian history, not just someone who does nothing he *originally* inferred and promised, and who, instead, is just full of hot-air, bluff and self-importance. I wonder if, when Turnbull is no longer our PM, he will be able to look back and truly admit to himself that he did do any of the things he promised/inferred, or that he was happy just to be a puppet of 'the dark-side' of his party?



Isn't it a pity that we can't fire Members of Parliament if they don't pass a three-month probationary period in a new job, like us 'mere mortals' who need to be concerned about such conditions of employment. We pay them, we should be able to fire them; not just need to wait until they can be voted out (after they've done much destruction to our country). Perhaps, if our politicians did have that condition to consider, then they would spend more time running our country properly.



Shame, Turnbull, Shame*. (*shame, also, to the other people in his party who also spend way too much time looking smug, self-important, who constantly yell, blame, and twist truths; who are all an extremely bad example to our children, rather than be politicians who actually do a *useful* job for *all* Australians, and who don't brown-nose the wealthy and unethical within our population to harbour ingenuine votes).

Could someone please tell Malcolm Turnbull to stop wasting tax-payers money by not doing anything useful, where he instead blames others, yells and looks unbelievably smug during Parliament and his 'career' as our PM; and for him to *finally* do the job that we pay him to do (and do things that he inferred he would do when he was under Tony Abbott, and pre-Abbott) - to actually run Australia for *all* Australians? Not just behave like a puppet of the right-wing hateful Australian population, and a 'wanna-be' Tony Abbott.



We had so much faith in you Malcolm Turnbull. Do you care that many of us have lost our faith in you?



For yet another politician with a mega-ego, you'd think that Turnbull would *want* to be remembered for good/useful things in Australian history, not just someone who does nothing he *originally* inferred and promised, and who, instead, is just full of hot-air, bluff and self-importance. I wonder if, when Turnbull is no longer our PM, he will be able to look back and truly admit to himself that he did do any of the things he promised/inferred, or that he was happy just to be a puppet of 'the dark-side' of his party?



Isn't it a pity that we can't fire Members of Parliament if they don't pass a three-month probationary period in a new job, like us 'mere mortals' who need to be concerned about such conditions of employment. We pay them, we should be able to fire them; not just need to wait until they can be voted out (after they've done much destruction to our country). Perhaps, if our politicians did have that condition to consider, then they would spend more time running our country properly.



Shame, Turnbull, Shame*. (*shame, also, to the other people in his party who also spend way too much time looking smug, self-important, who constantly yell, blame, and twist truths; who are all an extremely bad example to our children, rather than be politicians who actually do a *useful* job for *all* Australians, and who don't brown-nose the wealthy and unethical within our population to harbour ingenuine votes).