Explain how the concept of power is relevant to the study of the legislature
The ability to exercise power stems from the ability to win a majority of seats
Identify 2 claimed limits to cabinet power
procedures of house allow for non-government business like PMB’s
Senate as a powerful house of review
Legislation function, theory
- statutory process which is scrutinized
- diverse input
- bills can be put forward by any member
- follows ordered and logical stages
Legislation function, practice
- legislates efficiently
- debate is limited due to gags etc
- executive dominance of the HoR may compromise the scrutiny of Bills and diversity of democratic input of the House’s legislating function
What are three ways debate can be limitted
gag-notion to vote so debate ceases Eg. 2015 Marriage amendment Bill was voted by the gov. to have it’s debate postponed indefinately
guillotine-notion to cease debate at a certain time
flood gating- releasing many bills at the same time
Responsibility function, theory
- gov only exists if it has support of the lower house
- ministers can be dismissed through censure motion
- ministers must answer question in question time
- gov spending scrutinised
- parliament has select committees that have a powerful investigative capacity
Responsibility, practice
- gov never loses support of lower house (party discipline)
- censure motions will always be defeated
- conventions of ministerial responsibility are not effective in practice
Example of a successful censure motion
2015, Senator George Brandis was subject to successful censure motion moved by Penny Wong when he tried to get Human Rights Commissioner to resign
Representation, theory
Delegate representation- people elect delegate who relay their electorates interests and concerns to parliament
Trustee-where people elect a member to make judgements for their electorates best interests
Sovereign State Interest- Senate represents all states equally
Representation, practice
partisan- strong party discipline means that members represent their parties interests, not their electorate
Eg. Dr Sharman Stone openly spoke against the government in 2014 for the closure of a fruit canning business in her electorate
Mirror-The senate tends to more accurately mirror the demographic diversity of society than HoR
Debate, theory
- number of opportunities for debate (Grievances, urgency motions etc)
- Parliamentary privilege protects debate and creates ultimate free speech (cannot be abused)
Debate, practice
- gov can restrict opportunities for debate
- debate types are diminished when gov. priorities it;s own business
- gags guillotines etc
- in the house debate is very adversarial and usually amounts to nothing due to media presence
- debate in committees however is much less adversarial and more effective
- debate is more effective in Senate due to lack of executive dominance
What is the decline of parliament thesis?
Essentially that the failure of parliament to live up to its theoretically ideal functions indicates that it is in decline
How has the representative function declined
- party discipline stops trustee and delegate representation (partisan)
- majoritarian electoral system results in a predominantly 2 party lower house
How has the legislative function declined
- the dominance of the political executive prevents PMB’s etc
- Dominance of exec. guarantees the passage of gov. legislation as well as flood gating etc
How has the responsibility function declined
- overwhelming dominance of executive over HoR
- ability to create standing orders (Eg. rules about question time)
- dominance causes less strict convention on the individual and collective accountability
How has the debating function declined
- gag’s and guillotine reduce capacity for debate
- majoritarian electoral system that creates a lack of diversity in HoR
