The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia,the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia,the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 senators:12 are elected from each of the six Australian states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two self-governing internal Australian territories. Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.
The Parliament of Australia is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Australia. It consists of three elements:the monarch,the Senate and the House of Representatives. The combination of two elected chambers,in which the members of the Senate represent the states and territories while the members of the House represent electoral divisions according to population,is modelled on the United States Congress. Through both chambers,however,there is a fused executive,drawn from the Westminster system.
Bruce Fredrick Billson is an Australian former politician. A member of the Liberal Party,he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2016 and held ministerial office in the Howard,Abbott and Turnbull governments as Minister for Veterans' Affairs (2007) and Minister for Small Business (2013–2015).
Eric Abetz is a German-born Australian former politician who was a Senator for Tasmania from 1994 to 2022,representing the Liberal Party. He was the Minister for Employment and the Leader of the Government in the Senate in the Abbott government from 2013 to 2015. He previously also served as Special Minister of State in the Howard government from 2001 to 2006 and as Minister for Fisheries,Forestry and Conservation from 2006 to 2007.
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure,it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature,a spiritual penalty imposed by a church,or a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition. It is usually non-binding,unlike a motion of no confidence.
Richard Mansell Colbeck is an Australian politician. He has been a Senator for Tasmania since 2018,representing the Liberal Party,and served a previous term in the Senate from 2002 to 2016. Colbeck served as the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services and Minister for Sport in the Second Morrison Ministry from December 2020 until May 2022,following the appointment of the Albanese ministry. Previous to this,he was the Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Youth and Sport since May 2019.
Marise Ann Payne is an Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1997 until 2023,representing the Liberal Party. She held senior ministerial office in Coalition governments between 2013 and 2022,including as Minister for Defence (2015–2018) and Minister for Foreign Affairs (2018–2022).
The Libertarian Party,formerly known as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),is an Australian political party founded in Canberra in 2001. The party espouses smaller government and supports policies that are based on classical liberal,libertarian principles,such as lower taxes,opposing restrictions on civil liberties,decentralisation,utilising nuclear energy,and the relaxation of smoking laws.
The committees of the Australian Senate are committees of Senators,established by the Australian Senate,for purposes determined by that body. Senate committees are part of the operation of the Australian parliament,and have for some decades been involved in maintenance of government accountability to the Australian parliament,particularly through hearings to scrutinise the budget,and through public inquiries on policy questions.
John Francis Ryan is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1991 to 2007. He was the Liberal Deputy Leader in the Legislative Council from 2003 to 2007.
Sarah Coral Hanson-Young is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since July 2008,representing the Australian Greens. She is the youngest woman to be elected to federal parliament,winning election at the age of 25 and taking office at the age of 26. She was the youngest person ever elected to the Senate,until Jordon Steele-John was elected in 2017.
Simon John Birmingham is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since 2007. A member of the Liberal Party,he served in the Morrison government as Minister for Finance from 2020 to 2022 and as Minister for Trade,Tourism and Investment from 2018 to 2020. He previously served as Minister for Education and Training in the Turnbull government from 2015 to 2018,and as a parliamentary secretary and assistant minister in the Abbott government.
The 40th Canadian Parliament was in session from November 18,2008 to March 26,2011. It was the last Parliament of the longest-running minority government in Canadian history that began with the previous Parliament. The membership of its House of Commons was determined by the results of the 2008 federal election held on October 14,2008. Its first session was then prorogued by the Governor General on December 4,2008,at the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper,who was facing a likely no-confidence motion and a coalition agreement between the Liberal party and the New Democratic Party with the support of the Bloc Québécois. Of the 308 MPs elected at the October 14,2008 general election,64 were new to Parliament and three sat in Parliaments previous to the 39th:John Duncan,Jack Harris and Roger Pomerleau.
Alan Joseph Missen was an Australian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served as a Senator for Victoria from 1974 until his death in 1986. He was known as a leader of the party's social liberal wing.
Dean Anthony Smith is an Australian politician and Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since 2012,representing Western Australia.
David Ean Leyonhjelm is an Australian former politician. He was a Senator for New South Wales,representing the Liberal Democratic Party from 2014 to 2019. Having been elected at the 2013 federal election,he took office on 1 July 2014,and was re-elected in the 2016 full Senate election. He resigned from the Senate in March 2019 to stand for the Legislative Council at the 2019 New South Wales state election,but failed to be elected. Before being elected to federal parliament,Leyonhjelm worked as a veterinarian and then as an agribusiness consultant. He also writes columns for several Australian publications,with a concentration on rural issues.
Christopher John Crewther is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from 2016 to 2019 before being elected to the Victorian State Parliament,representing the division of Mornington in 2022.
The history of same-sex marriage in Australia includes its express prohibition by the Howard government in 2004 and its eventual legalisation by the Parliament in December 2017. Although a same-sex marriage law was passed by the Australian Capital Territory in 2013,it was struck down by the High Court on the basis of inconsistency with federal law. The Court's decision closed the possibility of concurrent state or territory laws that would allow same-sex marriage where federal law did not. A law legalising same-sex marriage passed the Parliament on 7 December 2017 and received royal assent the following day.
David Van is an Australian politician. He was elected as a member of the Liberal Party and was sworn in as a federal senator representing the state of Victoria on 1 July 2019.
