Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Parliaments of Australia
Scrutiny or accountability
Another important function of the parliament is scrutinising the policies and
actions of the government of the day. This role is largely facilitated through an
adversarial process whereby the lower house recognises an official opposition that
puts counterproposals to the government and questions the government’s policies
and administration. Procedures such as questions with or without notice to
ministers and institutions such as the parliamentary committee system assist the
parliament in its scrutiny role. The great paradox of the Westminster system of
governmentisthatbecausegovernmentisformedinthelowerhousebasedonit
usually having a majority in that house, the lower house becomes less effective in
making government accountable.
Procedures of parliament
Politicsisahighstakesgame.Itisaboutpower,andparliamentisthefoundationof
thatpower.Whileagovernmentneedstomaintainsupport,partoftherulesofthe
game, well understood by those in the parliament but less obvious to outsiders, is
the adversarial nature of politics. Effectively, this means a key objective is to make
life as difficult as possible for the other side. The other side, be that the government
ortheopposition,isafterthesamething–toremainorbecomethegovernmentat
thenextelection.Theoppositionenjoysformalstatusandpowerasthealternative
government. It has equal time in parliamentary debates and in question time, it
can seek meetings with the public service at certain times, and it receives public
funding to resource offices and generally perform in its role. 19 Thus the parliament is
where government members stick together in a show of solidarity while opposition
members do their best to highlight the government’s flaws.
The procedures are rules and customs that control how business is conducted
and govern the behaviour of members. News reports on parliament tend to focus
on question time which is where the theatre of politics is on display. The important
thing to remember as you read through the various functions discussed in this
chapteristhatpoliticsisaboutthefightandtheproceduresareaboutkeepingthe
fight fair.
There are many procedures that set out the rules for how members should act
towards one another. In each house the presiding officer (speaker or president),
judges whether the rules have been broken. The speaker or president is assisted by
a clerk, who is a permanent, non-partisan officer with a deep understanding of the
rules and how they should be applied.
There are five sources of laws and rules that govern how the parliament goes
about its work:
19 Rhodes 2005, 149.
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