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94-608: The expression "Canberra Press Gallery" also refers to the association of Gallery journalists which represents their professional interests in dealing with the Parliament. The current President of the Gallery is the ABC's Jane Norman. The vice-president is James Massola, the secretary is Jade Gailberger and the treasurer is Tom Connell. Apart from the one and a half hours per sitting day of Question Time , journalists spend little time in

188-645: A Minister of State or Parliamentary Under Secretary of State . Written Questions are submitted to the Clerks of the Table Office, either on paper or electronically, and are recorded in The Official Report (Hansard) so as to be widely available and accessible. In the House of Lords, half an hour is put aside each afternoon at the start of the day's proceedings for "Lords Questions". A peer submits

282-554: A double dissolution alongside the Senate. Elections for members of the House of Representatives are often held in conjunction with those for the Senate. A member of the House may be referred to as a "member of parliament" ("MP" or "member"), while a member of the Senate is usually referred to as a "senator". Under the conventions of the Westminster system , the government of the day and the prime minister must achieve and maintain

376-479: A parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances. Question time originated in the Westminster system of the United Kingdom , and occurs in other countries, mostly Commonwealth countries, who use

470-694: A document, or later being found to have lied to or misled a committee. Anyone who attempts to influence a witness may also be found in contempt. Other powers include, the ability to meet throughout Australia, to establish subcommittees and to take evidence in both public and private hearings. Proceedings of committees are considered to have the same legal standing as proceedings of Parliament, they are recorded by Hansard , except for private hearings, and also operate under parliamentary privilege . Every participant, including committee members and witnesses giving evidence, are protected from being prosecuted under any civil or criminal action for anything they may say during

564-590: A few days before the question time takes place and published. Ministers therefore have advance warning of the initial questions, but after each question has been answered, the MP in whose name it appears may ask a supplementary question on the same subject area for which no notice is given (unless the MP chooses to do so privately). The Speaker will usually call other MPs to ask further supplementary questions and this will often include Opposition front bench spokespersons. A second ballot enables MPs to put forward their names to ask

658-569: A hearing. Written evidence and documents received by a committee are also protected. Types of committees include: Standing committees , which are established on a permanent basis and are responsible for scrutinising bills and topics referred to them by the chamber; examining the government's budget and activities and for examining departmental annual reports and activities. Select committees , which are temporary committees, established in order to deal with particular issues. Domestic committees , which are responsible for administering aspects of

752-678: A legislative year. This was introduced to the Legislative Council in 1992 by the Governor of Hong Kong , Chris Patten as Governor's Question Time. The United States , which has a presidential system of government, does not have a question time for the president . However, Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States states: "[The president] shall from time to time give to Congress information of

846-553: A maximum 10% variation. However, the baseline quota for the number of voters in an electorate is determined by the number of voters in the state in which that electorate is found. Consequently, the electorates of the smallest states and territories have more variation in the number of voters in their electorates. Meanwhile, all the states except Tasmania have electorates approximately within the same 10% tolerance, with most electorates holding 85,000 to 105,000 voters. Federal electorates have their boundaries redrawn or redistributed whenever

940-460: A minister's answer after question time, allowing questioners (generally Opposition senators) to respond to the answers provided by ministers. It is very common for points of order to be raised during question time on the issue of relevance, as a Minister answering questions will normally attempt to redirect the answer to an attack on their opponents. However, as long as the Minister is talking on

1034-476: A particular inquiry is completed the members of the committee can then produce a report, to be tabled in Parliament, outlining what they have discovered as well as any recommendations that they have produced for the government to consider. The ability of the chambers of Parliament to establish committees is given in section 49 of the Constitution, which states that, "The powers, privileges, and immunities of

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1128-617: A query in advance, which then appears on the Order Paper for the day's proceedings. The Lord shall say: " My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper ". The Minister responsible then answers the query. Afterwards, for around ten minutes, any Lord can ask the Minister questions on the theme of the original put down on the order paper. (For instance, if the question regards immigration, Lords can ask

1222-598: A question is answered orally in Parliament, MPs may raise supplementary questions. According to Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin , the sequencing of questions for Question Time is entirely at the Speaker's discretion: "As Speaker, I will decide the sequence of PQs on the Order Paper for a Sitting. No strict formula is involved, other than exercising reasonable judgement." Describing his approach to presiding over Question Time, Tan has said: "I will be permissive and expansive where possible to optimise productive exchanges. For instance, after

1316-666: A question, commonly called a Dorothy Dixer , to enable the Minister to make a political speech or otherwise score political points. Convention allows the prime minister in the House, and the Leader of the Government in the Senate, to terminate question time by asking that "further questions be placed on the Notice Paper ". This is not a formal motion but an indication that, even if further questions were asked, ministers would not answer them since they are not compelled to do so. It

1410-466: A question. Each day that the Parliament of Singapore sits has the first one and a half hours of the meeting allocated to Question Time. MPs submit questions in advance, and only questions listed on the Order Paper for the sitting day may be dealt with during Question Time. Questions which are not dealt with during the sitting may be "rolled over" to another sitting day, or answered in writing. After

1504-591: A regular basis. The most recent overall increase in the size of the House, which came into effect at the 1984 election , increased the number of members from 125 to 148. It reduced to 147 at the 1993 election , returned to 148 at the 1996 election , increased to 150 at the 2001 election , and stands at 151 as of the 2022 Australian federal election . The House of Representatives chamber is designed to seat up to 172 members, with provision for an ultimate total of 240 to be accommodated. Each division elects one member using full-preferential instant-runoff voting . This

1598-550: A replacement, ministers can make two-minute ministerial statements to the chamber (see Dorothy Dixer ). Question time has been broadcast on ABC Radio since 1946 and televised since 1991 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . There is a common misperception that question time is about asking questions to ministers as there are uncommon occurrences of questions being asked to members of Parliament who are not ministers. Question time in

1692-403: A result, the speaker often has to use the disciplinary powers granted to him or her under standing orders. Since 2015, Australian Federal Police officers armed with assault rifles have been present in both chambers of the federal Parliament. From the beginning of Federation until 1918, first-past-the-post voting was used in order to elect members of the House of Representatives but since

1786-433: A state or territory has its number of seats adjusted, if electorates are not generally matched by population size or if seven years have passed since the most recent redistribution. Full preferential voting is used in elections, a type of instant-runoff voting . A full allocation of preferences is required for a vote to be considered formal. This allows for a calculation of the two-party-preferred vote . Under section 24 of

1880-400: A topical question for which no notice is required. Questions to the prime minister are usually tabled on a topical basis so that the name of the MP is published but not the question itself. Additionally, each Member of Parliament is entitled to table an unlimited number of written questions. Usually a Private Member directs a question to a Secretary of State , and it is usually answered by

1974-654: Is generally held every week while the Diet is in session, it may be cancelled with the agreement of the opposition: this often happens during the budgeting period and at other times when the prime minister must sit in the Diet. Speaker Johari Abdul of the Dewan Rakyat , the elected house of the Parliament of Malaysia , announced in February 2023 that the upcoming sitting would see the introduction of both Prime Minister's Questions and Minister's Questions: "We suggest that

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2068-589: Is held every Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. It consists of the Speaker of Parliament to giving all parliamentary groups the opportunity to put at least one question to the prime minister of Finland and his/her ministers. It is broadcast live on public television, particularly on Yle TV1 . Government ministers are made available to the Bundestag for 35 minutes each Wednesday after the weekly cabinet meeting, during which time they take questions on current matters before

2162-635: Is possible in this way to prematurely terminate question time, although this is rare in the House and essentially unheard of in the Senate. During the Keating Government, the prime minister attempted to limit the number of questions asked in a way the Liberal Opposition disapproved of. To protest the change, the Opposition made random quorum calls through the afternoon for every question they felt they had been denied that day. In

2256-410: Is the ability to summon people to attend hearings in order to give evidence and submit documents. Anyone who attempts to hinder the work of a Parliamentary committee may be found to be in contempt of parliament . There are a number of ways that witnesses can be found in contempt. These include refusing to appear before a committee when summoned, refusing to answer a question during a hearing or to produce

2350-407: Is the only time of day when all members of Parliament are in their respective chambers, the appearance of question time can be rowdy and boisterous compared to the normally sedate activity during the rest of the day. There is a 30-second time limit for questions by the Opposition and a four-minute time limit for answers in the House of Representatives. Crossbench MPs get a time limit of 30 seconds,

2444-583: The 1918 Swan by-election which Labor unexpectedly won with the largest primary vote due to vote splitting amongst the conservative parties, the Nationalist Party government, a predecessor of the modern-day Liberal Party of Australia , changed the lower house voting system to instant-runoff voting , which in Australia is known as full preferential voting, as of the subsequent 1919 election . This system has remained in place ever since, allowing

2538-712: The 1949 election , Bill Spooner was appointed a minister in the Fourth Menzies ministry on 19 December, however his term as a Senator did not begin until 22 February 1950. The provision was also used after the disappearance and presumed death of the Liberal prime minister Harold Holt in December 1967. The Liberal Party elected John Gorton , then a senator, as its new leader, and he was sworn in as prime minister on 10 January 1968 (following an interim ministry led by John McEwen ). On 1 February, Gorton resigned from

2632-566: The Centre Alliance and Katter's Australian Party held their current standing of one seat each, and independents gained seven seats to bring their total to ten, six of these being teal independents . On 23 December 2022, Andrew Gee MP quit the National Party to become an independent, citing his disappointment over the party's opposition to the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament . On 1 April 2023, Labor's Mary Doyle

2726-509: The Coalition parties to safely contest the same seats. Full-preference preferential voting re-elected the Hawke government at the 1990 election , the first time in federal history that Labor had obtained a net benefit from preferential voting. From 1949 onwards, the vast majority of electorates, nearly 90%, are won by the candidate leading on first preferences, giving the same result as if

2820-512: The Commonwealth Parliament and in all state parliaments. Questions to government ministers normally alternate between government members and the opposition, with the opposition going first. Questions of ministers are generally asked by their counterpart shadow ministers (or in the case of a minister and corresponding shadow minister are each members of a different House of Parliament, then the shadow minister's representative in

2914-537: The House of Commons of Canada , colloquially referred to as Question Period , and formally known as Oral Questions , occurs during each sitting day in the House of Commons. The questions may be posed to either the prime minister of Canada , or any minister of the Cabinet of Canada . In addition to the House of Commons of Canada , question period is also a convention that is practiced in the various legislative bodies of

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3008-589: The Privy Council of the United Kingdom . A minister must be a senator or member of the House of Representatives at the time of their appointment, or become one within three months of their appointment. This provision was included in the Constitution (section 64) to enable the inaugural ministry, led by Edmund Barton , to be appointed on 1 January 1901, even though the first federal elections were not scheduled to be held until 29 and 30 March. After

3102-686: The provinces and territories of Canada . Like the federal House of Commons, Question Period in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia , Legislative Assembly of Manitoba , and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario is formally known as Oral Questions. In the Quebec National Assembly , the practice is called Oral Questions and Answers . In the Oireachtas , Ireland's parliament, questions are asked in Dáil Éireann ,

3196-520: The upper house being the Senate . Its composition and powers are set down in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia . The term of members of the House of Representatives is a maximum of three years from the date of the first sitting of the House, but on only one occasion since Federation has the maximum term been reached. The House is almost always dissolved earlier, usually alone but sometimes in

3290-492: The British tradition where the prime minister submits to questions on the floor of the House of Commons – something Senator John McCain had promised to do if elected president." Australian House of Representatives Opposition (55) Coalition Crossbench (18) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia ,

3384-649: The Cabinet are members of the Executive Council. A senior Cabinet member holds the office of Vice-President of the Executive Council and acts as presiding officer of the Executive Council in the absence of the governor-general. The Federal Executive Council is the Australian equivalent of the executive councils and privy councils in other Commonwealth realms such as the King's Privy Council for Canada and

3478-560: The Cabinet as a legal entity; it exists solely by convention. Its decisions do not in and of themselves have legal force. However, it serves as the practical expression of the Federal Executive Council , which is Australia's highest formal executive body. In practice, the Federal Executive Council meets solely to endorse and give legal force to decisions already made by the Cabinet. All members of

3572-554: The Commons since November 2007. For question time, Government whips organize "support groups" of government MPs whose duty it is to support the ministers who answer questions by asking questions helpful to the government and shouting in its support. In addition to government departments, there are also questions regarding the Church of England , House of Commons reform and Law Rulings. Questions for oral answer are selected by ballot

3666-535: The Constitution, each state is entitled to members based on a population quota determined from the "latest statistics of the Commonwealth". These statistics arise from the census conducted under the auspices of section 51(xi) . Until its repeal by the 1967 referendum , section 127 prohibited the inclusion of Aboriginal people in section 24 determinations as including the Indigenous peoples could alter

3760-564: The House chamber. Due to the unique role of what was then called the Main Committee, proposals were made to rename the body to avoid confusion with other parliamentary committees, including "Second Chamber" and "Federation Chamber". The House of Representatives later adopted the latter proposal. The concept of a parallel body to expedite Parliamentary business, based on the Australian Federation Chamber,

3854-456: The House of Commons lasts for an hour each day from Monday to Thursday (2:30 to 3:30pm on Mondays, 11:30am to 12:30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 9:30 to 10:30am on Thursdays). Each Government department has its place in a rota which repeats every four to five weeks when the House is sitting. The larger Departments generally have the full hour for oral questions whereas smaller Departments will have less time allocated. In addition, Questions to

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3948-412: The House of Representatives and the Senate. The Federation Chamber is a second debating chamber that considers relatively uncontroversial matters referred by the House. The Federation Chamber cannot, however, initiate or make a final decision on any parliamentary business, although it can perform all tasks in between. The Federation Chamber was created in 1994 as the Main Committee, to relieve some of

4042-492: The House of Representatives in a newly federated Australia . The House is presided over by the speaker . Members of the House are elected from single member electorates (geographic districts, commonly referred to as "seats" but officially known as " Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives "). One vote, one value legislation requires all electorates to have approximately the same number of voters with

4136-416: The House of Representatives or the Senate – but the discussions on this issue have never gotten past an exploratory stage. President George H. W. Bush once said of PMQs, "I count my blessings for the fact I don't have to go into that pit that John Major stands in, nose-to-nose with the opposition, all yelling at each other." In 2008, Senator John McCain ( Republican Party nominee for president of

4230-608: The House's own affairs. These include the Selection Committee that determines how the House will deal with particular pieces of legislation and private members business and the Privileges Committee that deals with matters of parliamentary privilege. Legislative scrutiny committees , which examine legislation and regulations to determine their impact on individual rights and accountability. Joint committees are also established to include both members of

4324-428: The House, question time is generally scheduled from 2pm to 3:15 pm on every sitting day; in the Senate, it generally occurs from 2pm to 3pm. Apart from divisions, it is the only time the chamber is likely to be filled. Tactically, it is considered an important defining characteristic for an Opposition Leader to be able ask a pertinent question of the prime minister or premier, or to single out perceived weak performers in

4418-483: The Minister any question related to immigration during the allowed period). The Lords usually do not have a call list, as the Commons does, so Peers rise to ask a question themselves and they alternate between the Government, opposition and crossbench sides of the chamber. Unlike the Commons, where only the Speaker can call a member to order, any Lord can call any other Lord to order, and on many occasions noble Lords intervene to ensure fair distribution of questions around

4512-452: The Minister’s verbal reply, I will let MPs continue asking Supplementary Questions (SQs) for further clarifications. I will remind both front and back benches to say more with less, so that as many MPs who wish to ask SQs can do so." He has called the tone of Singaporean Question Time "more measured" compared to similar proceedings in other countries. In the United Kingdom , question time in

4606-469: The Ministry. Interjections from both government and opposition members in the House of Representatives and the Senate are common, and broadly speaking are an accepted practice, although the speaker of the House or the president of the Senate will intervene if interjections become too frequent, if they contain inappropriate content, or if the member interjecting is disrupting debate. Given that question time

4700-756: The Prime Minister takes place each Wednesday from noon to 12:30pm, and questions are asked each Thursday (Questions to the Leader of House of Commons ), about the business of the House the following week. The larger departments also have a Topical question period for the last 15 minutes of their hour for questions, where the Secretary of State outlines recent developments in their department and then backbench MPs can ask any question relating to their department, for which ministers are not given prior notice. Topical questions have been part of each question time in

4794-483: The Senate and of the House of Representatives, and of the members and the committees of each House, shall be such as are declared by the Parliament, and until declared shall be those of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and of its members and committees, at the establishment of the Commonwealth." Parliamentary committees can be given a wide range of powers. One of the most significant powers

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4888-502: The Senate are usually more meaningful. The House's well-established committee system is not always as prominent as the Senate committee system because of the frequent lack of Senate majority. In a reflection of the United Kingdom House of Commons , the predominant colour of the furnishings in the House of Representatives is green. However, the colour was tinted slightly in the new Parliament House (opened 1988) to suggest

4982-490: The Senate to stand for the 24 February by-election in Holt's former House of Representatives electorate of Higgins due to the convention that the prime minister be a member of the lower house. For 22 days (2 to 23 February inclusive) he was prime minister while a member of neither house of parliament. On a number of occasions when ministers have retired from their seats prior to an election, or stood but lost their own seats in

5076-575: The State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The exact meaning of this clause has never been worked out fully, although it is the constitutional basis for the modern State of the Union address. There was some discussion at various times about whether this clause would allow something similar to a Westminster style question time – for instance, having Department Secretaries being questioned by

5170-462: The United States in the 2008 presidential election ) stated his intention , if elected, to create a presidential equivalent of the British conditional convention of Prime Minister's Questions . In a policy speech on 15 May 2008, which outlined a number of ideas, McCain said, "I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much

5264-429: The actual press gallery overlooking the floor of Parliament. Another area, also named the "press gallery" refers to the office space within the Parliament building, above the Senate chamber which includes television studios and radio booths where the gallery journalists spend most of their time compiling stories and communicating with editors. Australian academics have described the gallery as 'collectively responsible for

5358-422: The area of the minister's responsibility. Questions require that all facts be authenticated. Before a question is asked it is checked that it meets the requirements of the House's standing orders, before being transmitted to the relevant ministers. In New Zealand oral questions are asked at 2pm on each sitting day. Twelve principal oral questions are asked, with supplementary questions also given that must relate to

5452-543: The burden of the House: different matters can be processed in the House at large and in the Federation Chamber, as they sit simultaneously. It is designed to be less formal, with a quorum of only three members: the deputy speaker of the House, one government member, and one non-government member. Decisions must be unanimous: any divided decision sends the question back to the House at large. The Federation Chamber

5546-510: The chamber. If unable to settle who the next speaker is, usually the Leader of the House will intervene. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , call lists had been in use in the Lords from April 2020 to December 2021 as some Peers participated virtually. A peer may also table up to six questions for written answer on any day the House is sitting. In Finland's parliament Question hour ( kyselytunti )

5640-551: The colour of eucalyptus trees. Also, unlike the House of Commons, the seating arrangement of the crossbench is curved, similar to the curved seating arrangement of the United States House of Representatives . This suggests a more collaborative, and less oppositional, system than in the United Kingdom parliament (where all members of parliament are seated facing the opposite side). Australian parliaments are notoriously rowdy, with MPs often trading colourful insults. As

5734-440: The conclusion of questioning. Also, New Zealand's free-to-air digital television network, Freeview , provides live coverage of the debating chamber when it is in session on Parliament TV . There is no limit to the written questions that any MP can ask and can be submitted each working day before 10.30am. Submission and publication of the question is an electronic process with no hard copy record. Ministers have 6 days to respond to

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5828-403: The confidence of this House in order to gain and remain in power. The House of Representatives currently consists of 151 members, elected by and representing single member districts known as electoral divisions (commonly referred to as "electorates" or "seats"). The number of members is not fixed but can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions , which are required on

5922-426: The distribution of seats between the states to the benefit of states with larger Aboriginal populations. The total number of seats representing states in the House of Representatives must be "as nearly as practicable, twice the number of the senators", according to section 24 of the Constitution. This requirement is known as the "nexus provision". This requirement was included in the Constitution in order to maintain

6016-431: The election, they have retained their ministerial offices until the next government is sworn in. In addition to the work of the main chamber, the House of Representatives also has a large number of committees which deal with matters referred to them by the main House. They provide the opportunity for all MPs to ask questions of ministers and public officials as well as conduct inquiries, examine policy and legislation. Once

6110-655: The first meeting of a session, a meeting at which the president (the speaker ) of the council is elected, or the Chief Executive delivers the annual policy address to the Council. No more than 22 questions, excluding urgent questions that may be permitted by the president, may be asked at any one meeting. Replies to questions may be given by designated public officers, usually secretaries , orally or in written form. For questions seeking oral replies, supplementary questions may be put by any member when called upon by

6204-521: The first question asked to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was "Prime Minister, what did you have for breakfast this morning?". Japan's question time was closely modeled after that of the UK, and many Diet members travelled to the House of Commons to study the British application of the concept. Question time is 45 minutes long and questions are limited to the leaders of parliamentary caucuses (which must consist of at least ten members of either house). Although it

6298-539: The full allocation of preferences, it is possible to derive a two-party-preferred figure, where the votes have been allocated between the two main candidates in the election. In Australia, this is usually between the candidates from the Coalition parties and the Australian Labor Party . Under the Constitution, the governor-general has the power to appoint and dismiss the "Queen's Ministers of State" who administer government departments. In practice,

6392-416: The general subject of the matter raised in the question, it is usually considered relevant to the question, even if it does not address the specific issue raised in the question at all. State parliaments adopt similar practices to the federal Parliament with the exception of the Parliament of Victoria , where, since 2015, government backbenchers are no longer entitled to ask questions during question time. As

6486-440: The government accountable as much as possible by asking questions of importance during question time and during debates on legislation. By contrast, the only period in recent times during which the government of the day has had a majority in the Senate was from July 2005 (when the senators elected at the 2004 election took their seats) to July 2008 (when the senators elected at the 2007 election took their seats). Hence, votes in

6580-507: The government. This is followed by a further two-hour question-and-answer session consisting of questions that were submitted in advance in writing. The questions in the Legislative Council are aimed at seeking information on government actions on specific problems or incidents and on government policies, for the purpose of monitoring the effectiveness of the government. Questions may be asked at any council meeting except

6674-521: The governor-general chooses ministers in accordance with the traditions of the Westminster system that the government be drawn from the party or coalition of parties that has a majority in the House of Representatives, with the leader of the largest party becoming prime minister . A sub-set of the most important ministers then meet in a council known as Cabinet . Cabinet meetings are strictly private and are frequently held to discuss vital issues and make policy decisions. The Constitution does not recognise

6768-526: The great majority of news stories about federal politics that appear in Australian Print and broadcast media'. Many of Australia's most influential journalists, such as Paul Bongiorno , Malcolm Farr , Michelle Grattan , Laurie Oakes , Glenn Milne , Mark Riley , Hugh Riminton , Dennis Shanahan , Jim Middleton , Karen Middleton , Sharri Markson , Phil Coorey , Chris Uhlmann and David Speers are or have been gallery members. Studios for

6862-442: The initial subject matter. The opportunity to ask questions is equally shared amongst the members of the house, excluding ministers. Urgent questions, while possible, are uncommon. The question is addressed to the portfolio of the minister receiving the question, and the questioner must ask the question as written. Once a question is asked, supplementary questions can be asked. SKY News New Zealand broadcasts this session from 2pm to

6956-604: The legislature. Will ended the piece by saying, "Congress should remind a President McCain that the 16 blocks separating the Capitol from the White House nicely express the nation's constitutional geography." In February 2009, just over a month after his inauguration , President Barack Obama invited serving members of the US Senate to a "fiscal responsibility" summit at the White House , during which Senators asked

7050-443: The lower house and thus only the party with a majority in the lower house can govern. In the current Australian party system, this ensures that virtually all contentious votes are along party lines, and the government party usually has a majority in those votes in the lower house. The opposition party's main role in the House is to present arguments against the government's policies and legislation where appropriate and attempt to hold

7144-484: The lower house, to which the government of Ireland is responsible. The Ceann Comhairle (speaker) has wide discretion on allowing questions, which are directed to the minister in charge of the relevant Department of State . A question may be answered by any cabinet minister due to cabinet collective responsibility , or by a (non-cabinet) Minister of State at the relevant Department of State. Questions requiring departmental research may not have an answer available within

7238-699: The major TV networks are among the gallery; including the ABC , SBS , Channel Nine , Sky News , Channel Seven , Network Ten and other media partners. Major newspapers that participate in the gallery include The Australian Financial Review , The Sydney Morning Herald , The Age , The Australian , The Daily Telegraph , the Herald Sun , The Courier-Mail , The West Australian , The Advertiser , The Canberra Times , Guardian Australia as well as playing host to radio station including 2UE, 3AW and 2GB. Question Time A question time in

7332-537: The opposition Albanese -led Labor Party gaining 77 seats in the 151 seat House of Representatives, for a two-seat majority government , while the Coalition lost 18 seats to finish with 58 seats, their worst result since 1946 (the first election after the formation of the current Liberal Party). On the crossbench , the Australian Greens gained three seats, upping their total from one to four, while

7426-495: The other House asked questions to the relevant minister) in the opposition, and are always asked by backbenchers on the government side. In the House of Representatives , the first question is usually asked of the prime minister by the Leader of the Opposition. Similar arrangements apply in the Senate. To accommodate the distribution of ministers between both chambers, ministers also take on representative roles, answering questions relating to portfolios that are not their own because

7520-547: The person who can control a majority of votes in the lower house is invited by the governor-general to form the government. In practice that means that the leader of the party (or coalition of parties) with a majority of members in the House becomes the prime minister , who then can nominate other elected members of the government party in both the House and the Senate to become ministers responsible for various portfolios and administer government departments. Bills appropriating money (supply bills) can only be introduced or amended in

7614-440: The power of the Senate relative to the House of Representative: both due to the belief by the drafters of the Constitution that a numerically weaker Senate would inherently lead to a lower "influence, prestige, and dignity" and to ensure the influence of the Senate in case of a joint sitting after a double dissolution. Another reason was to make it harder politically for the House of Representatives to be increased, thereby maintaining

7708-572: The president about his fiscal policies in an event which was compared to Prime Minister's Question. Eleven months later, Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner invited Obama to the annual House Issues Conference in Baltimore , Maryland , where the president answered questions and criticisms from Republican members of Congress. Commenting on the event, Peter Baker in The New York Times , said "[the] back and forth resembled

7802-439: The president of the council for the purpose of elucidating that answer. Where there is no debate on a motion with no legislative effect at a meeting, no more than ten questions requiring oral replies may be asked; otherwise, no more than six questions may require an oral reply. The Chief Executive, who is the head of the region and head of government, attends Question and Answer Session of the council which are held several times in

7896-401: The responsible minister sits in the other chamber. This allows questioners to ask questions about any government portfolio in either chamber. This normally includes the Leader of the Government in the Senate representing the prime minister in response to questions asked by senators about general government policy. Sometimes a government Minister will arrange for a government backbencher to "ask"

7990-470: The same as Government and Opposition members. This was reduced from 45 seconds when the standing orders were amended on 2 August 2022. In the Senate, a questioner may ask an initial question and two supplementary questions related to their initial question. Each question has a one-minute time limit. Answers to initial questions are limited to three minutes, and answers to supplementary questions are limited to one minute. A senator may also move to 'take note' of

8084-462: The same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain [ sic ] appears regularly before the House of Commons ." George F. Will of The Washington Post criticized the proposal in an op-ed piece, saying that a presidential question time would endanger separation of powers as the president of the United States, unlike the prime minister of the United Kingdom, is not a member of

8178-400: The same votes had been counted using first-past-the-post voting . The highest proportion of seats (up to 2010) won by the candidate not leading on first preferences was the 1972 federal election , with 14 of 125 seats not won by the plurality candidate. The main elements of the operation of preferential voting for single-member House of Representatives divisions are as follows: Following

8272-428: The session be held every Tuesday for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to answer questions that are addressed to him and on Thursday, there will be the Minister's Question Time (MQT) session." He described this as a pilot, and said that amendments to the house's standing orders would be required to make question time a regular part of parliamentary proceedings. Questions asked to ministers must be concise and related to

8366-672: The smaller states over representation in the lower house due to their constitutional minimum of five seats. The requirements for territory seats are set via legislation, which currently requires that the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have at least one member each. According to the Constitution, the powers of both Houses are nearly equal, with the consent of both Houses needed to pass legislation. The difference mostly relates to taxation legislation. In practice, by convention,

8460-409: The system. In practice, the questions asked in question time are often pre-arranged by the organisers of each party, although the questions are usually without notice. Questions from government backbenchers are either intended to allow the Minister to discuss the virtues of government policy, or to attack the opposition. Question time, formally known as questions without notice , is an institution in

8554-550: The three-day notice period; these tend to be submitted for written rather than oral response. The Ceann Comhairle may permit a supplementary question to an oral response. Reforms in 2016 at the start of the 32nd Dáil created separate time slots for different types of question, and empower the Ceann Comhairle to demand a further response if the initial one is deemed inadequate. The Diet of Japan held its first question time ( 党首討論 , tōshu tōron ) on 10 November 1999;

8648-410: Was created through the House's standing orders: it is thus a subordinate body of the House, and can only be in session while the House itself is in session. When a division vote in the House occurs, members in the Federation Chamber must return to the House to vote. The Federation Chamber is housed in one of the House's committee rooms; the room is customised for this purpose and is laid out to resemble

8742-459: Was mentioned in a 1998 British House of Commons report, which led to the creation of that body's parallel chamber Westminster Hall. The current Parliament is the 47th Australian Parliament. The most recent federal election was held on 21 May 2022 , with the 47th Parliament first sitting in July 2022. The 2022 election saw the incumbent Liberal / National Coalition government defeated, with

8836-403: Was put in place after the 1918 Swan by-election , which Labor unexpectedly won with the largest primary vote and the help of vote splitting in the conservative parties. The Nationalist government of the time changed the lower house voting system from first-past-the-post to full-preferential voting, effective from the 1919 general election . The Constitution of Australia of 1900 established

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