Chapter 5 - Officers
of the Senate:
Parliamentary administration
The
President of the Senate
The President is the presiding officer of the Senate, responsible for
the proper conduct of proceedings of the Senate and the interpretation and
application of the rules of the Senate.
In relation to proceedings in the Senate, the President calls senators
to speak in debate, gives rulings on any questions of order which may be raised
and maintains order. The authority of the President to maintain order in the
Senate chamber is in force at all times, and not only when the Senate is
sitting (ruling of President Kingsmill, SD, 5/12/1930, p. 1027).
The President is the spokesperson and representative of the Senate in
dealings with the Governor-General, the executive government, the House of
Representatives and persons outside the Parliament.
Although the President, once elected, may continue to be an active
member of a party, the duties of the office, both inside and outside the
chamber, must be carried out in an impartial manner. Thus, to some extent, the
President is distanced from day-to-day party political activity.
The President has
the right of any senator to participate in debate, and did so regularly in the
early years of the Senate. Presidents now rarely participate in debate unless
on a matter concerning the Senate or the Parliament. One such instance
occurred in 1986, when President McClelland took the unprecedented step of introducing a bill, the
Parliamentary Privileges Bill 1986. In tabling a draft of the bill for senators
to examine before formally introducing the bill, the President said he was
taking this step because of the fundamental importance to both Houses of the
matters dealt with by the bill, which included maintaining the absolute right
of freedom of speech in Parliament (SD, 4/6/1986, p. 3308; see Chapter 2,
Parliamentary Privilege). The President also participates in committee hearings
on the bi-annual Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bills and in
committee of the whole proceedings on those bills (see Chapter 13, Financial
Legislation).
The President also
has the right to exercise a deliberative vote
on all matters in the Senate or in committee of the whole, but when in the
chair of the Senate is not compelled to do so (Constitution, s. 23; SO 99). When the votes
in the Senate are equally divided the question passes in the negative
(Constitution, s. 23). This provision of a presiding officer having a
deliberative and not a casting or deciding vote was enshrined in the
Constitution to ensure that the states should have equal voting strength. (See
also Voting by President and Deputy President, below.)
The ceremonial duties of the President include participation in the
opening of Parliament and visits by foreign Heads of State. The President also
represents the Senate at international conferences, leads some parliamentary
delegations to other nations and receives parliamentary delegations visiting Australia.
The President is
the parliamentary head
of the Department of the Senate, and is responsible to the Senate for its
operations. The President’s role is similar to that of a minister of an
executive department. In addition to ministerial-type functions, the
President’s duties include chairing the Standing Committee
on Appropriations and Staffing, which determines the budget and oversees the
organisational structure of the department. The President is also concerned
with the seating arrangements in the chamber, senators’ room allocations and
entitlements of senators.
The President has
joint administrative responsibility with the Speaker of the House of
Representatives for the joint department supplying services
to senators and members of the House of Representatives, and also has joint
control of the parliamentary precincts (Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988).
The President and the Speaker are also jointly responsible for security,
parliamentary education and relations with other parliaments.
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