Posted 28/07/2023 by Cathy Madden
Within the 32 political parties currently registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), 9 are represented in the Federal Parliament. Alongside the governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Opposition Liberal/Nationals Coalition, the Australian Greens are the only other party to achieve parliamentary party status. This Flagpost outlines what parliamentary party status is, its legislative underpinnings, and selected history of when party status has been gained, lost and challenged.
What is parliamentary party status?
The federal Parliament doesn’t regulate parliamentary party status, nor does it flow from AEC party registration, however it is linked to the definition of a minority party represented in the Parliament. The Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017 (the Regulations), defines a minority party as a party that:
(a) is not part of the Government or the Opposition; and
(b) has at least 5 members in the Parliament (reg 4).
Based on this definition Centre Alliance, Jacqui Lambie Network, Katter’s Australian Party, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the United Australia Party [2018] do not constitute a minority party and do not receive the benefits this confers.
What are the benefits of being a minority party
Former Clerk of the Senate, Harry Evans, has noted that the term party status ‘does not mean very much at all’ in the context of core parliamentary business, but matters materially in terms of additional entitlements.
For example, the Regulations give a minority party leader benefits in travel (regs 51–54), postage (reg 68), additional offices (reg. 73) and office holder salary (reg. 95). With specific regards to salary, the 2023 Remuneration Tribunal (Members of Parliament) Determination provides additional salary for the ‘Leader of a minority party with more than 10 members in the Parliament’, the ‘Leader of a minority party with up to 10 members in the Parliament’ and for the whips of such parties.
The Prime Minister also has discretion to allocate additional staffing resources to minority parties under the Members of Parliament Staff Act 1984. These personal employee positions are allocated to the leader of a minority party, who may then internally re-allocate them.
Minority parties may also be allocated a party room at Parliament House, at the discretion of the relevant Presiding Officer and dependent on available space.
How has the status changed over time?
In acknowledging the Australian Country Party’s ongoing and sizeable parliamentary presence, in 1947 Prime Minister Ben Chifley introduced an amendment to the Parliamentary Allowances Act 1947. This amendment provided a £400 p.a. allowance to:
the Leader in the House of Representatives (not being the Leader of the Opposition) of a recognised political party not less than ten members of which are members of the House of Representatives and of which no member is a member is a Minister of State.
A subsequent amendment in the Parliamentary Allowances Act 1968 provided an allowance to the ‘leader in the Senate of the second non-Government recognized political party in the Senate’.
While Remuneration Tribunal determinations used the phrase ‘Leader of a minority non-Government party recognised in the Senate or House of Representatives’ from 1980, it was not until 1985 that it started using the definition ‘Leader of a recognised non-Government party of at least 5 members not otherwise specified herein’.
This definition was given legislative basis in section 3 of the Parliamentary Entitlements Act 1990 (no longer in force).
The Australian Democrats lost minority party status in 2004, having held it since 1984. In practical terms, their 15 personal employee positions were reduced to 2, in addition to diminished office facilities and other benefits.
The Australian Greens gained parliamentary party status from 1 July 2008 when they won 5 seats: the leader was allocated 10 personal employee positions. The Greens currently have 20 personal employee positions.
Following the 2013 election, Clive Palmer sought minority party status despite the Palmer United Party (PUP) having only 4 members. Palmer unsuccessfully suggested that the party’s voting pact with Ricky Muir (elected as an Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party senator) achieved the 5 member threshold required.
Following the 2016 double dissolution election two parties came close to the threshold of members: the Nick Xenophon Team and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation both had 4 representatives.
Independents and micro-parties
What about the members of Parliament who are independents, or whose party is not large enough to win party status? Their task of representing their constituents is just as heavy as any Labor or Coalition MP. These members experience significant uncertainty regarding the levels of access to parliamentary resources which may fluctuate from parliamentary term to parliamentary term. In the case of independents and micro-parties the calls for additional resources will be an ongoing issue as was shown following the 2022 election.