Parliament: a quick guide to key internet links

6 December 2013

PDF version [272KB]

Dr Joy McCann
Politics and Public Administration

This Quick Guide provides direct links to key websites, information and documents relating to:

Australia’s Vice Regal arrangements
Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
Parliaments of the States and Territories
Overseas parliaments
Overseas parliamentary organisations.

Australia's Vice Regal arrangements

Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia: Australia is a constitutional monarchy and Australia’s Governor-General is appointed by the Queen as Her Majesty’s representative with powers derived from the Australian Constitution; the Governor-General must assent to bills passed by the Australian Parliament before they can become law
State Governors of Australia and Administrators of the Northern and Island Territories: the Governor of each Australian state represent the Queen and undertakes constitutional, ceremonial and community functions; the Administrators of the Northern and Island Territories represent the Governor-General and are appointed to administer the territory of the Commonwealth on his or her behalf

Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia

Current Ministry: Coalition Government led by Prime Minister the Hon. Tony Abbott MP
Current Shadow Ministry: Labor Opposition led by the Hon. Bill Shorten MP
Senators and Members: search for individual Senators and Members
Current Senators: search by commencement date, service expiry date, date and place of birth, gender, photograph and terms of service
Current Members: search by electorate, party, gender and surname

Proceedings

Sitting calendar for 2014
Watch Parliament: live broadcasting schedule of events in the Senate, House of Representatives and Federation Chamber
Hansard: search parliamentary debates by keyword, period, person, chamber/committee or context
ParlInfo: search parliamentary collections including chamber and procedural documents, key constitutional documents, Parliamentary Library collections and external media resources

Procedures

Odgers’ Australian Senate practice, thirteenth edition | Standing Orders and other Orders of the Senate and Annotations, 2009 edition
House of Representatives practice, sixth edition | House of Representatives Standing and Sessional Orders
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet parliamentary information: information about the current parliament and advice and guidance about operations of Cabinet and the Federal Executive

Historical information

Parliamentary handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia: historical information on the Commonwealth Parliament including Prime Ministers of Australia since 1901 | Chronology of Parliaments | Party representation in Parliament and elections since 1901
Australia's Prime Ministers: a brief history of each Australian Prime Minister compiled by the National Archives of Australia (NAA)
Australian Prime Ministers Centre, Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD)’s online resources and links to Prime Ministerial records held in Australia
Federation timeline: prepared by the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO)
Australia’s Parliament House—more than 25 years in the making!: chronology of key events relating to Australia’s Parliament House and the Commonwealth Parliament
History of the Federal Capital and Parliament House: digitised material relating to the history of Canberra and the establishment of Parliament House including Parliament House and parliamentary zone | Federal capital | Committee reports | Key speeches

Research and information

Parliamentary Library: information, analysis and advice for the Commonwealth Parliament
Australian National University (ANU) Parliamentary Studies Centre: academic research on parliamentary issues
Parliament@work: educational resource about Australia’s parliaments and political parties
Australia and New Zealand Association of Clerks-at-the-Table (ANZACATT): formed in 2001 with members from each House of Parliament in Australia, Norfolk Island and New Zealand to enhance professional development of its members
Parliamentary Friendship Groups for the 44th Parliament Register: a list of officially recognised Parliamentary Friendship Groups

Parliaments of the States and Territories

Overseas parliaments

Web sites of national parliaments: Inter-Parliamentary Union links to all national parliaments
PARLINE database on national parliaments: database of chamber structure and working methods for all countries with a national legislature
Selected national parliaments:
- Canadian Parliament
- European Parliament
- Indian Parliament
- New Zealand Parliament
- Northern Ireland Assembly
- Ireland Oireachtas
- Scottish Parliament
- United Kingdom Parliament | Hansard | Hansard Archive 1802-2005
- United States House of Representatives | United States Senate | THOMAS (Library of Congress bill summary and status)
- National Assembly for Wales

Overseas parliamentary organisations

Arab Parliament: a transitional parliament formed by the Arab League in 2005 to represent the will of the Arab people
Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF): loosely-structured and non-exclusive forum of national Asia-Pacific parliamentarians
Assembly of the Western European Union (WEU): the Inter-parliamentary European Security and Defence Assembly
Australasian Study of Parliament Group (ASPG): to encourage and stimulate research, writing and teaching about parliamentary institutions in Australia and the South Pacific
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA): promotes parliamentary democracy amongst Commonwealth parliamentarians
Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe: Council of Europe was established in 1949 to promote democracy, human rights and rule of law in Europe
Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government (UK): independent educational charity promoting effective parliamentary democracy
ParlAmericas (formerly FIPA): membership is composed of the national legislatures of the 35 independent states of the Americas
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU): the international organization of Parliaments established in 1889
National Association of Parliamentarians: US-based association with international membership educating leaders in the use of parliamentary procedure
NATO Parliamentary Assembly: formerly North Atlantic Assembly
Norden: Nordic Council and Nordic Council of Ministers
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe involving 57 participating states
Parliamentarians for Global Action: non-profit, non-partisan international network of over 1,000 legislators in 131 elected parliaments
Canadian Study of Parliament Group: non-profit organisation that brings together individuals with an interest in the role, function and reform of parliamentary institutions
Study of Parliament Group (United Kingdom): to study the working of parliament and parliamentary institutions, and other related aspects of parliamentary government and political science, and to advance public knowledge of these subjects
United States Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC): provides programs to educate about the role of Congress and support emerging democracies abroad

See Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for other parliamentary organisations

Creative Commons

With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.