Platypus and Parliament: The Australian Senate in Theory and Practice


When Europeans first encountered the platypus they considered it to be an implausible bundle of contradictions. They acknowledged, however, that it was superbly adapted to its environment. In this book Stanley Bach argues that the Australian Parliament, with its borrowings from both the British and American experience, is a bundle of 'seemingly inconsistent and even incompatible elements' which, nevertheless, join together 'to make a political system that works'.

Topics covered in this book include: the design and operation of Australia's system of government, an analysis of the confrontation between the Senate and the House of Representatives in 1975, proposals for parliamentary reform, the republic debate, minority parties and the balance of power, mandate theory, accountability and responsible government.

This book is published as part of the Department of the Senate’s program to promote public knowledge and awareness of the role and activities of the Senate. The views expressed in the book are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Senate or its staff.

Written by Dr Stanley Bach
Published by the Department of the Senate, Canberra 2003

Platypus and Parliament: The Australian Senate in Theory and Practice (PDF 1.6MB)

Contents

About the author

Dr Stanley Bach, has written extensively on the United States Congress and other legislatures and has worked as a consultant on parliamentary process in Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.

For more than 30 years he worked with and provided advice to Senators and Representatives on the operations of the US Congress. From 1988 to 2002 he held the office of Senior Specialist in the Legislative Process for the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress.

In 2002 Dr Bach was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to study bicameralism in Australia. While in Canberra he was a Fellow in the Political Science Program of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He was also awarded a fellowship in the Department of the Senate which enabled him to observe the operations of the Commonwealth Parliament at first hand.

The Senate remembers Stanley Bach