Canberra 2 ; Houses of Parliament ; House of Representatives and Senators

Bob Hawke

      Singapore's Government is founded on the principles and models of British Parliamentary democracy. Hence there are similarities in our parliament compared to the Australian parliament. Australia has 2 tiers of government, the first one, the House of Representatives, who are elected members of their constituencies. These members hold office only with the support of their electorates and they must retain support from their electorate at each General Election, much like Singapore's. 

    Unlike Singapore, Australia's is a federal Government based on states and the state administration provides the basis for rule of law, funding and the adherence to the constitution. So the constituents constantly put views to members of parliament on matters of government policy or seek their assistance with their various problems living in a fast paced and modern society. The MPs then raise the matter higher up to the relevant Ministers and their ministries. 

John Howard

       Matters dealt with helping their constituents in areas which include industry problems, immigration, taxation, social welfare, family law, postal and even the tasks of filling complex Government forms.  MPs have to attend Commonwealth (of which Singapore is a member) and State functions. When these occur,  opportunities abound for the MPs to discuss matters with the Senators regarding federal issues and the cross boundary issues. 

Houses of Parliament 

         At a larger level, Senators are elected by the common citizenry to each state of Australia to represent the interests of the state as a whole in the Commonwealth Parliament. With some restrictions, the Senate is an equal partner to the House of Representatives in hthe law making process. The main difference between a senator and a member of the House of Representative stems from the fact that each represents a different kind of constituency and serves a different kind of term. While the House of Representatives are elected from Single Member Constituencies for a maximum of 3 years (Singapore's a little longer about 4 odd years), groups of senators represent either whole states for a maximum of 6 years or territories for the duration of the term of the House of Representatives. 

Canberra University, Sports Science Division

         Senators tend to have greater freedom from electoral demands, and are able to give more of their attention to those aspects of the work of the Senate which fall within its scope as a house of review. Senators frequently become involved in examining the details of proposed legislation, whether it has been initiated in their own chamber or comes after it has been passed by the House of Representatives. This is very similar to the US Senate and House of Representatives system. 

      Not all the work of senators is confined to activities within the chamber. From their offices in Parliament House, or their electorate offices in their own states, senators receive representations from individuals or groups, answer correspondences and prepare speeches. Most activities by their political parties are attended and followed closely by the senators from their own party.

      Australia practices proportional representation voting system used for electing the Senate.  This has ensured parliamentary representation of a range of small political partiesand independent senators. Singapore has its own system of Non Constituency MPs who are independent of any political party and raise views according to their interest groups.

     Most senators are members of a number of the Senate's standing or select committee. This work involves calling for submissions,examining witnesses and writing reports for subsequent presentation to Parliament.

      The visit to ACT's Parliament House was a good learning lesson for me.