The Museum of Australian Democracy acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the elders past, present and emerging.

The museum respectfully acknowledges the role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to play in shaping Australia’s democracy.

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Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
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Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
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    The Senate Chamber

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    The Senate Chamber on the last night of sittings in Old Parliament House.
    The Senate Chamber on the last night of sittings, 3 June 1988. Image courtesy of Trevor Fowler, photographer.

    The Senate was established to give an equal say to each original Australian State, with the smaller States having the same number of senators as the larger ones. This was a crucial part of the Federation agreement. In time, senators’ loyalty to their party became more important than State loyalties. Since 1949, proportional representation has made it easier for minor parties to win seats in the Senate than in the House of Representatives. Debate in the Senate is controlled by the President of the Senate who, like the Speaker of the House, sits in a prominent position in the Chamber.

    While the Government is formed by the party which holds a majority in the House of Representatives, it may not necessarily have a majority in the Senate. The Senate has almost equal power to the House of Representatives, with the important exception that it cannot introduce or amend money bills. These bills are the means by which the Government obtains funds (often referred to as supply) for its administration. However the Senate can reject or refuse to pass such bills. In 1975, the Senate demonstrated this power when it refused to pass the supply bills, triggering the constitutional crisis that led to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government.

    The Senate Chamber was the place where parliaments were opened—usually after a federal election. On these occasions, members of the House of Representatives would be summoned to walk across King’s Hall to join the senators to hear the Governor-General or the Monarch declare the new Parliament in session. Queen Elizabeth II performed this function in 1954, 1974 and 1977.

    Although some senators may be ministers, the Prime Minister must be a member of the House of Representatives. Only once in the history of the Federal Parliament has the Prime Minister come from the Senate. This happened in 1968 when Senator John Gorton was elected leader of the Liberal Party following the death by drowning of Prime Minister Harold Holt. Gorton then resigned his Senate seat and won Holt’s vacant House of Representatives’ seat of Higgins.

    Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

    18 King George Terrace, Parkes, ACT 2600, Australia

    PO Box 3934
    Manuka ACT 2603

    9am to 5pm daily 
    Closed Christmas Day

    ABN: 30 620 774 963

    Telephone: 02 6270 8222

    Enquiries:
    info@moadoph.gov.au

    Please note: video surveillance is used 24 hours a day around and throughout the building and may be used for research purposes

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    The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House is a Corporate Commonwealth Entity within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts