Back Witenagemōt of Australie ANG برلمان أستراليا Arabic Parllamentu d'Australia AST Парламент Аўстраліі Byelorussian Parlament de la Mancomunitat d'Austràlia Catalan پەرلەمانی ئوسترالیا CKB Australský parlament Czech Australiens parlament Danish Australisches Parlament German Parliament of Australia English
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The Parliament of Australia is the federal governing system in Australia. It was formed on May 9, 1901. The parliament is bicameral, which means it has two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was copied mainly from the way the United Kingdom's Parliament was run, the Westminster system, but it also has some ideas from the United States Congress. The laws which control the way the parliament is set up and its powers are part of the Australian Constitution. The Parliament meets in a special building, Parliament House, in Canberra.
The parliament has four main functions:[1]
- It makes, changes and improves the laws (legislation)
- Represents the people of Australia
- It watches what the government is doing
- It is where the government is formed
The Australian Parliament first met in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne in 1901. It then took over the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne until it moved to Canberra in 1927. A new building for the Parliament was finished in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of European settlement in Australia.
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- ↑ "Functions of Parliament". Fact Sheet 29. Parliamentary Education Office. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2010-06-10.