President of the Australian Senate

The President of the Australian Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Australia. The other presiding officer is the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Australian Senate occupies a different position in the Australian Parliament to the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, on which the Australian Parliament is modelled, because the Senate has always been a popularly-elected body.

Section 17 of the Constitution of Australia says:

The Senate shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business, choose a senator to be the President of the Senate; and as often as the office of President becomes vacant the Senate shall again choose a senator to be the President. The President shall cease to hold his office if he ceases to be a senator. He may be removed from office by a vote of the Senate, or he may resign his office or his seat by writing addressed to the Governor-General.

The President is elected by the Senate in a secret ballot. The Clerk conducts the election. The Presidency has always been a partisan office and the nominee of the government party has nearly always been elected - although this cannot be guaranteed since the government of the day does not necessarily have a majority in the Senate. The President is assisted by an elected Deputy President.

Between 1981 and 2005, the Australian Democrats held the balance of power in the Senate. They maintained a policy of supporting the nominee of the Government for the position of President, and the nominee of the Opposition for the position of Deputy President. Since July 2005 the Liberal and National parties have had a majority in the Senate, but the practice of allowing an Opposition Senator to be Deputy President has so far been maintained.

The position of President has been disproportionately held by Senators representing the smaller states and territories. Of the 21 Senate presidents since 1901, only five have come from the two largest states, New South Wales and Victoria. Thirteen have come from the three smallest states (Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania) or the Australian Capital Territory. This is because the small states and the territories have a majority of votes in the Senate (in which all states have equal representation).

Unlike the Speaker, the President has a deliberative, but not a casting vote (in the event of an equality of votes, the motion fails). This is because the Senate is in theory a states' house, and depriving the President of a deliberative vote would have robbed one of the states or one of its Senators' votes (in practice the Senate has always been a party house).

Like the Speaker, the President continues to attend party meetings, and at general elections stands as a party candidate. On the other hand, the President does not usually take part in debates in the Senate and does not speak in public on party-political issues. He or she is expected to conduct the business of the Senate in an impartial manner, and generally does so.

The President’s principal duty is to preside over the Senate, although he or she is assisted in this by the Deputy President and a panel of Acting Presidents, who usually preside during routine debates. The occupant of the Chair must maintain order in the Senate, uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure) and protect the rights of backbench Senators. The President, in conjunction with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also administers Parliament House, Canberra, with the assistance of an administrative staff.

The Senate is not as rowdy as most Australian legislative chambers, and the President does not have the same amount of disciplinary authority as the Speaker. Thus, his disciplinary powers are seldom exercised.