When you lot stone upwardly to the polling station on election day, you'll get two ballot papers. The big, white ane is for the Senate, and the smaller green i is for the House of Representatives.

But why do we accept both, and what do they practise?

In short, having 2 houses of Parliament means that one sleeping room doesn't go besides large for its boots.

The House of Representatives - or Lower House - is the House of regime. That means that the political party or formal coalition with the most seats there becomes the ruling party. (At the moment - that's the Coalition, which is led by Scott Morrison equally the Prime Minister).

If a political party or coalition gets 76 or more than seats out of a possible 150 (increasing to 151 - but we'll become to that soon) after a federal election and then they get to grade government.

If they've got the numbers, they call the shots.

The House is where most legislation - chosen bills - originates earlier becoming constabulary. But bills accept to go through both houses of Parliament before they become police.

So in one case a bill is canonical by the House of Reps, it then moves to the Senate for further fence and discussion. If the majority of Senators are cool with the bill, they'll approve it, and it becomes police.

And we haven't had the aforementioned party ruling both the Senate and the House of Reps since 2004. In fact, that's only happened twice in the last xl years.

So it's no wonder that governments can often cleft the sh*ts with the Senate.

The Senate was intended to be a house of review, a way of keeping the authorities that unremarkably controls the House of Reps in cheque.

Who do they represent?

Members in the Business firm of Reps represent a geographic area - also known as electorates, or seats - made upward of roughly 100,000 voters each.

The electorates friction match up with our population spread.

So New Due south Wales has 47 seats while the Northern Territory has only ii.

At the moment there are 150 members of the Business firm of Reps. But that's going to increase by one seat in the 2022 federal ballot.

That'south to reflect an increase in Australia's population overall.

South Commonwealth of australia will lose a seat - due to its shrinking population - while both Victoria and the ACT will each proceeds a seat.

The Senate, or Upper House, represents states or territories.

So if you're a New S Wales voter, you're voting for the same candidates whether you're in Byron or Batemans Bay.

Dissimilar the House, the number of Senators are spread equally across states, regardless of their populations. There's 12 each in u.s.a., and two each in the territories, taking united states to 76 in total.

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Which gives the less populated states an border, because to be elected a senator, you need roughly 14 per cent of the vote. Fourteen per cent of Tasmania's population is a damn sight smaller than 14 per cent of Victoria's.

Why are in that location and then many weirdos in the Senate?

You've probably noticed that there are a lot of independents and minor parties - that is - non the big 2 - in Senate.

And you might be wondering why.

It's got to exercise with how we vote in the Senate - a arrangement called proportional voting.
Under this system, when a candidate hits the required quota to become them elected, all subsequent votes go to either whoever the candidate has preferenced, or who yous equally a voter has marked as your second-in-line.

That redistribution keeps going until other candidates hit the limit for their quota.

Independents and smaller parties, who may not have the star power to hit a quota on their own, are usually elected on the preferences of voters who gave their first vote to another candidate.

Voters tin can vote above the line, which means they selection their favourite party and let the party order the candidates how they please. Or they can vote below the line, where they can choose whatsoever candidate in whatsoever club they similar.

Voting below the line is pretty time consuming, and information technology's no surprise that veeeery few voters cull that option - merely around four per cent. But voting below the line is the best mode to ensure that your votes go to the candidates you prefer.

A layman'south example of the Houses in action

Still non quite getting how the Houses piece of work? Hither'southward a hypothetical scenario.

Permit's say someone in the House of Representatives wants to make afternoon naps mandatory for anybody in every Australian workplace.

They introduce a nib in the House of Reps proverb why they think it'south a good idea.

They debate the pros and cons for a scrap, but eventually anybody in that location votes on information technology - and, hooray - the bulk of MPs there think it's a great thought as well. Information technology gets the tick from the House of Reps.

Merely earlier napping becomes a workplace policy, that pecker has to exist approved by the other people in the Upper Firm, the Senate.

The Senators have a look at the bill. They fence the pros and cons - what most people who can't conceivably nap on the chore, like an ambulance driver? What about the loss in productivity? How long should a nap be? - and eventually they vote on it.

If a bulk of Senators agree that information technology's a good thought, then the bill becomes law.

If a bulk don't, and have some concerns well-nigh how the napping police volition work, they ship it back to the House of Reps.

There they might change the original bill a fleck - with a clause, for example, saying that emergency service workers don't have to take a nap, only won't exist punished if they're able to take a nap between jobs.

After that's canonical in the House of Reps, information technology goes back (once again!) to the Senate with the new change nosotros just mentioned.

If the Senators hold it's now all expert to get, they'll vote on it, and if the majority of Senators approve it, the neb will become police force.