Parliament of Australia

The Parliament of Australia is the legislative branch of Australia. According to Section 1 of the Constitution of Australia, Parliament consists of the Queen of Australia, the House of Representatives (the "lower house"), and the Senate (the "upper house" or "house of review"). The Queen is normally represented in Australia by the Governor-General. The Parliament of Australia is modelled on the Parliament of the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, the Congress of the United States.

Privileges

Members of the Australian Parliament do not have legal immunity: they can be arrested and tried for any offence. They do, however, have Parliamentary privilege: they cannot be sued for anything they say in Parliament about each other or about persons outside the Parliament. This privilege extends to reporting in the media of anything a Member or Senator says in Parliament. The proceedings of parliamentary committees, wherever they meet, are also covered by privilege, and this extends to witnesses before such committees.

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There is a legal offence called contempt of Parliament. A person who speaks or acts in a manner contemptuous of the Parliament or its members can be tried and, if convicted, imprisoned. The Parliament used to have the power of hearing such cases itself, and did so in the Browne-Fitzpatrick case of 1955. This power has now been delegated to the courts, but no-one has been prosecuted for this offence.

Related Topics:
Contempt of Parliament - Browne-Fitzpatrick case - 1955

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