Parliament of Australia in the context of "Crossbencher"

The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 is an act of the Australian Parliament that formally adopted sections 2–6 of the Statute of Westminster 1931, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enabling the total legislative independence of the various self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. With its enactment, Westminster relinquished nearly all of its authority to legislate for the Dominions, effectively making them de jure sovereign nations.

With the enactment of the Adoption Act, the British Parliament could no longer legislate for the Commonwealth without the express request and consent of the Australian Parliament. The act received Royal Assent on 9 October 1942, but the adoption of the Statute was made retroactive to 3 September 1939, when Australia entered World War II.

The Australia Act 1986 is the short title of each of a pair of separate but related pieces of legislation: one an act of the Parliament of Australia, the other an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Acts eliminated the ability for the United Kingdom to legislate with effect in Australia, for the UK to be involved in any Australian government, and for an appeal from any Australian court to a British court. This act formally severed all legal ties between Australia and the United Kingdom.

In Australia they are referred to, respectively, as the Australia Act 1986 (Cth) and the Australia Act 1986 (UK). These nearly identical Acts were passed by the two parliaments, because of uncertainty as to whether the Commonwealth Parliament alone had the ultimate authority to do so. They were enacted using legislative powers conferred by enabling acts passed by the parliaments of every Australian state. The acts came into effect simultaneously, on 3 March 1986.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since the 2022 federal election, and with political branches active in all the Australian states and territories, they currently hold government in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2025, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory are the only states or territories where Labor currently forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuously operating political party in Australian history, having been established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne, the meeting place of the first Federal Parliament.

The ALP is descended from the labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labour movement. Colonial Labour parties contested seats from 1891, and began contesting federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election. In 1904, the ALP briefly formed what is considered the world's first labour party government and the world's first democratic socialist or social democratic government at a national level. At the 1910 federal election, Labor became the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian parliament. In every election since 1910 Labor has either served as the governing party or the opposition. There have been 13 Labor prime ministers and 10 periods of federal Labor governments, including under Billy Hughes from 1915 to 1916, James Scullin from 1929 to 1932, John Curtin from 1941 to 1945, Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949, Gough Whitlam from 1972 to 1975, Bob Hawke from 1983 to 1991, Paul Keating from 1991 to 1996, Kevin Rudd from 2007 to 2010 and 2013, Julia Gillard from 2010 to 2013, and Anthony Albanese since 2022.

The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia. It is a written constitution, which establishes the country as a federation under a constitutional monarchy governed with a parliamentary system. Its eight chapters set down the structure and powers of the three constituent parts of the federal level of government: the Parliament, the Executive Government and the Judicature.

The Constitution was drafted between 1891 and 1898 at a series of conventions conducted by representatives of the six self-governing British colonies in Australia: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. This final draft was then approved by each state in a series of referendums from 1898 to 1900. The agreed constitution was transmitted to London where, after some minor modifications, it was enacted as section 9 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It came into effect on 1 January 1901, at which point the six colonies became states within the new Commonwealth of Australia.

The Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that regulates the structure of the Australian judicial system and confers jurisdiction on Australian federal courts. It is one of the oldest pieces of Australian federal legislation and has been amended over 70 times.

Amongst other things, the Act regulates the exercise of the jurisdiction of the High Court of Australia, confers jurisdiction on the Federal Court of Australia, provides for the right of barristers and solicitors to practice in federal courts, and establishes the Australian Government Solicitor.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) is an act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places. Enacted on 16 July 2000, it established a range of processes to help protect and promote the recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, and preserve significant places from decline. The act is as of September 2024 administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Lists of threatened species are drawn up under the act, and these lists, the primary reference to threatened species in Australia, are available online through the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT).

As an act of the Australian Parliament, it relies for its constitutional validity upon the legislative powers of the Parliament granted by the Australian Constitution, and key provisions of the act are largely based on a number of international, multilateral or bilateral treaties. A number of reviews, audits and assessments of the act have found the act deeply flawed and thus not providing adequate environmental protection.

A federal election was held on 21 August 2010 to elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a second term against the opposition centre-right Liberal Party of Australia led by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Coalition partner the National Party of Australia, led by Warren Truss, after Labor formed a minority government with the support of three independent MPs and one Australian Greens MP.

Labor and the Coalition each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, four short of the requirement for majority government, resulting in the first hung parliament since the 1940 election. Six crossbenchers held the balance of power. Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent MPs Andrew Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor declared their support for Labor on confidence and supply. Independent MP Bob Katter and National Party of Western Australia MP Tony Crook declared their support for the Coalition on confidence and supply. The resulting 76–74 margin entitled Labor to form a minority government. The Prime Minister, government ministers and parliamentary secretaries were sworn in on 14 September 2010 by the Governor-General Quentin Bryce. In November 2011, Coalition MP and Deputy Speaker Peter Slipper replaced Labor MP Harry Jenkins as Speaker of the House of Representatives, increasing Labor's parliamentary majority from 75–74 (not including Jenkins as he was unable to vote on legislation due to his role as Speaker) to 76–73 (not including Slipper as he was unable to vote on legislation due to his role as Speaker).

The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 was an Act passed by the Parliament of Australia. It replaced the Papua Act 1905 and the New Guinea Act 1920, and changed the status of the territories of Papua and New Guinea by merging their administrations to form Papua and New Guinea. The Act established local rule, although the territory remained under control by Australia. The Act was repealed by the Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 which allowed for Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia.

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives.

The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chapter I of the federal constitution as well as federal legislation and constitutional convention. There are a total of 76 senators: 12 are elected from each of the six Australian states, regardless of population, and 2 each representing the Australian Capital Territory (including the Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island) and the Northern Territory (including the Australian Indian Ocean Territories). Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation in state-wide and territory-wide districts.