When you lot rock upwards to the polling station on election day, you lot'll get two ballot papers. The large, white i is for the Senate, and the smaller dark-green ane is for the House of Representatives.

But why do we have both, and what do they practice?

In curt, having two houses of Parliament ways that one chamber doesn't get likewise big for its boots.

The Firm of Representatives - or Lower House - is the Business firm of regime. That means that the 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 as the Prime number Government minister).

If a political party or coalition gets 76 or more seats out of a possible 150 (increasing to 151 - but nosotros'll go to that shortly) afterwards a federal ballot then they go to class government.

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

The House is where most legislation - called bills - originates earlier becoming law. But bills have to become through both houses of Parliament before they become constabulary.

So one time a pecker is approved by the House of Reps, information technology then moves to the Senate for further debate and discussion. If the majority of Senators are cool with the neb, they'll approve information technology, and it becomes law.

And we oasis't had the aforementioned party ruling both the Senate and the House of Reps since 2004. In fact, that'southward just happened twice in the last twoscore years.

And so information technology'southward no wonder that governments can oftentimes cleft the sh*ts with the Senate.

The Senate was intended to be a firm of review, a manner of keeping the government that normally controls the Firm of Reps in cheque.

Who do they represent?

Members in the House of Reps correspond a geographic surface area - besides known as electorates, or seats - made up 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 but two.

At the moment there are 150 members of the House of Reps. Simply that's going to increase past one seat in the 2022 federal election.

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

South Australia will lose a seat - due to its shrinking population - while both Victoria and the Human activity will each gain a seat.

The Senate, or Upper Business firm, represents states or territories.

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

Unlike the Business firm, the number of Senators are spread as across states, regardless of their populations. There's 12 each in the states, and two each in the territories, taking us to 76 in total.

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

Why are there so many weirdos in the Senate?

You've probably noticed that in that location are a lot of independents and pocket-size parties - that is - not the big ii - in Senate.

And you might be wondering why.

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

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

Independents and smaller parties, who may non have the star power to hit a quota on their ain, are commonly elected on the preferences of voters who gave their beginning vote to another candidate.

Voters can vote above the line, which means they option their favourite political party and let the party order the candidates how they please. Or they tin can vote below the line, where they can choose whatever candidate in whatever order they like.

Voting below the line is pretty fourth dimension consuming, and it'southward no surprise that veeeery few voters choose that option - only around 4 per cent. But voting below the line is the best style to ensure that your votes become to the candidates you lot prefer.

A layman's instance of the Houses in action

However not quite getting how the Houses work? Hither's a hypothetical scenario.

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

They innovate a nib in the Business firm of Reps saying why they think it's a good idea.

They contend the pros and cons for a bit, simply eventually everyone at that place votes on it - and, hooray - the majority of MPs there think it's a great idea too. It gets the tick from the House of Reps.

But earlier napping becomes a workplace policy, that bill has to be approved by the other people in the Upper House, the Senate.

The Senators accept a look at the neb. They debate the pros and cons - what near people who tin can't feasibly nap on the job, like an ambulance commuter? What about the loss in productivity? How long should a nap be? - and somewhen they vote on it.

If a majority of Senators concord that information technology's a good idea, then the bill becomes law.

If a bulk don't, and accept some concerns about how the napping law volition work, they send it back to the House of Reps.

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

After that's approved in the House of Reps, information technology goes dorsum (again!) to the Senate with the new modify we but mentioned.

If the Senators concur it's now all good to become, they'll vote on information technology, and if the majority of Senators approve it, the neb will become police.