Professionals or Part-Timers? by Onselen Peter Van;

Author:Onselen, Peter Van;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Parliamentary roles

The parliamentary roles of major party senators are many and varied. They include representation of a state-wide electorate, review of government legislation and scrutiny of government administration. The latter two activities may involve service on parliamentary committees. However, participation by senators in such parliamentary activity is variable and can link with institutional duty roles.

All senators interviewed indicated that, before entering into parliament, they underestimated the amount of time they would be required to spend on committee work. Given the central party backgrounds of many senators, this is somewhat surprising. With many committees travelling interstate, and in any event requiring extra trips to Canberra, travel for committee work eats into time available for the tasks required by parties. However, the parliament allocates staff to parliamentary committees, which leaves the senator’s staff to carry much of the burden of duty roles allocated to the senator. This prevents committee responsibilities paralysing the duty activities of staff as well as senators themselves.

Parliamentary committees can, nevertheless, be an important way for new senators to establish a reputation, both publicly and in the party, for competence in a given area of policy. This can improve senators’ chances of fulfilling their progressive ambitions, on the basis of either their policy expertise or the public profile garnered during committee work. The example given of Senator Bronwyn Bishop on Estimates Committees illustrated this point. She achieved a good public profile through her committee work and, at a time of leadership crisis in the Liberal Party, used that profile to transfer to the House of Representatives in 1993. At that time she was considered a Liberal Party leadership candidate, at least in the minds of many in the media (van Acker 2003: 6).

Committee work is an area of senatorial activity that reflects diverse interests of major party senators. Committees often require substantial displays of partisanship. High-profile committee hearings such as the children overboard affair8 require senators to adhere firmly to party lines, while less high-profile committees offer ambitious senators the chance to display their skills while performing required parliamentary roles. Senators can make a name for themselves through strong performances in committees while simultaneously fulfilling partisan needs. Oppositions use Estimates Committees to gain most of their information for parliamentary and media attacks (another being FOIs). Equally, Estimates Committees are an important means through which the accountability function of the Senate and the Opposition is performed. The committee system also represents the best opportunity for senators to explore ideological or policy interests while in the parliament.

Representation of an electorate is an important aspect of parliamentary work for MPs. The state-wide electorate is officially the senator’s responsibility. While, from an institutional perspective, representation of the state-wide electorate is a senator’s primary role, it is in fact the least significant expectation they face. The first point of contact for most members of the public with a problem is their local MP (state or federal). Often, members of the public contacting a senator’s office are referred to their local MP because the party

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