The Representation of Small Parties and Independents

The Senate has become the active parliamentary chamber it is today largely as a consequence of the representation of minor parties. While the two large parties have supported major changes to Senate procedures and are the major players in the day-today operation of the Senate, it has been the existence of minor party and independent senators that has given the Senate its distinctive role. It is not just that the party or parties in government do not control a partisan majority on the floor of the Senate, but that, for most of the period since 1955, governments have had to gain the support of one or more independent or minor party senators to pass measures through the Senate. From this lack of government control has sprung the independent role of the Senate in scrutinising legislation and in holding governments publicly accountable through the use of an extensive committee system. To the extent that this situation has been created by the system of proportional representation (PR) for the election of senators since 1949, PR has been the agency through which the Senate has been transformed. Quite how PR and minor party representation achieved this feat is the topic of this paper.