Perhaps the most crucial motions considered by the House of Representatives are those which express censure of or no confidence in a Government,[245] as it is an essential tenet of the Westminster system that the Government must possess the confidence of the lower (representative) House.
Question Time occurs in both the House of Representatives and the Senate and is one of the ways the Parliament scrutinises, or closely examines, the work of the executive government (Prime Minister and ministers).
The Senate has formally censured controversial Queensland politician Fraser Anning for expressing extreme anti-immigration views following the Christchurch massacre.
Labor has ended the parliamentary week by attempting to move a censure motion in the Prime Minister and the Minister Stuart Robert over his trip to China in 2014.
A censure motion against Attorney-General George Brandis over his attacks on the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission has passed in the Senate.
Several times a year senators investigate how the government is spending taxpayers' money in Senate estimates hearings. Examine the purpose, function, timing, significance and process of Senate estimates with this fact sheet.
Commonwealth Auditor General & Administrative Appeals Tribunal
The Auditor-General for Australia is an independent officer of the Parliament with responsibility under the Auditor-General Act 1997 for auditing Commonwealth entities and reporting to the Australian Parliament.
The Auditor-General responded on 9 May 2016 to correspondence from Ms Catherine King MP on 22 April 2016 regarding comments made by Ms Sophie Mirabella in relation to Commonwealth funding for Wangaratta Hospital.
Better practice guides (BPGs) aim to improve public sector administration by assisting entities to perform at their most efficient level, through the adoption of better practices to transform and improve business processes.
Under Australia’s Constitution, our judiciary is independent from the other arms of government. The separation of powers doctrine means that in interpreting and applying the law, judicial officers act independently and without interference from the parliament or the executive.
