Speaker of The Australian House of Representatives - Impartiality

Impartiality

Although Australian Speakers are supposed to behave with reasonable impartiality, they see it as part of their duty to support the Government of the day in getting its business through the House, and generally rule in favour of the Government on the frequent points of order raised by Opposition members. Speakers are regularly accused of favouring the Government, and on occasion motions of dissent in the Speaker's rulings or motions of no confidence in the Speaker are moved. These are always defeated along party lines.

On the other hand, the Speaker is not an active political figure like the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He or she does not take part in debates in the House, does not vote in the House except in the (rare) event of a tied vote, and does not speak in public on party-political issues (except at election time in his or her own constituency). He or she is expected to conduct the business of the House in an impartial manner, and generally does so.

There have been several memorable clashes between Speakers and the governments that caused them to be elected:

• In 1929 Speaker Sir Littleton Groom declined to come into the House and cast a vote in committee when his vote would have saved the Bruce government from defeat. As a result he was expelled from the Nationalist Party and defeated in his constituency at the subsequent election.
• In 1975 the Whitlam government refused to support Speaker Jim Cope when he named government minister Clyde Cameron for disrespect to the Chair: normally this would have resulted in the minister's suspension from the House. The Speaker resigned on the spot. This is the only occasion on which a Government failed to support a Speaker after a Member had been named.
• In 1982 Speaker Sir Billy Snedden refused to insist that an opposition frontbencher, Bob Hawke, retract an allegation that the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, was a liar. Snedden stood his ground despite furious demands from government members that Hawke either be made to retract or be named.

In addition, a notable occurrence in 2011, a Speaker survived being countermanded by the House. After a contentious debate on carbon pricing in which the Speaker Harry Jenkins declared a "general warning" for all members, Liberal MP Bob Baldwin interjected and was named by the Speaker. The Government accordingly moved that he be suspended, but Baldwin was supported by the Coalition, independent MP Rob Oakeshott and WA Nationals MP Tony Crook. The resulting vote on suspending Baldwin for 24 hours failed 71–72. Convention would normally have required the Speaker to resign, but the House of Representatives immediately thereafter approved a motion of confidence in the Speaker, and as a consequence, Speaker Jenkins continued in office.