Speaker of The Australian House of Representatives - Perquisites

Perquisites

A Member elected Speaker is entitled, while Speaker, to the title 'The Honourable', which, with the approval of the Sovereign, may be retained for life. This privilege is usually only given to those who have served as Speaker for three years or more. The immediate past Speaker, Harry Jenkins, was the first Speaker to ask that "The Hon." not be used in reference to him, while also making clear that he was not attempting to set a precedent for future speakers; he was simply not personally comfortable with the title.

Following the Westminster tradition inherited from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, the traditional dress of the speaker includes components of Court dress such as the black silk lay-type gown (similar to a Queen's Counsel gown), a wing collar and a lace jabot or bands (another variation included a white bow tie with a lace jabot), bar jacket, and a full-bottomed wig. The wig available for use by the speaker was used by Herbert 'Doc' Evatt when he was a High Court Justice (1930–1940) and was donated to the Parliament by Evatt when he was elected to the House in 1951. The wig is currently on loan from the speaker's office to the Museum of Australian Democracy. Another addition, though only for the most formal occasions, includes court shoes and hose. The dress of Speakers has often varied according to the party in power, but is determined on the personal choice of the Speaker. All Labor party Speakers have worn business suits, following the example set by their first Speaker, Charles McDonald.

The Speaker, currently, no longer wears the full traditional dress. However, there is nothing stopping any given Speaker, if they choose to do so, from assuming traditional court dress or anything they deem appropriate. Billy Snedden (1976–1983) was the last Speaker to do so. The Labor practice resumed from 1983 until the election of the Howard Government in 1996. The new Speaker Bob Halverson chose to wear the court dress of the Speaker upon his election in April 1996, returning to tradition by wearing the full traditional dress but without the wig. Speaker Ian Sinclair chose to resume normal business dress during his brief term in 1998. However the gown, albeit of a simpler academic style, returned with the election of Speakers Andrew and Hawker. Speaker Jenkins resumed Labor practice from 2007 until the election of Peter Slipper in late 2011. Speaker Slipper went one step further to restoring the traditional dress by the gown and the QC's bar jacket underneath his business attire. Slipper also took to wearing a white long tie or bow tie, in a variation from the lace jabot or bands. Slipper then returned to wearing the wing collar with white bow tie and bands on the occasion of his first formal procession into parliament. Speaker Burke returned to the Labor practice of wearing normal business attire.