Australian Government and Political System

Question: The lower house of the Australian Parliament is known as the…

Answer: The lower house of the Australian Parliament is the House of Representatives.

Question: Who was Australia’s first prime minister?

Answer: Sir Edmund Barton—born in Sydney in 1849—guided the Australian federation movement to a successful conclusion and became the first prime minister of the resulting commonwealth in 1901.

Question: Which title is given to the head of the executive branch of government in an Australian state?

Answer: Heads of government in Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia) are known as premiers. Government leaders in the two Australian territories of Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are known as chief ministers.

Question: As of 2017, Australia’s only female prime minister was who?

Answer: Julia Gillard served as Australian prime minister from 2010 to 2013. Dame Enid Lyons was Australia’s first female member of the House of Representatives.

Question: The official report of the debates in both houses of the Australian Parliament is known as…

Answer: Founded in the British Parliament and subsequently adopted by other Commonwealth countries, the official report is named after the Hansards, a family of printers who began working with the British Parliament in the late 18th century.

Question: Australian senators who are responsible for organizing the activities of party members in the House of Representatives and the Senate are known as what?

Answer: The term whip comes from fox-hunting in England, where the “whipper-in” was the person who made sure that the dogs were on task.  

Question: Who is Australia’s longest-serving prime minister?

Answer: In total, Sir Robert Menzies was Australia’s prime minister for more than 18 years.

Question: Who was the first serving American president to visit Australia?

Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson visited Australia in 1966.

Question: In which city was Australia’s first parliament held?

Answer: From 1901 to 1927 the Australian Parliament was held in Melbourne. In 1908 the Australian Parliament decided that a new federal capital would be founded in Canberra in southern New South Wales. Parliament House in Canberra opened in 1927.

Question: Which of these entertainers also served as a member of the Australian Parliament?

Answer: Peter Garrett was the lead singer of the rock band Midnight Oil, and he served in the Australian Parliament from 2004 to 2013.