When you stone upward to the polling station on election day, you'll get two ballot papers. The big, white ane is for the Senate, and the smaller dark-green one is for the House of Representatives.

Only why do we accept both, and what do they practice?

In short, having two houses of Parliament means that one chamber doesn't get too large for its boots.

The House of Representatives - or Lower House - is the Firm of government. That means that the party or formal coalition with the most seats there becomes the ruling party. (At the moment - that's the Coalition, which is led by Scott Morrison as the Prime Government minister).

If a political party or coalition gets 76 or more seats out of a possible 150 (increasing to 151 - just we'll go to that soon) subsequently a federal election and so they get to grade government.

If they've got the numbers, they call the shots.

The Firm is where virtually legislation - called bills - originates earlier becoming law. Merely bills take to go through both houses of Parliament before they get law.

And so once a bill is approved by the House of Reps, it then moves to the Senate for further debate and word. If the majority of Senators are absurd with the bill, they'll approve it, and it becomes law.

And we haven't had the aforementioned party ruling both the Senate and the House of Reps since 2004. In fact, that'due south only happened twice in the last 40 years.

So information technology's no wonder that governments can often scissure the sh*ts with the Senate.

The Senate was intended to be a business firm of review, a way of keeping the government that usually controls the Business firm of Reps in check.

Who do they represent?

Members in the House of Reps represent a geographic area - also known as electorates, or seats - fabricated upwardly of roughly 100,000 voters each.

The electorates match upwardly with our population spread.

Then New South Wales has 47 seats while the Northern Territory has just two.

At the moment in that location are 150 members of the House of Reps. But that'south going to increase by 1 seat in the 2022 federal election.

That'due south to reflect an increment in Australia'southward population overall.

Southward Australia volition lose a seat - due to its shrinking population - while both Victoria and the Human activity will each gain a seat.

The Senate, or Upper Firm, represents states or territories.

So if you're a New S Wales voter, you're voting for the aforementioned candidates whether yous're in Byron or Batemans Bay.

Unlike the House, the number of Senators are spread equally across states, regardless of their populations. There's 12 each in the states, and two each in the territories, taking us to 76 in total.

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Which gives the less populated states an edge, because to be elected a senator, y'all need roughly fourteen per cent of the vote. Fourteen per cent of Tasmania'southward population is a damn sight smaller than 14 per cent of Victoria's.

Why are in that location then many weirdos in the Senate?

You've probably noticed that there are a lot of independents and minor parties - that is - not the big two - in Senate.

And y'all might be wondering why.

Information technology's got to do with how we vote in the Senate - a system called proportional voting.
Under this system, when a candidate hits the required quota to get them elected, all subsequent votes go to either whoever the candidate has preferenced, or who y'all as a voter has marked every bit your 2nd-in-line.

That redistribution keeps going until other candidates striking the limit for their quota.

Independents and smaller parties, who may not have the star power to striking a quota on their ain, are usually elected on the preferences of voters who gave their beginning vote to some other candidate.

Voters can vote above the line, which ways they option their favourite party and let the party order the candidates how they please. Or they can vote below the line, where they tin choose whatever candidate in any guild they like.

Voting below the line is pretty time consuming, and it's no surprise that veeeery few voters choose that option - just around 4 per cent. But voting below the line is the best fashion to ensure that your votes get to the candidates you lot prefer.

A layman's instance of the Houses in action

Still not quite getting how the Houses work? Here's a hypothetical scenario.

Let's say someone in the House of Representatives wants to brand afternoon naps mandatory for everyone in every Australian workplace.

They introduce a bill in the Business firm of Reps maxim why they think it's a proficient thought.

They argue the pros and cons for a bit, merely eventually anybody there votes on it - and, hooray - the majority of MPs in that location think information technology's a slap-up idea besides. It gets the tick from the Business firm of Reps.

But earlier napping becomes a workplace policy, that bill has to be approved by the other people in the Upper House, the Senate.

The Senators accept a look at the beak. They debate the pros and cons - what almost people who tin't feasibly nap on the job, similar an ambulance driver? What virtually the loss in productivity? How long should a nap exist? - and eventually they vote on it.

If a majority of Senators agree that it's a skillful idea, then the bill becomes law.

If a majority don't, and have some concerns nigh how the napping law will work, they ship it dorsum to the Firm of Reps.

There they might change the original bill a chip - with a clause, for example, saying that emergency service workers don't have to accept a nap, merely won't be punished if they're able to accept a nap between jobs.

Later that'south approved in the House of Reps, information technology goes back (over again!) to the Senate with the new modify we just mentioned.

If the Senators agree it's now all skilful to go, they'll vote on information technology, and if the majority of Senators approve it, the beak will become law.