The Speaker is a member of the House of Assembly, who is elected by all the Members of the House of Assembly as the Chairperson of the house. Changes to legislation in late 2021 now means that the Speaker cannot be a member of or actively participate in proceedings of a political party except during a ‘relevant election period’ (from July 1 the year before a general election of the House).
This means if an elected Speaker is a member of a political party when elected, they have until the end of the day on which they were elected as Speaker to resign from their party or they vacate the office of the Speaker, and another Member is elected.
The House elect one Member to be Speaker at their first gathering post an election and will elect another Member from the House as Speaker if the previous Member resigns, dies, or is removed by a vote.
The current Speaker of the House of Assembly is the Hon. Dan Cregan MP who is the member for Kavel and has held this position since these changes to the legislation.
So what does the Speaker do?
The main role of the Speaker is to make sure that meetings of the House of Assembly are kept to order and that the rules and procedures of the house are followed. They’re like an umpire for parliamentary debates, it’s their job to ensure everyone is treated fairly which often includes making a call on whether remarks made are relevant or offensive.
They don’t usually take part in debates, but call on Members who wish to speak or ask questions and put forward the questions that Members vote on and announces the results of each vote. The Speaker will only vote themselves to break a tie.
It's also their job to sign any messages from the House of Assembly (lower house) to the Legislative Council (upper house) as the spokesperson for the house. Read more of the Speaker’s responsibilities here.
The Speaker is a vital part of our parliament, presiding over the house they begin and conclude sittings and keep other members in order to ensure legislation is fairly debated so they must act with both authority and impartiality. But all of their decisions are subject to the will of the House and can be challenged, overturned or upheld by a motion of the House. They must be challenged by a motion, any other inference, allegation or imputation that the Chair has acted inadequately or improperly, however indirect or ambiguous, is considered disorderly conduct.
