Australian Parliament

View of Canberra from atop Mt. Ainsley again; straight down the open lane and then across the lake is the Parliament building, built into the hill that existed there.

The last thing we did in Canberra for our orientation was to take a tour of the Australian Parliament building.  This is a pretty unique building that officially opened in 1988 during the Australian bicentennial when all members of Parliament packed up their things in the morning and walked up the hill from the old Parliament to the new.  The building was carved down into the hilltop so that elected officials could never be considered to be ruling from "above".  Canberra was very much a designed city much like DC, with the man-made lake and symmetric spokes leading out from Parliament towards the rest of the city, the war memorial, and Mt. Ainsley in the background.

View from the front of the Parliament building looking at the old Parliament and Mt. Ainsley in the background.

The foyer (which I failed to snap a pic of) featured all marble from various parts of Australia (including some from Italy where the architect hailed from) and there were many marble columns, brown at the base and grey at the top representing the eucalyptus trees that are ever-present across the country.  The foyer led into a very large space for functions and featured a tapestry representing Australia's forests, woven in pieces across the country, and brought together to form one of the largest in the world.  It truly was massive.

Tapestry of Australia's bush forest.

Australia follows parliamentary procedure in their government (which I know not of the details), with a bicameral legislation broken into the House of Representatives and the Senate, which they modeled after ours.  Though Congress was not in session when we were there, it is open to the public whenever it is, and Kara and I may try to attend for a bit when she is here because the idea of looking in on government in motion live as it is happening seems very interesting.  Not that I have ever watched one lick of CSPAN, but witnessing it live seems very cool!

The House of Representatives chamber with our excellent tour guide, a former rugby player.

Official objects of parliamentary procedure; speaking is timed and limited very strictly. No filibustering allowed!

The decor in the House chamber is all green, representing once again the Australian forests, and it fades from dark to light as you move upwards as do the eucalypt species here.  The Senate is similarly styled, but in deep reds (though they seem a bit faded with age) representing the desert and geologic hues.  There are some traditional symbolic artifacts that accompany the parliamentary system like staffs, maces, and ornate boxes holding various religious books for oaths and such.  In the Senate chamber, the Australian coat-of-arms can be seen featuring the kangaroo and the emu, both animals that cannot walk backwards, a symbolism of Australia's wishes to always look to the future.  In the Senate, you can also see a chair behind the main position where the Senate President (akin to our Majority Leader) sits.  This chair is for the Governor General, the Australian representative of the English Parliament, and is appointed by the Queen of England except for when she visits and performs this role herself!

Senate House in red desert colors

Detail of Senate seating with coat-of-arms and the Queen's seat. Prince Phillip takes the smaller chair.

Politics in Australia is currently pretty interesting as the Prime Minister has called for a double dissolution of the two branches of representatives.  This is a seldom occurrence that can be enacted when there is gridlock in the government and nothing is getting done.  It has only happened a few times before and basically all seats of Parliament come up for election at the same time with leading vote-getters taking long terms and those with less of a win taking the shorter term to maintain a staggered election cycle.  If only for us in America!  It is interesting that the American election campaign is reported on television here and everyone seems thankful that there campaign here has not been going on nearly as long as ours!  Even so, I have heard very little disdain for what is happening in the States, merely sympathy!  The election here is at the beginning of July and it will be pretty intriguing to see what comes of it.

Interesting portrait of a former Prime Minister.  A large number of the official portraits are on display which are put up after a Prime Minister has left office.  This fellow apparently had a very hard time in leading the Houses of Parliament to get anything done and was unceremoniously removed from office.  When asked to sit for his portrait, he refused and forced the government to use an already famous painting that had been done of him in a non-traditional manner to be put up.  With no recourse, they have displayed it and it is funny to see amidst all of the others that are very austere.

So after the tour of Parliament we were all dropped at the airport to carry on to our respective cities of study.  I am now happily settled in Melbourne and am taking this weekend to catch my breath and begin my work anew.  Pics of my research outpost cabin will come soon!  Cheers!

View from on top of the grassed hill that is the Australian Parliament House

Massive Australian flag spire on top of the building.