Parliament

Australian capital cities have a parliament house and a government house, with overlapping functions. Visitors to a parliament house do not automatically find the parliament: for a start, an essential part of the legal definition of the parliament is the state governor or Commonwealth Governor-General, located at Government House. The constitutional documents establishing Australian parliaments define the parliament in terms of three parts of a system of constitutional monarchy. First, the governor or Governor-General as appointed representative of the Crown, with power to commission the executive government of the day, and other powers over the duration of parliaments. Second, an elected lower house, typically the home of the government of the day formed from the political party or coalition with the largest share of seats in that house. And third, except in Queensland and the two territories, an elected upper house, often with a majority of non-government representatives arising from an electoral system different from that used in lower houses.