Australian House of Representatives

The Australian House of Representatives is one of the two houses (chambers) of the Parliament of Australia. It is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being referred to as the upper house. The term in office of members of the House of Representatives is a maximum of three years from the date of the first sitting of the House, but may be abridged if an early election is called or if Parliament is dissolved. A member of the House may be referred to as a "Member of Parliament" ("MP" or "Member"), while a member of the Senate is usually referred to as a "Senator".

The present Parliament is the 44th Federal Parliament of Australia. The most recent federal election was held on 7 September 2013 and the new House first sat on 12 November 2013. The Liberal/National Coalition won 90 seats out of 150 and formed the government. The Labor Party holds 55 seats and forms the opposition. The Australian Greens, Palmer United Party and Katter's Australian Party each hold a single seat, while the remaining two are held by independents. Unless an election is called earlier, the term of the House will expire on 11 November 2016.

House of Representatives

House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often called a "Senate". In some countries, the House of Representatives is the sole chamber of a unicameral legislature.

The functioning of a house of representatives can vary greatly from country to country, and depends on whether a country has a parliamentary or a presidential system. Members of a House of Representatives are typically apportioned according to population rather than geography.

National legislatures

The Indonesian People's Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) is generally known in English as the "House of Representatives", as is the Dewan Rakyat of the Parliament of Malaysia and the Dáil Éireann of the Irish Oireachtas parliament. In the 2012 draft for a new Constitution of Egypt, the People's Assembly is called "House of Representatives".

Stop Online Piracy Act

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a controversial United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Provisions included the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and web search engines from linking to the websites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the websites. The proposed law would have expanded existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Proponents of the legislation said it would protect the intellectual-property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and was necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign-owned and operated websites. Claiming flaws in present laws that do not cover foreign-owned and operated websites, and citing examples of active promotion of rogue websites by U.S. search engines, proponents asserted that stronger enforcement tools were needed. The bill received strong, bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and the Senate. It also received support from the following organizations: Fraternal Order of Police, the National Governors Association, The National Conference of Legislatures, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, The National Association of Attorneys General, the Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau, the AFL–CIO and 22 trade unions, the National Consumers League, and over a hundred associations representing industries throughout the economy which claim that they are being harmed by online piracy.

House of Representatives (Trinidad and Tobago)

The House of Representatives is the elected Lower House of the bicameral Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. The House of Representatives sits in the Red House in Port of Spain. It has 41 members, each elected to represent single-seat constituencies. The Parliament is elected with a five-year life-span, but may be dissolved earlier by the President at any time if so advised by the Prime Minister.

After an election, the person with the most seats among the members of the House is appointed Prime Minister and asked to form a government.

Five constituencies were added in the 2007 election; there were only 36 constituencies prior to 2007. There are now 41 constituencies.

Latest election

Current members of Parliament

The current members of Parliament are listed below based on the results of the 2015 General elections:

See also