Parliament

Saturday morning started out with a visit to the Australian Parliament, an ugly looking heap of modernism opened in 1988. The building is mostly crap, but the history and political culture of Parliament itself is quite interesting. It's kind of a mixture of US and UK traditions, and is sometimes referred to as "Washminster".

On the one hand, Australia is a parliamentary democracy with a legislature consisting of two chambers and they follow the UK tradition of having a Cabinet consisting of members of the two chambers, and a Shadow Opposition. The seating arrangements in the chambers follow a British pattern. On the other hand, the chambers are called Senate and House of Representatives, and as with the US, only the House can initiate legislation raising revenue.

All pics here.

Parliament as seen from the front.


The entrance area.


The Great Hall further in. The hideous tapestry on the wall took 2,5 years to make I think, and for some reason they seem mighty proud of it. As I've said before, there's no accounting for taste, nor for the fact that I'm right and they're wrong.


The House of Representatives.


The Senate.


Australia bought one of the ancient copies of the Magna Charta back in the 20s or 30s.


A kangaroo and an emu... how Australian.


Nice views from the roof of Parliament.