them at a senior level. Another rose from a senior post, having joined the
public service at age 40 from a university. Of the career appointees, several had
prior experience in the department; two have come from the Treasury and two
have headed Finance; two recent appointees have had significant experience
at high levels in defence and diplomacy.
Since Sir Maurice Hankey retired from the post in 1938, no Secretary to the
UK Cabinet has been appointed from outside the civil service. Apart from
the present occupant, Sir Jeremy Heywood, all have made their careers in the
Treasury and most have had significant private office experience; two were
head of the Home Office prior to appointment to the Cabinet Office. Sir
Jeremy is the only appointee to have spent some time in the City. Canada is
more like Australia; deputy ministers of Finance (counterpart of Treasury) do
not move to the PCO, though half a century ago one head of PCO subse-
quently took the reins at Finance; most have had previous experience in the
PCO combined with time in line agencies. The older pattern of drawing
people from the Foreign Affairs department also ended decades ago.
Only in Canada have women been appointed to these top jobs, and it has
happened there on two occasions.
14.5 Houses and Senates
It is in the structure of the parliament that the distinctiveness of Australian
government is clearest. Two features of the Australian parliament, and the
interaction between them, mark its character. Thefirst is the brief maximum
three-year term of the House of Representatives. The second is the existence of
an elected second chamber, the Senate, with virtually co-equal powers (differ-
ences between the two are procedural, not substantial). The effect of these
features is sharpened by the limited number of sitting days each year (mark-
edly less than the number in either Westminster or Ottawa).
Both the UK and the Canadian Houses of Commons are elected for terms of
five years (fixedfive years in the UK). Apart from a small number of hereditary
peers in the House of Lords, both upper houses are appointed; senators in
Canada must retire at 75 years.
The powers of the House of Lords were curtailed as a consequence of the
battle over the Budget in 1909–10; money bills do not need the concurrence of the
House of Lords and become law a month after passing the Commons; there
is a suspensive veto of one year on other legislation. As a consequence, there is
no need for the parliament at Westminster to have a dispute resolution
procedure. UK governments, if they have a workable majority in the
House of Commons, can have reasonable certainty that their legislation will
pass; this is not inevitable, however—in the late 1960s the Wilson Labour
Australia’s Distinctive Governance