The speakership has ever hereafter been an object of partisan contest. The
governing party has only ever had one nominee when the post was vacant;
the speakership has always changed with a change of government except in
the unusual circumstances of the divided wartime parliament of 1940–43,
when the Speaker remained in the chair after the Labor government
came to office until, in mid-1943, the government was challenged. Speaker
Sir Littleton Groom, who refused to support the Bruce–Page government in
the vital vote which brought it down, won little sympathy for his clear and
explicit adherence to Westminster practice.^1 Very occasionally, the Oppos-
ition, holding a Speaker in sufficient regard, has not nominated anyone in an
election at the beginning of a new parliament.
The presidency of the Senate has likewise gone with the government (but
within the schedules of Senate terms). In the last three decades, however,
there has been a view, not always followed, that the president should be
drawn from among government senators and the deputy president from the
Opposition.
The Speaker of the UK House of Commons is usually a parliamentarian of
some distinction but not one who has followed a ministerial path, though
there have been exceptions. The Speaker usually serves two terms, even if
there is a change of government along the way. Upon retirement, Speakers are
normally elevated to the peerage.
Though the speakership of the Canadian House of Commons has usually
gone to a member of the governing party it does not seem to have been a party
prize as in Australia. For a time, Speakers were nominated by the prime
minister and seconded by the Leader of the Opposition. Since 1986, the
Speaker has been elected by secret ballot, everyone being a candidate unless
a minister, Opposition office-holder, or members who have excluded them-
selves. There are often several ballots before anyone secures a majority.
Another indication that the Australian parliament has always been a party
institution is the office of Leader of the Opposition. When the Common-
wealth was established, with Edmund Barton as prime minister, his Free
Trade rival simply took the title of Leader of the Opposition. There was no
office as such at the time.
Canada also acknowledged a role for the principal contender for office at an
early stage and, in 1910, arranged a salary for the occupant of the post based
on constitutional arguments about the role of an Opposition leader in a
Westminster-style parliament. Since 1950, the Leader of the Opposition has
(^1) The Bruce–Page government was defeated when the House was in committee, but still in the
chamber, in a little-used stage in the legislative process between the second and third readings
when bills are discussed in detail. The Speaker does not traditionally participate in this committee
stage, and Littleton Groom did not participate.
Australia’s Distinctive Governance