Canberra : April next year has been chosen as the month in which for one day the whole Federal Parliament will head down the hill for a special sitting of proceedings.
Old Parliament House will once again be home to the nation’s decision-makers as MPs and senators conduct business in the old parliament to mark 100 years since it first happened.
The building will play a special role in Canberra’s Centenary of Parliament in 2027.
Anthony Albanese will lead the celebrations, but he has quickly stressed that plenty of parliamentary work will be undertaken on the day.
“To mark 100 years since our national parliament first met in Canberra, the 48th Australian Parliament will sit for a day at Old Parliament House in April next year,” the Prime Minister said.
“The special sitting day will see Question Time, legislation and other statements return to the chambers of Old Parliament House for the first time in decades.
“In 1927, the ‘Provisional Parliament’ was opened in Canberra and our national parliamentarians continued to meet in that building until 1988.
“Learning from our democratic history and institutions is more important than ever.”
Now known as the Museum of Australian Democracy, Old Parliament House continues to play a role in Australians’ civic education.
The Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on the Centenary of Parliament in Canberra, chaired by the Member for Newcastle and Deputy Speaker, Sharon Claydon, with Member for Riverina and former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack as Deputy Chair, is advising and supporting the arrangements.
Before the building was completed in 1927, the Commonwealth Parliament sat for 26 years in Melbourne’s Victorian Parliament House, after the first parliament opened in Melbourne’s Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901.
King Charles III’s grandfather, who was at the time the Duke of York but would go on to be crowned King George VI, opened the Provisional Parliament House with a large ceremonial golden key.
In 1975, the building became the site of drama that spread around the world when Governor-General Sir John Kerr sacked then Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.
Mr Whitlam’s “Well may we say…” speech on the steps of the provisional parliament remains part of the Australian psyche.
The building was also known for its close quarters, with numerous news ‘scoops’ having been broken simply because something was overheard in the corridors.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen noted on Saturday (17 October) that the proceedings will be cramped when parliamentarians return there for the day, but stressed that “it’s going to be great”.
“As a lover of history, I think it’s going to be a very special day,” Mr Bowen said.
“Of course, it’s going to be cramped. It won’t be a normal sort of parliamentary day.
“But it’s going to be a very special day to stand at the same dispatch boxes, you know, John Curtin and Ben Chifley and Robert Menzies and Gough Whitlam.
“I think every Member of Parliament will find that a very special day. And I hope Australians, too, recognise that Old Parliament House, together with New Parliament House, is a very important part of our history and our great achievement as one of the world’s great democracies.
“Democracy can’t be taken for granted these days, and the fact that we can celebrate our democracy and our track record as one of the world’s longest-standing democracies is a very good thing.”
No currently serving federal MP or senator sat as a parliamentarian in the old building.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary will cost taxpayers $3 million.
