Parliament is an assembly of elected representatives who make laws on behalf of all citizens. It is derived from the French word parlement, meaning 'speaking'.

The Australian federal parliament was created as a result of legislation enacted in the British Parliament in 1900 to unify the separate colonies and establish a federal Constitution. It provided for a lower house called the House of Representatives and an upper house called the Senate. The Constitution divided power among the Legislature (Parliament), the Executive (Government), and the Judiciary (High Court). This separation of powers was designed to prevent one person or group having all the power to govern Australia.

Image courtesy of National Archives of Australia