Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives: Difference between revisions

The dress of Speakers has often varied according to the party in power, but is determined onand the personal choice of the Speaker. Most non-Labor Speakers have worn some variation of the traditional dress. All Labor Speakers have eschewed the traditional dress in favour of ordinary business attire as appropriate for a member of parliament, following the example set by their first Speaker, [[Charles McDonald (Australian politician)|Charles McDonald]]. Most non-Labor Speakers before 2012 have worn some variation of the traditional dress.

Billy Snedden (1976–1983) was the last Speaker to wear the full traditional attire of the Speaker, complete with the wig. On the election of the Howard Government in 1996, the new Speaker, [[Bob Halverson]], chose to wear the traditional court dress of the Speaker upon his election in April 1996, but without the wig.<ref>[http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr300496.pdf Commonwealth Hansard, ''Parliamentary Debates'', House of Representatives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123185005/http://aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr300496.pdf |date=23 November 2011 }}, 30 April 1996, 7.</ref> Speaker Ian Sinclair opted to wear a gown, albeit of a simpler [[Academic dress|academic style]], during his brief term in 1998, a practice mirrored by his successors, [[Neil Andrew]] and [[David Hawker]]. SpeakerUpon Harry Jenkins resumed Labor practice from 2007 until thehis election of Peter Slipper in late 2011., Peter Slipper went a step toward restoring the traditional dress by wearing a gown and bar jacket over his business attire. Slipper also took to wearing a white long tie or bow tie, in a variation from the lace jabot or bands.<ref name=slipper /> For example, he wore a wing collar with white bow tie and bands on the occasion of his first formal procession into parliament.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-14/new-procession-ushers-in-slipper-era/3828928|date=14 February 2012|title=New procession ushers in Slipper era|first=Emma|last=Griffiths|work=ABC News|access-date=14 February 2012}}</ref> Speaker Anna Burke resumed Labor practice after being elected to succeed Slipper in 2012. Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, the first non-Labor woman to hold the post, continued wearing business attire with no gown after the Abbott Government installed her election in 2013. TheSubsequent incumbentCoalition speakerspeakers, [[Tony Smith (Victorian politician)|Tony Smith]] and [[Andrew Wallace]], hashave likewise opted for business attire.