Crisp,The Senate,And The Constitution |
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| Authors: | Stanley Bach |
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| Institution: | 1. Washington, DC.;2. Until his retirement, the author was Senior Specialist in the Legislative Process for the Congressional Research Service of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He thanks Harry Evans, Wayne Hooper, Rosemary Laing, Anne Lynch, and John Uhr for their helpful comments and suggestions. |
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| Abstract: | This essay explores the development of L.F. Crisp's understanding of the appropriate role of Australia's Senate in the national political system. A review of his widely‐used textbook over three decades reveals that, to Crisp, the Senate was conceived primarily to protect state interests, but that role was nullified almost immediately by the emergence of disciplined parties. Thereafter, the Senate usually was an ineffectual irrelevancy until the introduction of proportional representation transformed it into a threat to the constitutional system as it should operate. Crisp also appreciated that disciplined parties undermined effective control of government by the House of Representatives, yet he consistently failed to recognize in the Senate an institution capable of doing what the House of Representatives cannot: enforcing accountability on the government of the day. |
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