Editing Australian Senate (section)

===Parties===
{{see also|Independent politicians in Australia#Senate}}
Political parties have played a major role in the operations of the Senate throughout its history.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=144}} Some framers of the constitution intended that senators would give first priority to the interests of their states, placing state considerations above party interests. However, others involved in drafting the constitution – including [[Alfred Deakin]], [[Isaac Isaacs]], and [[H. B. Higgins]] – correctly predicted that party considerations would soon dominate state interests.{{sfn|Bach|2003|pp=146–147}} 

[[Party discipline]] was important in the Senate from the first parliament, most notably with the formation of an [[Australian Labor Party Caucus|Australian Labor Party caucus]] after the inaugural [[1901 Australian federal election|1901 election]] which required its members to vote in line with decisions of the majority. A two-party system became ensconced in both houses of parliament following the [[Liberal Party (Australia, 1909)|"fusion" of the non-Labor parties]] in 1909, largely as a response to the discipline of the ALP.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=144-145}} Votes on party lines soon became a regular feature of debate, with corresponding criticisms that the Senate had merely become a rubber stamp for the government rather than filling the role of a states' house.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=146}}

The "block" voting system used for the Senate prior to electoral reform in 1948 contributed to uneven party representation in the Senate, with the party securing the majority of votes in a state typically winning all that state's Senate seats. After the emergence of the two-party system, there were only two elections between 1910 and 1949 where the government formed in the House of Representatives did not also hold a majority in the Senate. In both cases ([[1913 Australian federal election|1913]] and [[1929 Australian federal election|1929]]) the government lasted only a single term.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=49}} The system produced "extreme and wildly fluctuating results".{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=75}} On five occasions, the government won all available seats at half-Senate elections; consecutive landslide victories could resulted in the opposition being reduced to a handful of seats, such as when the ALP was reduced to a single Senate seat after the [[1919 Australian federal election|1919 election]].{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=76}} These outcomes, while still uncommon, led the Senate to be perceived as a weak institution serving as a rubber stamp and contributed to calls for reform.{{sfn|Bach|2003|pp=76–77}}

The system of proportional representation passed in 1948 and implemented at the [[1949 Australian federal election|1949 election]] resulted in a more even balance of party representation.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=78}} A largely unintended consequence of the reforms was the emergence of minor parties as a political force in the Senate, ending a period of 40 years where every elected senator had been a member of either the ALP or the various anti-Labor parties.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=79}} The first minor party to achieve prominence and obtain the [[Balance of power (parliament)|balance of power]] in the Senate was the [[Democratic Labor Party (Australia, 1955)|Democratic Labor Party]] (DLP), formed after the [[Australian Labor Party split of 1955|ALP split of 1955]].{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=80}} The [[Australian Democrats]] and the [[Australian Greens]] have also held the balance of power at various points.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=51}} This marked the start of a pattern of non-government control of the Senate, where neither the government nor the opposition held a majority of seats and the government was reliant on minor party and independent senators to pass legislation.{{sfn|Bach|2003|p=52}} Since 1962, the government has secured a Senate majority on only three occasions: after the [[1975 Australian federal election|1975]], [[1977 Australian federal election|1977]] and [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 elections]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/senate/pubs/pops/pop52/23_having_the_numbers_means_not_having_to_explain.pdf |title=Having the Numbers Means Not Having to Explain: The Effect of the Government Majority in the Senate |first=Harry |last=Evans |year=2009 |work=Papers on Parliament |volume=52 |publisher=Parliament of Australia |pages=151–1633}}</ref>