Dane Luo

In early January, the world watched in disbelief as the US House of Representatives went through vote after vote to elect a Speaker. The chaos stemmed from 19 Republican Representatives (joined later by one more) who rebelled against the House Republican Conference’s pick of Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. Four days and 15 votes later, at the stroke of midnight, McCarthy was elected Speaker.

It begs the question: would such a messy, protracted political battle for the position of Speaker happen in Australia? In short, the answer is no. To demonstrate why, this article will compare and contrast the role, powers, and method of electing the Speaker in these two countries.