How government is formed?
It’s just not fair. You don’t get to be the government unless you belong to a major political party. The federal government is formed by the party or coalition of parties that holds a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. At each Federal election, all 148 seats are up for grabs. Each House of Reps seat is roughly the same size (in population terms) – that’s why boundaries change from time to time, to keep up with numbers of people living in each area. So to get into government you have to be part of a major political party, win your own seat, then hope your party wins the most seats in the House of Reps. If it doesn’t you can always go into coalition, like the Liberal Party does with the National Party. It didn’t have the most number of votes at the last election, but the Liberals and Nationals teamed up to form a government. To gain pre-selection for the party of your choice, join your local branch then check out the rules about how pre-selection is organised. There are a
