Seating in the Chamber

How is seating arranged in the Chamber?

The House of Representatives Chamber contains five rows of seating arranged in a horseshoe shape.

This seating arrangement is unique. In most of the world’s parliamentary Chambers, rows of seats are arranged to face each other across the room or are spread in a fan shape around a central platform.

The Chamber can seat up to 170 Members with space for 190 extra seats around the sides.

Where does everybody sit?

According to parliamentary tradition, the Government sits to the right of the Speaker, and the Opposition sits to the left. Independent Members sit at the top of the horseshoe, to the left. Ministers and the shadow Ministry sit on the front benches facing the centre Table. Private Members sit on the backbenches behind the Ministers and shadow Ministers.

A small table and two chairs located in the centre of the Chamber are for the Hansard reporters who keep the official word-for-word record of parliamentary debates. The Hansard table was a gift from the Parliament of South Australia.