The 47th Parliament of Australia was a meeting of the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Australia, composed of the Australian Senate and the Australian House of Representatives. The May 2022 federal election gave the Australian Labor Party control of the House, with 77 seats, enough for a two-seat majority government. Labor gained an additional seat at the Aston by-election in April 2023, thereby increasing its majority to three seats for much of the remainder of the term. Following the election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese became the 31st Prime Minister of Australia, and was sworn in by the Governor-General David Hurley on 23 May 2022. The 47th Parliament opened in Canberra on 26 July 2022. The term ended on 28 March 2025, when the House of Representatives was dissolved and parliament was prorogued by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, in preparation for the 2025 federal election.
Major events and legislation
The Climate Change Act 2022 passed the parliament on 8 September 2022, having been approved by the House by 86 votes to 50 and the Senate by 37 votes to 30. The legislation codifies a 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 (on 2005 levels), requires the Climate Change Authority to provide advice on Australia's progress against those targets, mandates that the Minister for Climate Change reports annually to Parliament on Australia's progress, and forces federal government agencies to adhere to the legislative requirements of the Act. The Social Security Amendment Act 2022 passed the parliament on 28 September 2022, having passed the House by 86 votes to 56 and the Senate by 33 votes to 26. The legislation repealed the mandatory Cashless Welfare Card, originally introduced as a trial in 2016 for 12,500 people across four trial sites, which quarantined around 80% of a person's income so it could not be spent on alcohol or gambling or withdrawn in cash. As a result of the legislative change, participants could opt out of the scheme, though around 4,300 people in the Northern Territory and Cape York remained on the card prior to the introduction of a compulsory income-management scheme in 2023. The Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 passed the parliament on 28 November 2022. The legislation implemented seven of the recommendations of the Kate Jenkins-authored Respect@Work report into sexual harassment. Among other reforms, the laws impose a positive onus on employers to take steps to demonstrate that they're proactively attempting to eliminate sex discrimination "as far as possible". In addition, victimising conduct can be the basis of a civil, not just criminal, complaint, and public sector agencies are newly required to report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency as occurs with private sector agencies. The National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 passed the parliament on 30 November 2022. The legislation established the National Anti-Corruption Commission, an independent federal agency equipped with the power to investigate Commonwealth ministers, public servants, statutory office holders, government agencies, parliamentarians and parliamentary staff for corrupt or improper behaviour. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment Act 2022 passed the parliament on 2 December 2022. The legislation passed the House of Representatives by 80 votes to 56 and passed the Senate by 35 votes to 31. The workplace relations reforms introduce multi-employer bargaining, allow the Fair Work Commission to authorise workers with sufficient common interests to bargain together and abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and Registered Organisations Commission. The legislation passed with the support of the Greens and Senator David Pocock, who each won government support for an enforceable right to request unpaid parental leave and measures to prevent a loophole in the better-off-overall test in the legislation, as well as the creation of a statutory advisory committee of experts to provide independent advice concerning "economic inclusion" of lower-income people, welfare recipients and cost-of-living relief. The Restoring Territory Rights Act 2022 passed the parliament on 1 December 2022. The legislation, which abolished the federal ban on the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory legislatures passing laws to permit euthanasia schemes (originally passed in 1997) was subject to a conscience vote for most parties. It was approved by 99 votes to 37 in the House of Representatives and by 41 votes to 25 in the Senate. In January 2023 the government began partnering with states and territories to provide approximately 500,000 fee-free TAFE places in vocational education settings for priority groups, at an overall cost of approximately $1.5 billion over three years. This was supplemented by the Free TAFE Bill which was introduced to the parliament in November 2024 and eventually passed in March 2025, which provided permanent and ongoing financial support to the states and territories for the delivery of 100,000 fee-free places per year. The legislation was supported by Labor, the Greens and some crossbenchers, and opposed by the Liberal/National opposition, One Nation and other crossbenchers. The Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Act 2023 passed the parliament on 30 March 2023. The legislation passed with the support of the Labor government, the Greens, Jacqui Lambie Network and independent crossbenchers in both chambers, following intense negotiations between the parties. In effect, 215 of the country's major polluting facilities are required to cut emissions intensity by 5% a year, through absolute cuts or by buying carbon offsets. While individual companies can buy an unlimited number of offsets, total absolute emissions under the scheme cannot increase and are required to come down over time. The legislation passed the Senate by 32 votes to 26 and the House by 89 votes to 50, with the Liberal/National Coalition, One Nation and United Australia parties opposed to the reforms. The Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 proposed alteration to the Constitution of Australia passed the parliament on 19 June 2023. It passed by 121 votes to 25 in the House of Representatives and by 52 votes to 19 in the Senate. It enabled a referendum to occur in the latter months of 2023, to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, which would have an advisory power to consult with the parliament and Executive Government on matters and legislation affecting Indigenous Australians. The Housing Australia Future Fund Bill 2023 passed the parliament on 14 September 2023. The legislation established the Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion sovereign wealth fund-type scheme to enable the construction of 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years. A guaranteed $500 million is to be spent per year from the fund, while a minimum of 1,200 homes are to be built in each state and territory across the period. The legislation's passage was achieved after the government won the support of the Greens, who negotiated an extra $1 billion for public and community housing from the government, though failed to win support for a national freeze or caps on rents. Several months prior to the legislation's passage, the government made a $2 billion separate one-off announcement for social housing through a "social housing accelerator" scheme. In January 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government had approved changes to the Stage 3 income tax cuts, originally passed by the Morrison government during the 46th Parliament and set to come into effect on 1 July 2024. Under the new scheme, the flattening of the tax rate for all income between $45,000 and $200,000 to 30% will be overturned through the restoration of the 37% tax rate, income earners above $150,000 will have their tax cuts progressively reduced to as much as half of the original cut, whilst earners up to $150,000 will have a larger cut than proposed under the previous government. To this effect, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Cost of Living Tax Cuts) Bill 2024 was approved by the parliament on 27 February 2024. On the final sitting day before the 2024 winter parliamentary break, the Albanese Government experienced its first legislative defeat in the 47th Parliament when a proposed Defence Amendment Bill was voted down in the Senate. The bill aimed to establish a parliamentary committee with broad investigative powers into Defence spending, but was rejected due to opposition from both government and coalition members, who resisted including cross-bench representation. Greens Senator David Shoebridge criticized the persistent issues with Defence procurement, citing significant failures and cost overruns in submarine, frigate, and offshore patrol vessel projects. The bill's defeat left Defence's extensive budget and procurement practices with minimal oversight, highlighting ongoing concerns about accountability and management within the department. In August 2024, the parliament passed the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment Act 2024, which made significant changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, altering the way participants receive plan budgets and giving more powers to the head of the agency in charge of the scheme to prevent top-up payments on a participant's budget. The reforms curb the growth rate of funding for the scheme, resulting in $14.4 billion in savings over four years, and were achieved after receiving the support of the state and territory governments, who co-govern the scheme in conjunction with the federal government. These changes attracted criticism from disability rights advocates and Greens spokesperson Jordon Steele-John, who accused Labor of "ripp[ing] the heart out of the NDIS by removing our right to choice and control". Also in August 2024, the parliament passed the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Act 2024, which placed the construction divisions of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) into administration. Under the legislation, the CFMEU's construction division will be placed into administration for a minimum of three years, after reports of the division being infiltrated by organised criminal enterprises. The legislation was supported by Labor, the Coalition and some crossbenchers, and was opposed by the Greens. It passed the Senate by 47 votes to 10 and passed the House without a division called for on the third reading. Regulatory changes to visa fees for international university students were adopted on 1 July 2024, via the Migration Amendment (Visa Application Charges) Regulations 2024. The non-refundable fee for a student visa increased from $710 AUD to $1600 AUD, making Australia's visa fees among the highest in the developed world. The changes were subject to a disallowance motion in the Senate on 14 August, which was defeated 26 votes to 12. Accompanying changes to temporary graduate work visa (subclass 485) applicants reduced the maximum age for applicants from 50 to 35 years of age and reduced the post-study right to stay and find work for nationals of most countries except Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders, attracting criticism for unequal treatment and the potential of a disincentive being created for specialist masters and PhD candidates to study and work in Australia.