‘Order, Order!’: A Biographical Dictionary of Speakers, Deputy Speakers and Clerks of the Australian House of Representatives shines a first-ever historical light on the remarkable men and women who have served in these national offices since Federation. The Speakers include Frederick Holder, whose campaign to embed a Westminster-style Speakership died with him when he collapsed dramatically in the parliament; the much-loved Joan Child, Australia’s first female Speaker, whose struggles as a widow with five children fostered her commitment to social justice and made her, in the words of another Speaker, Anna Burke, ‘pretty fierce’; and Ian Sinclair, a warhorse of a parliamentarian who seemed to prove the poacher-turned-gamekeeper principle. The Deputy Speakers, a particularly eclectic assortment, include the strange and bleakly serious James Fowler, who once hopefully mailed a film synopsis to the American director Cecil B. DeMille and who ended his days warning of the perils of democracy. Amongst the Clerks are Frank Green, who, at the height of the Cold War, indiscreetly befriended members of the Communist Party, and the popular Jack Pettifer—a true child of parliament—who grew up in an apartment in the building. This book includes analysis of what sorts of individuals typically filled these vital parliamentary positions, and the appearance of an Australian model of the Speakership based on pragmatic compromise. All three offices are typically more than just creatures of political parties—something that Australians should be prepared to defend against the remorseless encroachment of political partisanship.

In this attempt to determine the degree of power or influence possessed by the New Zealand private Member of Parliament, Robert Kelson has consulted parliamentary documents, the New Zealand press, and party documents. His study is based as well on data collected during attendance at the House and its committees, as well as party meetings, over a three-year period. He concludes with suggestions of new roles for the private Member of Parliament in the light of modern conditions, which will make a useful comparison with Canada's experience.

Canadian symbols of authority are not only emblems of democracy and authority but they are part of the diverse heraldic and artistic heritage of Canada. Despite Canada's rich symbolic and ceremonial heritage, little has been written about the nation's various symbols of authority or the offices that are associated with them ? until now!