What is official opposition

The House took no official cognisance in its records of the appointment of a Leader of the Opposition [] prior to , even though the role of the office was firmly established. The position had no constitutional base and was not recognised by the standing orders. In the office was statutorily recognised for the purposes of the payment of an allowance. It was not until that the office was recognised in the standing orders, when the Leader of the Opposition was granted special rights with regard to speech time limits in specific instances.

It is the practice of the House for the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader to receive a degree of special latitude or preference from the Chair by virtue of their offices with respect to:.

The special role played by the Leader of the Opposition has been recognised in the following comments made in reports by independent inquiries into the parliamentary salary structure:. The Leader of the Opposition leads a group of Members, elected by the party or nominated by the leader, which is known as the Opposition Executive or the Shadow Ministry or the Shadow Cabinet.

In past years the Opposition Executive was less than the number of Ministers but at the beginning of the 35th Parliament consisted of a total of 30 members in both Houses, making the Shadow Ministry the same size as the Ministry. Since then the Shadow Ministry has had at times more members than the Ministry itself.

Again, at times there have been more shadow parliamentary secretaries than Parliamentary Secretaries. From the start of the 45th Parliament the title shadow assistant minister was used instead of shadow parliamentary secretary. Each shadow minister covers the responsibilities of one or possibly more Ministers or areas of administration and acts as the opposition spokesperson in respect of his or her designated areas. As potential Ministers, shadow ministers attract closer public and media scrutiny than other private Members.

Because of the politically sensitive nature of their positions, for example, allegations of impropriety may cause them to stand down from the Shadow Ministry while matters are under investigation. Home Understand Parliament and its people Current: Opposition. Opposition Discover the opposition, the largest party or coalition of parties who did not form government, with this fact sheet.

View with description and copyright information. The alternative government The opposition is formed by the largest party or coalition of parties that does not have the support of the majority of members in the House of Representatives. Opposition responsibilities The responsibilities of the opposition include: scrutinising — closely examining — the work of the government.

Opposition leadership By convention — tradition — the Leader of the Opposition is a member of the House of Representatives. The opposition side of the House of Representatives. Want to know more? Leader of the Official Opposition. The Premier. Leader of the Official Opposition - Andrea Horwath The opposition may be comprised of one or more political parties, and the leader of the opposition party with the second-most number of elected candidates after the government party is referred to as the Leader of the Official Opposition.

Parliamentary Roles.