1. PARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE PARLIAMENTARY PROTOCAL
A GUIDE TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE PARLIMENTARY ROLE PLAY

2. Democrats & Republicans
In our simulation the Democrats (Liberals) are in government and have the majority of seats in the parliament.
The opposition is the Greens and the Republicans.
Opposition Ministers are called the Shadow Minister for..

3. Speaker of the House
The teacher will play the role as Speaker of the House.
In the parliaments of the UK, Canada & Australia the speaker’s role is to maintain order and ensure that all protocols are followed.
Every time, before you start speaking, you must begin with the phrase. Mr Speaker..

4. The Honorable Member for….
You will need to decide which state you come from and which district you represent..
Go to
For example you could be the representative of California from District 5.
You need to create a desktop sign that can be used during the parliamentary simulation.
This sign will have:
Your name.
Your Political Party
Your position/title with your political party.
State/District you represent.

5. How will the Speaker address you:
For example: The Honorable Member for California (District 5) and Minister for Finance has the floor. The expression has the floor, means you have the right to speak, and every well else should listen

6. Agreeing with your fellow party members
The Expression – “Here”, “Here”
When one of your party members make’s a really good point during their speech you can collectively as a group say “Here” “Here”.
Its like saying – yes we agree with you.

7. Out of Order
If the Speaker believes someone’s behavior or procedure is not in accordance with parliamentary protocol, the expression “out of order” will be used.

8. Cross the Floor
Most of the time, as an individual member you will just vote how your party is voting.
However, very rarely you may wish to cross the floor. This means you vote with an opposing party. You can actually walk across the room and sit with the opposing party.
When you make this decision, you can expect your fellow party members to be very angry with you!.

9. A Conscience Vote
On very controversial social issues, the leader of a political party may wish to allow its members a conscience vote on the issue.
This means as an individual party member, you can vote based on your own moral beliefs, rather than being bound by party position.

10. Amendments to Bills
You can propose an amendment (a specific change) to a bill of law.
You may only support the bill if your amendment is accepted.

11. Table/Booklet of Bills
All members will have copy of the proposed bills.

12. Parliamentary Procedure 1. Summary of Bill:
4 minutes (minimum) to 5 minutes (maximum)
The relevant minister who has written the bill has 5 minutes to explain the main issues and most importantly they must outline what new policies/programs/laws they are trying to introduce.
A supporting powerpoint (5 slides) should summarize the news policies/laws you want to implement.
Be passionate & enthusiastic about your bill – try to present without referring entirely to notes.
You cannot speak longer than 5 minutes – After that time the speaker will say: Time has elapsed” Would the honorable member resume his seat.

13. Parliamentary Procedure 2. Question Time
Your opponents have a right to ask you a range of relevant questions regarding the proposed legislation.
You will score additional points for your party by asking really difficult and challenging questions for your opponents. Your aim is to embarrass your opponent in the parliamentary chamber, by making them look incompetent.
You also score additional points for answering difficult and challenging questions in a sophisticated and well structured manner.

14. How long is Question Time
In this parliamentary simulation the length of the Question Time, will be at the sole discretion of the Speaker.
When the speaker says: There is now a gag on question time, this will indicate question time is over.

15. Friendly Questions from your own Party Members
While most of Question Time will be dominated by questions from your opponents, you are allowed 1 to 2 friendly questions from your political party.
The answers to these questions are known in advance, and its looks very staged.
Questions are usually worded like. Could the Minister, please explain the many benefits that this legislation will provide to…

16. Question Time - Protocol Thanking the Member for their Question
Before you start answering a question, you should say: Mr Speaker, I thank the honorable member for his question on…
Then after this you can become really tough – your language/tone should become a lot more aggressive.

17. Parliamentary Procedure 3: Adjournment for Caucus Meeting
At the end of question time, the Speaker will advise of 5 minute adjournment time where parties can reconsider their position on the bill.
During this time opposing political parties, will decide whether or not they want to support the legislation and most importantly what amendments they would propose.
Amendments must be typed up and ed to the speaker.
For the party that proposed the bill, they should reflect on the issues raised in question time and whether or not they want to make any changes (amendments) to their original bill.

18. Deals, Deals Deals
During the adjournment period, you may wish to visit your opponents to offer conditional support for their legislation.
In other words, if you support us on this proposed law we will support you on your legislation on…

19. Parliamentary Procedure 4
Parliamentary Procedure 4. Call for an Amendments to the Proposed Legislation
An opposing party will have 2 to 3 minute speaking time to explain any amendment to the proposed legislation.
The party which drafted the original bill has the right to respond/ comment.

20. Parliamentary Procedure 5. Voting on the Bill
As there are 20 members in this parliament, any legislation requires at least 11 votes to pass.
In situations where voting appears to be split 10/10 (10 for & 10 against) the Speaker will cast the final vote so that a clear outcome is possible.

21. Point of Order
Any time during parliamentary proceedings, you can say “point of order” to the Speaker.
This relates to any matters or behavior that you feel is not in align with parliamentary expectations.
The purpose of a point of order is to bring the issue or problem to the attention of the speaker, so that further actions can be taken.

22. The Member for.. Is Warned
If your parliamentary behavior is out of order, the Speaker will say (for example)
The Member for Arizona (district 2) is warned.