Package 'ausPH'

Title: Retrieve Data from the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia
Description: Retrieves data from the Australian Parliamentary Library's Parliamentary Handbook <https://handbook.aph.gov.au/> and returns it as tidy tables: members and senators, their parliamentary and party service, ministries, shadow ministries, presiding officers, committees, parties, electorates, parliaments, sitting dates, elections and two candidate preferred results. Known errors in the Handbook are flagged, and can optionally be corrected from a documented errata table.
Authors: Pat Leslie [aut, cre] (ORCID: <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9218-8981>)
Maintainer: Pat Leslie <[email protected]>
License: MIT + file LICENSE
Version: 1.1.0
Built: 2026-11-13 12:35:36 UTC
Source: https://github.com/palesl/ausph

Help Index

Data on two candidate preferred results since 1919

Description

Results come from a copy of the Handbook stored in the package, supplemented with results the Handbook is missing (documented in the Note and source columns). A supplementary result is only used where the Handbook has none for that division and year. By default, results for any elections the Handbook has listed since the stored copy was made are added. The date of the stored copy is in the scraped attribute of the result, and the date of any update in the updated attribute.

Usage

get2CP(include_byelections = FALSE, update = TRUE)

Arguments

include_byelections

Choose to include house by-elections. If include_byelections = TRUE, by-election results are added.
update

if TRUE (the default), add results for elections listed in the Handbook since the stored copy was made (three requests, plus one per new election); if FALSE, use the stored copy only.

Value

a tibble. pID links a candidate's party to getParties() where the Handbook's party name matches a party exactly; otherwise it is NA.

Examples

get2CP(update=FALSE)

Data on committee memberships since 1902

Description

Data on committee memberships since 1902

Usage

getCommitteeMembers()

Value

a tibble. end_date is NA for current memberships.

Examples

getCommitteeMembers()

Data on elections since 1901

Description

All federal general elections, House by-elections and supplementary elections, excluding elections for casual vacancies in the Senate. The package stores a copy reconciled with the Handbook; by default, any elections the Handbook has listed since are added to it. The date of the stored copy is in the scraped attribute of the result, and the date of any update in the updated attribute.

Usage

getElections(
  chamber = c("all", "house", "senate"),
  byelections = FALSE,
  apply_errata = FALSE,
  update = TRUE
)

Arguments

chamber

Select from c("all","house","senate")
byelections

Choose to include house by-elections. If byelections = TRUE, then a list of elections with by-elections and their divisions is returned.
apply_errata

if TRUE, replace values listed in getErrata() with their corrected values. By default the Handbook's values are returned.
update

if TRUE (the default), add elections listed in the Handbook since the stored copy was made (two requests); if FALSE, use the stored copy only.

Value

a tibble. Id is the package's election identifier (used as ElectionID in get2CP()); HandbookId is the Handbook's own identifier, NA for elections the Handbook does not list. For elections added by an update, FullSenateElection is NA, because the Handbook's list of elections does not say whether an election was a double dissolution. handbook_flag marks elections not_in_handbook and issues listed in getErrata().

Examples

getElections(chamber="all", update=FALSE)

Data on electorates since 1901

Description

Data on electorates since 1901

Usage

getElectorates()

Value

a tibble

Examples

getElectorates()

Known errors in the Parliamentary Handbook

Description

A table of values the package has found to be wrong in the Parliamentary Handbook, with the corrected value and the evidence for it. By default the get* functions return the Handbook's values and only mark these rows in their handbook_flag column; with apply_errata = TRUE they replace the value with corrected_value.

Usage

getErrata()

Details

An erratum applies only while the Handbook still has handbook_value, so once the Handbook is fixed the erratum stops having any effect.

Value

a tibble with one row per correction: the table and row it applies to (table, key), the field, the handbook_value, the corrected_value, a short issue code, the evidence and its source.

Examples

getErrata()

Data on individuals and biographical information since 1901

Description

Data on individuals and biographical information since 1901

Usage

getIndividuals()

Value

a tibble

Examples

getIndividuals()

Data on Ministers since 1901

Description

Data on Ministers since 1901

Usage

getMinisters()

Value

a tibble with one row per ministerial role. RDateStart and RDateEnd are the dates of the role; MDateStart and MDateEnd are the dates of the ministry.

Examples

getMinisters()

Data on Ministries and Governing Parties since 1901

Description

Data on Ministries and Governing Parties since 1901

Usage

getMinistries()

Value

a tibble with one row per ministry and governing party. Ministries for which the Handbook lists no party (e.g. the first Barton Ministry) are kept, with Party and pID set to NA.

Examples

getMinistries()

Data on all listed prior occupations held (both primary and secondary)

Description

Data on all listed prior occupations held (both primary and secondary)

Usage

getOccupations()

Value

a tibble with one row per person and occupation

Examples

getOccupations()

Data on Parliamentary terms since 1901

Description

Data on Parliamentary terms since 1901

Usage

getParliaments()

Value

a tibble

Examples

getParliaments()

Data on parliamentary tenures of MPs and senators since 1901

Description

By default the whole table is retrieved from the Handbook (one request). If the Handbook cannot be reached, or update = FALSE, the copy stored in the package is returned instead. The date the data was retrieved is in the scraped attribute of the result.

Usage

getParlService(
  chamber = c("all", "house", "senate"),
  apply_errata = FALSE,
  update = TRUE
)

Arguments

chamber

choose to include MPs ("house"), senators ("senate") or both ("all").
apply_errata

if TRUE, replace values listed in getErrata() with their corrected values. By default the Handbook's values are returned.
update

if TRUE (the default), retrieve the current data from the Handbook; if FALSE, use the stored copy.

Value

a tibble. DateEnd is NA for terms that have not ended. handbook_flag marks rows with a known problem in the Handbook: overlapping_term (the term starts before the member's previous term ends), placeholder_end_date (a term that is not the member's latest has no end date in the Handbook) and any issue listed in getErrata().

Examples

getParlService(chamber="house")

# the copy stored in the package, without querying the Handbook
getParlService(chamber="house", update=FALSE)

Data on parties since 1901

Description

Data on parties since 1901

Usage

getParties()

Value

a tibble. Note that the Handbook gives a party a new pID when it changes its name, and that abbreviations are not unique (three parties use "LIB"), so Abbrev should not be used as a key.

Examples

getParties()

Data on party service of MPs and senators since 1901

Description

Returns the copy of the Handbook's party service records stored in the package. The Handbook has no single source for these records (each person's must be retrieved separately), so updating takes a few minutes and is optional: with update = TRUE, the records of everyone who has joined or served in parliament since the stored copy was taken are retrieved again. The date of the stored copy is in the scraped attribute of the result, and the date of any update in the updated attribute.

Usage

getPartyService(apply_errata = FALSE, update = FALSE)

Arguments

apply_errata

if TRUE, replace values listed in getErrata() with their corrected values. By default the Handbook's values are returned. No party service errata are listed yet, so this currently has no effect.
update

if TRUE, update the stored copy from the Handbook (about 250 requests, two to three minutes). Defaults to FALSE.

Value

a tibble. handbook_flag marks rows with a known problem in the Handbook: same_day_party_record (a one-day record that starts on the same day as another party record for the same person), placeholder_end_date (the Handbook has 1900-01-01, returned as NA) and any issue listed in getErrata().

Examples

getPartyService()

Data on presiding officers and their deputies since 1901

Description

Speakers of the House of Representatives, Presidents of the Senate, their deputies, Chairs of Committees, temporary chairs, members of the Speaker's panel and acting holders of these offices, with the dates each person held the office, from the Handbook's records of parliamentary positions.

Usage

getPresidingOfficers(
  chamber = c("all", "house", "senate"),
  office = NULL,
  apply_errata = FALSE,
  update = TRUE
)

Arguments

chamber

choose to include House offices ("house"), Senate offices ("senate") or both ("all").
office

the offices to include, as they are named in the Handbook's Office column (e.g. "Speaker of the House of Representatives", "President of the Senate"). The default, NULL, includes every office.
apply_errata

if TRUE, replace values listed in getErrata() with their corrected values. By default the Handbook's values are returned.
update

if TRUE (the default), retrieve the current data from the Handbook; if FALSE, use the stored copy.

Details

By default the whole table is retrieved from the Handbook (one request, plus one for getParlService(), used to place each office holder in a chamber). If the Handbook cannot be reached, or update = FALSE, the copy stored in the package is returned instead. The date the data was retrieved is in the scraped attribute of the result.

The Handbook records an office as held from one parliament to the next, so a Speaker or President re-elected after a general election has one row per parliament, with a gap between them.

Value

a tibble with one row per person and term in an office: PHID, DisplayName, Office, Chamber ("House" or "Senate"), DateStart, DateEnd (NA while the office is held), the Handbook's Note and handbook_flag. Chamber is the chamber the person sat in when the term began, since some office names (e.g. "Chairman of Committees") were used in both chambers. handbook_flag marks rows with a known problem in the Handbook: placeholder_start_date (no start date), placeholder_end_date (no end date, though the person has left parliament), end_before_start, outside_parliamentary_service (the term starts when the person was not in parliament, according to getParlService()) and any issue listed in getErrata().

Examples

# Speakers, from the copy stored in the package
getPresidingOfficers(chamber = "house",
                     office = "Speaker of the House of Representatives",
                     update = FALSE)

getPresidingOfficers()

Data on all listed Qualifications

Description

Data on all listed Qualifications

Usage

getQualifications()

Value

a tibble with one row per person and qualification

Examples

getQualifications()

Data on all listed Secondary Schools

Description

Data on all listed Secondary Schools

Usage

getSchools()

Value

a tibble with one row per person and school, as listed in the Handbook (some entries name more than one school)

Examples

getSchools()

Data on Shadow Ministers since 1901

Description

Data on Shadow Ministers since 1901

Usage

getShadowMinisters()

Value

a tibble with one row per shadow ministerial role. RDateStart and RDateEnd are the dates of the role; MDateStart and MDateEnd are the dates of the shadow ministry.

Examples

getShadowMinisters()

Data on sitting dates in the federal parliament

Description

Dates up to the end of the stored copy come from the package; by default, later years are retrieved from the Handbook (one request per year). The date of the stored copy is in the scraped attribute of the result, and the date of any update in the updated attribute.

Usage

getSittingDates(apply_errata = FALSE, update = TRUE)

Arguments

apply_errata

if TRUE, replace values listed in getErrata() with their corrected values. By default the Handbook's values are returned.
update

if TRUE (the default), add sitting dates after the stored copy from the Handbook; if FALSE, use the stored copy only.

Value

a tibble with one row per sitting date and whether each chamber sat. handbook_flag marks dates listed in getErrata(), e.g. chamber_did_not_sit or continuation_of_previous_sitting.

Examples

getSittingDates()