Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of South Australia
Parliament of South Australia
	53rd Parliament
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	House of Assembly; Legislative Council
Leadership
Queen of Australia	Elizabeth II ; since 6 February 1952
Governor of South Australia	Hieu Van Le ; since 1 September 2014
Speaker of the House of Assembly	Vincent Tarzia, Liberal ; since 3 May 2018
President of the Legislative Council	Andrew McLachlan, Liberal ; since 3 May 2018
Structure
Seats	69; 47 MHA ; 22 MLC
House of Assembly political groups	Government; Liberal (24); ; Opposition; Labor (19); ; Crossbench; Independent (4)[lower-alpha 1]
Legislative Council political groups	Government; Liberal (9); ; Opposition; Labor (8); ; Crossbench; SA-BEST (2); Greens (2); Advance SA (1)
Elections
House of Assembly voting system	Instant-runoff Vote
Legislative Council voting system	Single Transferable Vote
Last general election	17 March 2018
Next general election	19 March 2022
Meeting place
	Parliament House,; Adelaide, South Australia,; Australia
Website
	www.parliament.sa.gov.au

The Parliament of South Australia at Parliament House, Adelaide is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). All of the lower house and half of the upper house is filled at each election. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government.

The Queen is represented in the State by the Governor of South Australia. According to the South Australian Constitution, unlike the Federal Parliament, and the parliaments of the other states of Australia, neither the Sovereign or the Governor is considered to be a part of the South Australian Parliament. However, the same role and powers are granted to them.[1]

History

Parliament House

Recreated lower and upper house booths, history, and voting procedures

SA Parliament Opening

The Legislative Council was the first Parliament in South Australia, formed as a result of the South Australia Act 1842, and replaced the South Australian Colonisation Commission appointed in 1834 by means of the South Australia Act 1834. The 1842 Act gave the British Government, which was responsible for appointing a Governor and at least seven other officers to the Council, full control of South Australia as a Crown Colony, after financial mismanagement by the first administration had nearly bankrupted the colony.[2] The Act also made provision for a commission to initiate the establishment of democratic government, electoral districts, requirements for voting rights, and terms of office.[3]

Women gained the right to vote and stand for election in 1895, taking effect at the 1896 election.[4][5]

South Australia became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, following a vote to federate with the other British colonies of Australia.

Elections were held every 3 years until 1985, when the parliament switched to 4 year terms, meaning 8 year terms for the upper house. Beginning in 2006, election dates have been fixed at the third Saturday in March of every fourth year.[6]

House of Assembly

The House of Assembly (or "lower house") is made up of 47 members who are each elected by the full-preference instant-runoff voting system in single-member electorates. Each of the 47 electoral districts (electorates) contains approximately the same number of voters.

Since 1975, the distribution of electoral boundaries has been set by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission.[6] Since 1991, boundaries have been redistributed after each election by the Electoral Commission of South Australia, an independent body. Previously they were redistributed after every third election.

Government is formed in the House of Assembly by the leader of the party or coalition who can demonstrate they have the support of the majority of the House, and is called upon by the Governor to form government. The leader of the government becomes the Premier.

While South Australia's total population is 1.7 million, Adelaide's population is 1.3 million − uniquely, over 75 percent of the state's population resides in the metropolitan area and has 72 percent of seats (34 of 47) alongside a lack of comparatively-sized rural population centres, therefore the metropolitan area tends to decide election outcomes. At the 2014 election for example, although the statewide two-party vote (2PP) was 47.0% Labor v 53.0% Liberal, the metropolitan area recorded a 2PP of 51.5% Labor v 48.5% Liberal.[7]

Legislative Council

The Legislative Council (or "upper house") is made up of 22 councillors (MLCs) who are elected for the entire state by the Proportional Representation single transferable voting system (with optional preferential voting) to serve for a term of 8 years. Elections for the Legislative Council are staggered so that 11 seats are up for re-election every 4 years, at the same time as House of Assembly elections.

The primary function of the Legislative Council is to review legislation which has been passed by the House of Assembly. This can cause tensions between the government and the Legislative Council, which may be viewed by the former as obstructionist if it rejects key legislation, as can happen at times when the electoral makeup of the two houses are different.

Location

The seat of the Parliament of South Australia is Parliament House in the state capital of Adelaide. Parliament House sits on the North-Western corner of the intersection of King William Street and North Terrace.[8]

Notes

Current independent MPs: Frances Bedford (Florey), Troy Bell (Mount Gambier), Geoff Brock (Frome) and Sam Duluk (Waite)

References

"Constitution Act 1934". South Australia: Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1934. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
"South Australian Colonization Commission". Bound for South Australia. Creative Commons 3.0. History Trust of South Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)
"An Act to provide for the better Government of South Australia [30th July 1842]: Anno 5o et 6o Victoriae" (PDF). Founding Documents. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
"Women's Suffrage Petition 1894: parliament.sa.gov.au" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
"Women and Politics in South Australia". Parliament of South Australia. 19 February 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
History of Redistributions, South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission
Metropolitan 2PP correctly calculated by adding raw metro 2PP vote numbers from the 34 metro seats, both Labor and Liberal, then dividing Labor's raw metro 2PP vote from the total, which revealed a Labor metropolitan 2PP of 51.54%. Obtained raw metro 2PP vote numbers from ECSA 2014 election statistics Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, ECSA 2014 Heysen election Archived 11 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine and ABC 2014 Fisher by-election.
"Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 3 October 2017.

External links

Parliament of South Australia Homepage

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Current independent MPs: Frances Bedford (Florey), Troy Bell (Mount Gambier), Geoff Brock (Frome) and Sam Duluk (Waite)

[SAConstitution-2] "Constitution Act 1934". South Australia: Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1934. Retrieved 9 October 2011.

[bound-3] "South Australian Colonization Commission". Bound for South Australia. Creative Commons 3.0. History Trust of South Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)

[4] "An Act to provide for the better Government of South Australia [30th July 1842]: Anno 5o et 6o Victoriae" (PDF). Founding Documents. Retrieved 13 November 2019.

[5] "Women's Suffrage Petition 1894: parliament.sa.gov.au" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2016.

[6] "Women and Politics in South Australia". Parliament of South Australia. 19 February 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2015.

[EDBC-7] History of Redistributions, South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission

[8] Metropolitan 2PP correctly calculated by adding raw metro 2PP vote numbers from the 34 metro seats, both Labor and Liberal, then dividing Labor's raw metro 2PP vote from the total, which revealed a Labor metropolitan 2PP of 51.54%. Obtained raw metro 2PP vote numbers from ECSA 2014 election statistics Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, ECSA 2014 Heysen election Archived 11 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine and ABC 2014 Fisher by-election.

[9] "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 3 October 2017.

Members of the Parliament of South Australia
House of Assembly	1857–1860 1860–1862 1862–1865 1865–1868 1868–1870 1870–1871 1871–1875 1875–1878 1878–1881 1878–1881 1884–1887 1887–1890 1890–1893 1893–1896 1896–1899 1899–1902 1902–1905 1905–1906 1906–1910 1910–1912 1912–1915 1915–1918 1918–1921 1921–1924 1924–1927 1927–1930 1930–1933 1933–1938 1938–1941 1941–1944 1944–1947 1947–1950 1950–1953 1953–1956 1956–1959 1959–1962 1962–1965 1965–1968 1968–1970 1970–1973 1973–1975 1975–1977 1977–1979 1979–1982 1982–1985 1985–1989 1989–1993 1993–1997 1997–2002 2002–2006 2006–2010 2010–2014 2014–2018 2018–2022
Legislative Council	1836–1843 1843–1851 1851–1855 1855–1857 1857–1861 1861–1865 1865–1869 1869–1873 1873–1877 1877–1881 1881–1885 1885–1888 1888–1891 1891–1894 1894–1897 1897–1900 1900–1902 1902–1905 1905–1908 1908–1910 1910–1912 1912–1915 1915–1918 1918–1921 1921–1924 1924–1927 1927–1930 1930–1933 1933–1938 1938–1941 1941–1944 1944–1947 1947–1950 1950–1953 1953–1956 1956–1959 1959–1962 1962–1965 1965–1968 1968–1970 1970–1973 1973–1975 1975–1979 1979–1982 1982–1985 1985–1989 1989–1993 1993–1997 1997–2002 2002–2006 2006–2010 2010–2014 2014–2018 2018–2022

Government of South Australia
Executive	Monarchy Governor Cabinet Premier Deputy Premier Treasurer Attorney-General Police
Legislative	Parliament House of Assembly Legislative Council Speaker of the House of Assembly President of the Legislative Council MHAs MLCs Opposition Leader Electoral districts
Judicial	Supreme Court District Court Employment Court Magistrates Court Coroner's Court Other courts and tribunals

Parliaments of Australia
Commonwealth of Australia
States and Territories	New South Wales Victoria Queensland Western Australia South Australia Tasmania Australian Capital Territory Northern Territory
Former Parliaments	Norfolk Island