Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of South Australia
53rd Parliament
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Houses House of Assembly
Legislative Council
Leadership
Elizabeth II
Since 6 February 1952
Hieu Van Le
Since 1 September 2014
Michael Atkinson, Labor
Since 5 February 2013
Russell Wortley, Labor
Since 6 May 2014
Structure
Seats 69
47 MHA
22 MLC
House of Assembly political groups
Government
     Labor (24)
Opposition
     Liberal (21)
Crossbench
     Independent (2)
Legislative Council political groups
Government
     Labor (8)
Opposition
     Liberal (8)
Crossbench
     Green (2)
     Family First (2)
     D4D (1)
     Nick Xenophon Team (1)
Elections
Instant-runoff Vote
Single Transferable Vote
Last general election
15 March 2014
Next general election
17 March 2018
Meeting place
Parliament House,
Adelaide, South Australia,
Australia
Website
www.parliament.sa.gov.au
Parliament House
Recreated lower and upper house booths, history, and voting procedures
SA Parliament Opening

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 fourth-term South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party has been in government since the 2002 election.

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 and territories 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]

The 47-seat lower house consists of 24 Labor, 21 Liberal and 2 independents, Geoff Brock and Martin Hamilton-Smith. Following the 2014 election, the lower house consisted of 23 Labor, 22 Liberal and 2 independents, Geoff Brock and Bob Such. Hamilton-Smith became an independent shortly after the election, reducing the Liberals to 21 seats. Both Hamilton-Smith and fellow independent Geoff Brock are in cabinet and provide confidence and supply while retaining the right to vote on conscience. Labor went from minority to majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election which was triggered by the death of Bob Such. Despite this, the Jay Weatherill Labor government kept crossbench MPs Brock and Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority.[2]

The 22-seat upper house consists of eight Labor, eight Liberal, two Green, two Family First, one Dignity for Disability and one Nick Xenophon Team MLCs.

History

The Parliament of South Australia began in 1857, when the colony was granted self-government. Women gained the right to vote and stand for election in 1895, taking effect at the 1896 election.[3] [4]

South Australia became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 following a vote to Federate with the other British colonies of Australia. While smaller than the Eastern states, South Australia has often been at the vanguard of political and social change in Australia.

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, and boundaries are redistributed after each election by the Electoral Commission of South Australia, an independent body.

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 state-wide 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.[5]

Legislative Council

The Legislative Council (or "upper house") is made up of 22 councillors (MLCs) who are elected for the entire state by the single transferable voting system (with optional group voting tickets) 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.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parliament of South Australia.

References

  1. "Constitution Act 1934". South Australia: Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1934. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  2. Fisher by-election win for Labor gives Weatherill Government majority in SA: ABC 13 December 2014
  3. Women’s Suffrage Petition 1894: parliament.sa.gov.au
  4. "Women and Politics in South Australia". Parliament of South Australia. 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
  5. 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, ECSA 2014 Heysen election and ABC 2014 Fisher by-election.

Coordinates: 34°55′16″S 138°35′55″E / 34.92111°S 138.59861°E / -34.92111; 138.59861

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.