The Victorian Legislative Council

Victorian Legislative Council

The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...

 is elected from 8 multi-member electorates called regions.

Current Regions

The system changed for the 2006 Victorian election

Victorian state election, 2006

An election for the 56th Parliament of Victoria took place on Saturday, 25 November 2006. Just over 3 million Victorians registered to vote elected 88 members to the Legislative Assembly and, for the first time, 40 members to the Legislative Council under a proportional representation system...

, as a result of major reforms passed by the Labor government, led by Steve Bracks

Steve Bracks

Stephen Philip Bracks AC is a former Australian politician and the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Australian Labor Party, and was party leader and Premier from 1999 to 2007....

, in 2003. Under the new system members serve fixed four-year terms unless the Assembly is dissolved sooner. The state is divided into the following eight electoral regions:

• Eastern Metropolitan Region
• Eastern Victoria Region
• Northern Metropolitan Region
• Northern Victoria Region
• South Eastern Metropolitan Region
• Southern Metropolitan Region
• Western Metropolitan Region
• Western Victoria Region

Each region consists of 11 contiguous Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 districts with about 420,000 electors who elect five members of the Legislative Council by the single transferable vote

Single transferable vote

The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...

. There are now 40 members of the Legislative Council, four fewer than before. The changes have introduced proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

. The opportunity was also taken to remove the Council's ability to block supply. The reforms have made it easier for minor parties to gain election to the chamber and possibly gain the balance of power, as opposed to majority control by a single major party.

Old system, prior to 2006

The Legislative Council was formerly elected from 22 single-member electorates called "provinces". The members of the council sat for two assembly terms so two members sat for each province. This is a list of the provinces as of 2005:

• Ballarat Province
• Central Highlands Province
  Central Highlands Province
  Central Highlands Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1976 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a safe seat for the Liberal Party of Australia for most of its history, but was a surprise gain for...
  
  
• Chelsea Province
  Chelsea Province
  Chelsea Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1976 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a marginal seat throughout its existence, and was won by the party that won government at each election from...
  
  
• Doutta Galla Province
  Doutta Galla Province
  Doutta Galla Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.-Members for Doutta Galla Province:...
  
  
• East Yarra Province
  East Yarra Province
  East Yarra Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.-Members for East Yarra Province:...
  
  
• Eumemmerring Province
  Eumemmerring Province
  Eumemmerring Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1985 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a marginal seat throughout its existence, changing parties in the large landslide elections of 1992 and 2002...
  
  
• Geelong Province
• Gippsland Province
• Higinbotham Province
  Higinbotham Province
  Higinbotham Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1937 to 2006, with members serving alternating eight-year terms. It was considered a safe seat for the Liberal Party of Australia throughout its history, though it was won by...
  
  
• Jika Jika Province
  Jika Jika Province
  Jika Jika Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council in Victoria, Australia. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1985 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party throughout its existence...
  
  
• Koonung Province
  Koonung Province
  Koonung Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1992 to 2006, with members serving alternating eight-year terms. It replaced the abolished Boronia Province...
  
  
• Melbourne Province
• Melbourne North Province
  Melbourne North Province
  Melbourne North Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.-Members for Melbourne North Province:...
  
  
• Melbourne West Province
  Melbourne West Province
  Melbourne West Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.-Members for Melbourne West Province:...
  
  
• Monash Province
  Monash Province
  Monash Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished from the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.-Members for Monash Province:-References:...
  
  
• North Eastern Province
• North Western Province
• Silvan Province
  Silvan Province
  Silvan Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1992 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was considered a safe seat for the Liberal Party of Australia for much of its history, but was a surprise gain for...
  
  
• Templestowe Province
  Templestowe Province
  Templestowe Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1967 to 2006, with members serving alternating eight-year terms. It was traditionally held by the Liberal Party of Australia, but was held by the Australian Labor Party on two...
  
  
• Waverley Province
  Waverley Province
  Waverley Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It existed as a two-member electorate from 1976 to 2006, with members holding alternating eight-year terms. It was a marginal seat for its entire existence, often changing parties according to who held government at the time...
  
  
• Western Province
• Western Port Province
  Western Port Province
  Western Port Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council. It was created in 2002 as a replacement for the abolished South Eastern Province. It was intended to be a two-member electorate, but it was abolished in 2006 as part of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the...
  
  

The following provinces also existed but were abolished at various dates up to 2002:

• Boronia Province
  Boronia Province
  Boronia Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council until 2006. It was abolished progressively in 1992 and 1996 and was replaced with Koonung Province.-Members for Boronia Province:...
  
  
• Eastern Province
• Loddon Province
• Northern Province
• Nunawading Province
• South Bourke, Evelyn and Mornington Province
  South Bourke, Evelyn and Mornington Province
  The South Bourke, Evelyn and Mornington Province was a province of the Victorian Legislative Council.-Members of South Bourke, Evelyn and Mornington:-See also:*Parliaments of the Australian states and territories...
  
  
• Southern Province
• South Eastern Province
• South Yarra Province

The old system tended to favour the Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 and the National Party of Australia

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 (often in coalition) over the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

and other parties . This caused many instances where a Labor-controlled Assembly faced an opposition-controlled Council — a rare occurrence elsewhere in Australia.