The
New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the
parliamentThe Parliament of New South Wales is the supreme law making body in New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections...
of
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
in Australia. The other is the
Legislative AssemblyThe Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in the state capital, Sydney at Parliament House. It is presided over by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.The Assembly has 93 members,...
. It sits at
Parliament HouseParliament House in Sydney is a complex of buildings housing the Parliament of New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is located on the east side of Macquarie Street in Sydney, the state capital. The facade consists of a two storey Georgian building, the oldest public building in the City of...
in the state capital, Sydney. Although it is possible for legislation to be first introduced in the Council, most bills receive their first hearing in the Legislative Assembly.
The Council has 42 members, elected by
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
, as with the equivalent federal chamber, the
Australian SenateThe Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. The lower house is known as the House of Representatives. Senators, popularly elected under a system of proportional representation, serve terms of six years...
.
The
New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the
parliamentThe Parliament of New South Wales is the supreme law making body in New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections...
of
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
in Australia. The other is the
Legislative AssemblyThe Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in the state capital, Sydney at Parliament House. It is presided over by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.The Assembly has 93 members,...
. It sits at
Parliament HouseParliament House in Sydney is a complex of buildings housing the Parliament of New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is located on the east side of Macquarie Street in Sydney, the state capital. The facade consists of a two storey Georgian building, the oldest public building in the City of...
in the state capital, Sydney. Although it is possible for legislation to be first introduced in the Council, most bills receive their first hearing in the Legislative Assembly.
The Council has 42 members, elected by
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
, as with the equivalent federal chamber, the
Australian SenateThe Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. The lower house is known as the House of Representatives. Senators, popularly elected under a system of proportional representation, serve terms of six years...
. Each member serves an eight-year term, with half the Council coming up for election every four years.
History
The Legislative Council was created by an act of the British Parliament in 1823, and was established in 1824 as the first legislature in Australia - a five-member advisory council, which first met on the 24 August 1824. It grew to seven members in 1825, and between ten and fifteen in 1829. In 1842, under the Constitution Act 1842, the Legislative Council was expanded to 36 members, of which 12 were appointed by the Governor in the name of the Crown, and the remainder elected from amongst eligible landholders. The Australian Colonies Government Act 1850 saw the separation of the southern portion of the colony, with the creation of the new colony of Victoria in 1851. There were now 54 members of the Legislative Council, with two thirds elected. The Council presided over the drafting of a new state constitution in 1853, which three years later saw a major change in its role - the creation of a bicameral parliament, with most legislative power being granted to a fully-elected Legislative Assembly, and a Council that would act as a house of review, entirely appointed by the Governor. Under the powers of this Act, the colony of New South Wales finally attained full
responsible governmentResponsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
.
In 1925, 1926 and 1929, Premier
Jack LangJohn Thomas Lang , Australian politician, usually referred to as J. T. Lang during his career, and familiarly known as "Jack" and nicknamed "The Big Fella," was Premier of New South Wales for two terms...
made attempts at abolishing the Legislative Council, but all were subsequently unsuccessful. The debate did, however, result in another round of reforms, and in 1933, the law was changed so that a quarter of the Legislative Council was elected every three years by the Legislative Assembly and the remnant of the Legislative Council, rather than appointed by the Governor.
In 1978 the Council became a directly elected body in a program of electoral reform introduced by the
WranNeville Kenneth Wran AC QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986 to...
LaborThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
government. The number of members was reduced to 45, although transitional arrangements meant that there were 43 members from 1978–1981, and 44 from 1981–1984. Further reform in 1991 by the
GreinerNicholas Frank Hugo Greiner, AC was the parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party in New South Wales, Australia and also Premier from 1988 to 1992. He is married to Kathryn Greiner AO, a former Councillor in the Sydney City Council...
Liberal government saw the size of the Legislative Council cut to 42 members, with half (21) being elected every 4 years.
As with the federal parliament and Australian other states and territories, voting in the election to select members for the Council is compulsory for all New South Wales citizens over the age of 18. Every four years half the seats in the house come up for election on the fourth Saturday in March, exceptional circumstances notwithstanding, as the result of a 1995
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
.
The Queen of Australia has a Throne in the Legislative Council, and has twice presided at the State Opening of Parliament in NSW.
Party Politics
Proportional representation guarantees a representation of minor parties in the Legislative Council. In the 1999 elections, a record number of parties contested seats in the house, resulting in an unwieldy ballot paper (dubbed the "bedsheet ballot", the "tablecloth ballot" and the "ballot paper from hell"). Party registration requirements have since been made more restrictive (ie, requiring more voters as members), reducing the number of parties contesting elections so that only 3 minor parties are now represented in the Legislative Council.
Current Distribution of Seats (2007-2011)
| Party |
Seats held |
Current Council |
| 2007 |
Now |
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
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19 |
19 |
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Liberal Party of AustraliaThe 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 competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
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10 |
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National Party of AustraliaThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing rural voters, it was originally called the Country Party, but adopted the name National Country Party in 1975 and changed to its present name in 1982...
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5 |
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| The Greens The Greens New South Wales is the state Greens party in New South Wales. It is a member party of the Australian Greens. The Greens NSW have four members of the New South Wales Legislative Council - Ian Cohen, Lee Rhiannon, Sylvia Hale and John Kaye...
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| Shooters Party The Shooters Party is an Australian state political party. It is registered for state elections in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia....
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| Christian Democratic Party The Christian Democratic Party is a minor political party in Australia. Its leader is Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.-Formation:...
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| Independent In politics, an independent is a politician who is not affiliated with any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do not feel that any major party addresses...
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- Gordon Moyes was appointed in 2003 as a member of the Christian Democratic Party to fill the casual vacancy caused by Elaine Nile
Elaine Blanche Nile is a former Australian politician. Born in Waterloo in Sydney, she was a comptometrist from 1951 to 1958 and a police matron at Darlinghurst Court from 1977 to 1981. From 1981 to 1986 she was manager of the Australian Christian Solidarity Paper...
's resignation from the Legislative Council. Having been expelled from the party in March 2009, he is now sitting as an Independent.
Presidency of the Legislative Council
From 1846-1856 the title was
Speaker of the Legislative Council.
| Name | Term of Office |
|---|
Sir Charles NicholsonSir Charles Nicholson, 1st Baronet was a British-Australian politician and the first speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Council....
|
20 May 1846 – 29 February 1856 |
Sir Alfred StephenSir Alfred Stephen was an Australian judge and chief justice of New South Wales.Stephen was born at St Christopher in the West Indies. His father, John Stephen , was related to Henry John Stephen, Sir James Stephen and Sir James FitzJames Stephen, all men of great distinction in England...
|
20 May 1856 – 28 January 1857 |
| John Hubert Plunkett |
29 January 1857 – 6 February 1858 |
| Sir William Westbrooke Burton Sir William Westbrooke Burton was a judge and president of the legislative council, New South Wales, .-Early life:...
|
March 1858 – 10 March 1861 |
| William Wentworth William Charles Wentworth was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales...
|
24 June 1861 – 10 October 1862 |
| Sir Terence Aubrey Murray |
14 October 1862 – 22 June 1873 |
| Sir John Hay Sir John Hay KCMG was a New South Wales politician.Hay was born at Little Ythsie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of John Hay and his wife Jean, née Mair. Hay graduated M.A. at King's College , in 1834, and then studied law at Edinburgh, but did not finish it...
|
8 July 1873 – 10 January 1892 |
| Sir John Lackey |
26 January 1892 – 23 May 1903 |
| Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor was an Australian pastoralist and politician.Suttor was the son of pastoralist William Henry Suttor and his wife, Charlotte Augusta Anne Francis, and grandson of George Suttor, was born at Bathurst, New South Wales...
|
23 May 1903 – 4 April 1915 |
| Frederick Flowers Frederick Flowers was a police magistrate.Flowers, third son of the Rev. Field Flowers, rector of Partney, Lincolnshire, 1815–18, was born at Boston, Lincolnshire in 1810, and educated at Louth Grammar School, Lincolnshire, from 1815 to 1818. His brothers included George French Flowers, composer...
|
27 April 1915 – 14 December 1928 |
| Sir John Beverley Peden |
5 February 1929 – 22 April 1946 |
| Sir Ernest Farrar |
30 April 1946 – 16 June 1952 |
| William Edward Dickson |
18 August 1952 – 22 May 1966 |
| Sir Harry Budd |
9 August 1966 – 5 November 1978 |
| Johno Johnson John Richard "Johno" Johnson KCSG is a former Australian politician. Born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, he was a grocer and trade union official before entering politics. He married Pauline Christina Russell, with whom he has two sons and two daughters...
|
7 November 1978 – 3 July 1991 |
| Max Willis |
3 July 1991 – 29 June 1998 |
| Virginia Chadwick Virginia Anne Chadwick AO was a Liberal Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1978 to 1999...
|
29 June 1998 – 5 March 1999 |
| Dr Meredith Burgmann Meredith Anne Burgmann is an Australian politician and Australian Labor Party member and a former President of the New South Wales Legislative Council.-Early years:...
|
11 May 1999 – 2 March 2007 |
| Peter Primrose Peter Thomas Primrose is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 1996, and is currently the President of the Legislative Council....
|
8 May 2007 – present |
See also
- Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
The Parliaments of the Australian states and territories are legislative bodies within the federal framework of the Commonwealth of Australia. Before the formation of the Commonwealth in 1901, the six Australian colonies were self-governing, with parliaments which had come into existence at various...
- Women in the New South Wales Legislative Council
There have been 45 women in the New South Wales Legislative Council since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to stand as a candidate since 1918; the Council introduced direct election in 1978....
External links