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 [[Victorian Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]]. Both houses sit in [[Parliament House, Melbourne|Parliament House]] in [[Spring Street, Melbourne|Spring Street]], [[Melbourne]]. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to its federal counterpart, the [[Australian Senate]]. 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 is presided over by the [[President of the Victorian Legislative Council|President of the Legislative Council]]. == History == {{Main|Parliament of Victoria#History}} The Legislative Council was created in 1851 upon the separation of the colony of Victoria from the colony of New South Wales. The Legislative Council was established four years before the [[Victorian Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]]. == Composition == {{Main|Electoral regions of Victoria|Members of the Victorian Legislative Council, 2010–2014}} Today the Council has 40 members serving four-year terms. They represent 8 electoral regions, with five members representing each region. The system changed for the 2006 [[Victorian state election, 2006|Victorian election]], as a result of major reforms passed by the Labor government, led by [[Steve Bracks]], in 2003. Under the new system members serve fixed four-year terms unless the Assembly is dissolved sooner. Each region consists of 11 contiguous [[Victorian Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]] districts with about 420,000 electors who elect five members of the Legislative Council by the [[single transferable vote]]. There are now 40 members of the Legislative Council, four fewer than before. The changes have introduced [[proportional representation]]. 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. 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. The old system tended to favour the [[Liberal Party of Australia]] and the [[National Party of Australia]] (often in coalition) over the [[Australian Labor Party]] and other parties {{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}. This caused many instances where a Labor-controlled Assembly faced an opposition-controlled Council — a rare occurrence elsewhere in Australia. == Current distribution of seats == {| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse;" |- bgcolor="#cccccc" !colspan="3"| '''Party''' ! '''Seats held''' ! '''Percentage of Council''' |- | colspan=3 |[[Coalition (Australia)|Liberal/National Coalition]] |   |   |- | rowspan=3 |   | {{Australian politics/party colours/Liberal}}|  | [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] | 18 | 45.0 |- | {{Australian politics/party colours/Nationals}}|  || [[National Party of Australia|National Party]] | 3 | 7.5 |- | colspan=2| '''Sub-Total''' | '''21''' | '''52.5''' |- | {{Australian politics/party colours/Labor}}|  | colspan=2 | [[Australian Labor Party]] | 16 | 40.0 |- | {{Australian politics/party colours/Greens}}|  | colspan=2 | [[Victorian Greens|Greens]] | 3 | 7.5 |- | colspan=3| '''Total''' | '''40''' | '''100.0''' |} == See also == * [[President of the Victorian Legislative Council]] — contains a list of all past Presidents. * [[Parliaments of the Australian states and territories]] * [[Members of the Victorian Legislative Council, 2010-2014|List of members of the Victorian Legislative Council]] == External links == * [http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/ Legislative Council - Parliament of Victoria] {{Electoral regions of Victoria}} {{VicCurrentMLCs}} {{Government of Victoria}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2010}} {{coord missing|Victoria (Australia)}}