Parliament of South Australia
Parliament of South Australia | |
---|---|
55th Parliament | |
Independent (5)[b] | |
Legislative Council political groups | Government (9)
Labor (9)Opposition (8) Liberal (8)Crossbench (5) Greens (2)
SA-BEST (2)
unicameral Legislative Council 9 March 1857 as bicameral parliament |
Last general election | 19 March 2022 |
Next general election | 21 March 2026 |
Redistricting | Redistributions are carried out after each election by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission. |
Meeting place | |
Parliament House, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia | |
Website | |
www | |
Constitution | |
Constitution of South Australia |
The Parliament of South Australia is the
Unlike the
The parliament may make laws for any matter within South Australia, subject to the Constitution of South Australia. Its power is further limited by the ability for the federal parliament to override it in some circumstances, subject to the Constitution of Australia. Similarly, the Supreme Court of South Australia, and ultimately the High Court of Australia, provides judicial oversight of parliament. The parliament is also vested with other powers, such as the means to investigate matters, conduct research and summon witnesses.[4]
History
Early colonial period and establishment
At the founding of the Province of South Australia under the
In 1842, the
The
In 1853 the Legislative Council sent London a Parliament Act 1853 that provided for a new constitution that established a bicameral parliament with an elected lower house and an upper house made up of members nominated for life.[14] The colonists were mistakingly under the impression that only such a scheme would be acceptable to the British Government. The Governor, Sir Henry Young, had been advised that this was not the case but he kept this information to himself. The colonists were furious and 5,000 petitioned Westminster to give them two elected houses. The offending constitution was returned and in 1855, a new Legislative Council was elected with a mandate to establish something far more radical and democratic than had been seen in the British Empire before.[6]
This was expressed by the Constitution Act 1856 (headed "1855–6: No. 2" and followed by the long title "An Act to establish a Constitution for South Australia, and to grant a Civil List to Her Majesty") establishing the constitution of the Parliament of the Province of South Australia.[15]
Responsible government
This Constitution Act provided for a
Later in 1856, in preparation for responsible government, the old Legislative Council passed an Electoral Act providing for the secret ballot system of voting to be used for the new parliament, also known as the Australian Ballot.[19]
The first bicameral parliament of South Australia was elected on 9 March 1857, with Boyle Travers Finniss as the inaugural Premier of South Australia responsible to parliament. The parliament first sat on 22 April 1857.[20]
Until 1887, membership of parliament was an unpaid position as members were expected to be able to support themselves through other means. This changed with the passage of the Payment of Members Act 1887 that set an annual salary of 200 pounds for members of both Houses who were not ministers.[21] This rate has subsequently continued to evolve with the rate now set by an independent remuneration tribunal.[22]
In 1889, the House of Assembly moved out of the original Parliament House and took up residence in a new building constructed next door. Due to costs, this "New Parliament House" would remain unfinished for 50 years while the Legislative Council continued to be housed in the original Parliament House.[6]
Women gained the right to vote and stand for election in 1895, taking effect at the 1896 election. Once passed, South Australia become the fourth state in the world to give women the vote and the first to give women the right to be elected to parliament.[23][24]
After federation
South Australia became a state of the
From 1857 to 1933, the House of Assembly was elected from multi-member districts, commonly known as "
In response to the Federation of Australia, the House of Assembly was reduced to 42 members from 1902 to 1912 and 40 members from 1912 to 1915. From 1915 to 1938 the size was again increased to 46 members.[26]
The Legislative Council half of the "New Parliament House" was finally completed in 1939, 50 years after the House of Assembly portion of the building.[6]
Playmander years
One distinctive aspect of the history of the South Australian parliament was the "
More equitable boundaries were subsequently put in place following the 1968 (with the House increased to 47 members), 1975, and 1989 elections.[17] Since 1975, the distribution of the 47 electoral boundaries has been set by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, an independent body.[26] Since a referendum in 1991, boundaries have been redistributed after each election. Previously they were redistributed after every third election. There are currently 34 in the Adelaide metropolitan area and 13 in rural areas. These seats are intended to represent approximately the same population in each electorate.[26]
Evolution of the Legislative Council
The Legislative Council's numbers and electoral makeup have also varied over time. From the inception of responsible government to 1882, it had 18 members elected by a single colony-wide district, with the scheme originally set up so that 6 members would be elected every 4 years to serve a 12 year term. In 1882, the single colony-wide district was split into 4 electoral districts which were drawn with a heavy bias in favour of rural areas in place. The new scheme was set up so that half of the Council was being elected each election. Originally these electoral districts were the "
As for the size of the Council as a whole, from 1882 until 1902 it had 24 members; until 1915, 18 members; and until 1975, 20 members.[11]
From 1975, the Council size was increased to 22 members, with half (11) to be elected at each election by the entire state voting as one electorate.[11]
Although the lower house had universal suffrage from 1895, the upper house, the Legislative Council, remained the domain of property owners until the Labor government of Don Dunstan managed to achieve reform of the chamber in 1973.
Under the original 1856 Constitution, the franchise was restricted to men, "having a freehold estate in possession, either legal or equitable, situate within the said Province, of the clear value of Fifty Pounds sterling money above all charges and encumbrances affecting the same, or having a leasehold estate in possession, situate within the said Province, the lease thereof having been registered in the General Registry Office, for the registration of deeds, and having three years to run at the time of voting, or containing a clause authorising the lessee to become the purchaser of the land thereby demised, or occupy a dwelling house of the clear annual value of Twenty-five Pounds sterling money."[17]
In 1907, the right to vote was extended to any person occupying a dwelling house, or "dwelling house and premises appurtenant thereto", with an annual rent of at least 17 pounds per annum (excluding any payment of rent by a wife to her husband); to a registered proprietor of a leasehold on which there were improvements to the value of at least 50 pounds and which were the property of the proprietor. At the same time, the franchise was also extended to ministers of religion, school head teachers, postmasters, railway stationmasters, and the officer in charge of a police station.[17]
A further extension of the franchise came in 1913, when the qualification of an occupier of a dwelling house was altered to include any inhabitant occupier, whether owner or tenant.[17]
In 1918, the right to vote for members of the upper house was extended to all those who had served in armed forced in the First World War. This was subsequently extended to Second World War veterans in 1940 and in 1969, it was simplified to apply to all Australian war veterans regardless of the war they served in.[17]
In 1969, the franchise was granted to any person who owned or rented property, regardless of the value of the property. Further, the franchise was extended to the wedded spouse of the owner or renter.[17]
Finally in 1973, all property qualifications were removed and the Council became a body elected via proportional representation by a single state-wide electorate from the same universal franchise as the House of Assembly.[28] Since the following 1975 South Australian state election, no one party has had control of the state's upper house with the balance of power controlled by a variety of minor parties and independents.
Electoral systems
Originally, the electoral system for both houses was a form of
Today, the House of Assembly continues to use instant-runoff voting with compulsory preferences.[31]
Compulsory voting was introduced for the House of Assembly in 1942 and for the Legislative Council in 1985.[32]
Elections were held every 3 years until 1985 (with a brief flirtation with 5 year terms for the House of Assembly in the 1933-1938 parliament[33][34]), when the parliament switched to 4 year terms, meaning 8 year terms for the upper house.[35] Beginning in 2006, election dates have been fixed at the third Saturday in March of every fourth year.[26]
House of Assembly
The House of Assembly (or "lower house") is made up of 47 members who are each elected by the full-preference
Since 1975, the distribution of electoral boundaries has been set by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, an independent body.[26] Since a referendum in 1991, boundaries have been redistributed after each election. 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
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.[37]
The term for the House of Assembly is a fixed 4-year term but the state Constitution does allow the Governor to dissolve the House early and call for a fresh general election under certain circumstances. These are: If the House passes a motion of no confidence in the government, the House defeats a motion of confidence in the government, or if a bill that has been designated by the House as a "bill of special importance" is passed by the House of Assembly but is rejected by the Legislative Council.[38] The House of Assembly can also be dissolved early together with the full Legislative Council in what is knows as a double dissolution in order to resolve deadlocks between the two Houses. The circumstances for such a double dissolution are outlined below.
Legislative Council
The Legislative Council (or "upper house") is made up of 22 councillors (MLCs) who are elected for the entire state by the
In the event of a casual vacancy, members of the Legislative Council are filled by an assembly of the members of both houses of parliament. If the member whose seat has become vacant was elected as a member of a political party, the assembly must, if possible, replace them with a nominated member of that party.[40]
The Legislative Council has almost equal powers to the House of Assembly. The only difference is that the upper house does not have the ability to initiate or amend bills that appropriate money or levy taxes. The Council may still request amendments to these bills and retains the right to reject money bills that it disagrees with.[41]
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. Another important function of the upper house is to scrutinise government activity, which it does both in the chamber and through committees. As Legislative Councillors have been elected using proportional representation since the mid-1970s, the chamber features a multitude of parties vying for power. A government or opposition majority in the upper house has been unachievable since the introduction of this system, with the balance of power being held by a number of minor parties and independents.[11]
Resolution of deadlocks between the Houses
In the event that there is a conflict between the two Houses over legislation, the South Australian Constitution lays out a mechanism for how these deadlocks can be resolved.
Under section 41 of the South Australian Constitution, if a bill is passed by the House of Assembly during a session of parliament and in the following parliament after a general election for the lower house is rejected by the Legislative Council on both occasions, it is permitted for the Governor of South Australia to either issue a writ for the election of 2 additional members of the Legislative Council or to dissolve both Houses at the same time to elect an entirely new parliament.[42] This procedure is known as a double dissolution. As the upper house consists of 22 members, with 11 elected statewide at each general election for an 8-year term at a quota of 8.33%, this would result in an election for all 22 members at a quota of 4.35%. In the event of a double dissolution election, the 11 Legislative Councillors that would not have won their seats under an ordinary election go up for re-election at the first general election after only serving 3 years, rather than the usual 6 years.[43]
Although it has been threatened, this South Australian double dissolution procedure has never been used.[20][44]
Although the practice has mostly fallen out of favour in other parliaments that use a bicameral Westminster system, the South Australian parliament still regularly appoints a "Conference of Managers" from each House to negotiate compromises on disputed bills in private. The Conference Managers then prepare a report of recommendations that is submitted to both Houses.[45]
State First Nations Voice
As of the passage of the First Nations Voice Act 2023 in March 2023, South Australia also has an
The state is divided into six regions, whose
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.[50] It was built to replace the adjacent and overcrowded Parliament House, now referred to as "Old Parliament House", which dated from 1843 with extensions in 1857. Due to financial constraints, the current Parliament House was constructed in stages over 65 years from 1874 to 1939.[citation needed]
Following the completion of the New Parliament House in 1939, The Old Parliament House has been used for a variety of functions including as a Royal Australian Air Force recruiting office, offices for government departments and as a "Constitutional Museum." In 1995, the building reverted to use by the parliament and has been used as offices and committee rooms ever since.[51]
See also
- Constitution of South Australia
- List of elections in South Australia
- Official openings by the monarch in Australia
- Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
- Premier of South Australia
Notes
References
- ^ ISBN 9780521863056.
- ^ Constitution Act 1934 (SA) s 4
- ^ Constitution Act 1934 (SA) s 5 referencing the Australian Constitutions Act 1850 (Imp) 13 & 14 Vict. c 59, s 7.
- ^ "Constitution Act 1934". South Australia: Parliament of the South Australia. 1934. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ "Order-in-Council Establishing Government 23 February 1836 (UK)". Museum of Australian Democracy. Documenting a democracy. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- ^ ISBN 0-7243-7982-7.
- ^ Great Britain (1838), An act to amend an act of the fourth and fifth years of His Majesty, empowering His Majesty to erect South Australia into a British province or provinces : 31st July 1838, Printed by George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, retrieved 5 November 2019
- ^ "South Australian Colonization Commission". Bound for South Australia. Creative Commons 3.0. History Trust of South Australia. 11 February 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
{{cite web}}
: 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.
- ^ The Right to Vote in Australia. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ State Electoral Office of South Australia. Archived from the originalon 8 March 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
- ^ Australian Colonies Government Act 1850
- ^ Legislative Council Act 1851 (SA)
- ^ Parliament Act 1853 (SA)
- ^ a b "Constitution Act (No 2 of 19 Vic, 1855-6)". 4 January 1856. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ a b "Constitution Act 1856 (SA)". Museum of Australian Democracy. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Jaensch, Dean (2002). "Community access to the electoral processes in South Australia since 1850". South Australian State Electoral Office. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
- ^ Government of South Australia. "Constitution Act 1934". Retrieved 13 November 2019.
- ^ Electoral Act (No 10 of 19 Vic, 1855-6) (SA)
- ^ ISBN 9781862548626.
- ^ Payment of Members Act 1887 (SA)
- ^ Parliamentary Remuneration Act 1990 (SA)
- ^ "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.
- ^ Wise, Bernard Ringrose (1913). The Making of The Australian Commonwealth. Longmans, Green, and Co.
- ^ a b c d e f History of Redistributions, South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission
- ^ Labor and Liberal Parties, SA, Dean Jaensch, "A 2:1 ratio of enrolments in favour of the rural areas was in force from 1936."
- ISBN 0-333-33815-4.
- ^ Electoral Act 1929 (SA)
- ^ New Electoral System Adopted for the South Australian Legislative Council: Antony Green ABC 9 August 2017
- ^ Electoral Act 1985 (SA)
- ISBN 9781925603842.
- ^ "PARLIAMENT'S RECORD REVIEWED". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 4 December 1937. p. 26. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- The Advocate (Australia). Tasmania, Australia. 17 November 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 4 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Constitution Act Amendment Act 1985 (SA)
- ^ Constitution (Independent Speaker) Amendment Act 2021 (SA)
- ^ 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.
- ^ South Australian Constitution Act 1934 Section 28A
- ^ South Australian Constitution Act 1934 Section 14
- ^ South Australian Constitution Act 1934 Section 13
- ^ South Australian Constitution Act 1934 Division 5 — Money Bills
- ^ South Australian Constitution Act 1934 Section 41
- ^ South Australian Constitution Act 1934 Section 15
- ISBN 9781862548626.
- ^ Crump, Rick (2007). "Why the Conference Procedure Remains the Preferred Method for Resolving Disputes Between the Two Houses of the South Australian Parliament" (PDF). Australasian Parliamentary Review. 22 (2): 120–136. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ a b "First Nations Voice Act 2023 (SA)" (PDF). legislation.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- ^ a b McClaren, Rory; Pestrin, Stacey (26 March 2023). "SA becomes first Australian jurisdiction to create First Nations Voice to Parliament as historic bill passes". ABC News.
- SBS News. 26 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ "South Australia becomes first state to enact Indigenous voice to parliament". The Guardian. 26 March 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "Old Parliament House | Adelaidia". adelaidia.sa.gov.au. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
Further reading
- Combe, Gordon Desmond (2009). Responsible Government in South Australia, Volume One, From Foundations to Playford. Wakefield Press. ISBN 9781862548626.
- Martin, Robert (2009). Responsible Government in South Australia, Volume Two, From Playford to Rann, 1957-2007. Wakefield Press. ISBN 9781862548626.
- Dunstan, Don (1976). "John Curtin Memorial Lecture: Electoral reform in South Australia" (PDF).
- Finniss, B.T. (1886). The Constitutional History of South Australia During Twenty-One Years from the Foundation of the Settlement in 1836 to the Inauguration of Responsible Government in 1857 (PDF). Adelaide: W.C. Rigby.
- Combe, Gordon Desmond (1960). The parliament of South Australia : an outline of its history, its proceedings and its buildings. Adelaide: Government Printer.
- Jaensch, Dean (1986). The Flinders History of South Australia - Political History. Adelaide: Wakefield Press.
- Jaensch, Dean (2002). "Community access to the electoral processes in South Australia since 1850". South Australian State Electoral Office. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
- Stretton, Pat (1988). The Life and Times of Old Parliament House. Old Parliament House, North Terrace, Adelaide. ISBN 0-7243-7982-7.