Victorian Legislative Assembly
| Legislative Assembly | |
|---|---|
| 58th Victorian Parliament | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1856[1] |
| Leadership | |
Deputy Speaker | |
Manager of Government Business | |
Manager of Opposition Business | |
Government Whip | |
Opposition Whip | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 88 |
 | |
Political groups |
Government |
| Committees |
Standing *Privileges Committee *Standing Orders Committee |
| Elections | |
Last election | 29 November 2014 |
Next election | 24 November 2018 |
| Meeting place | |
|
Legislative Assembly Chamber, Parliament House, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | |
| Website | |
| Vic Legislative Assembly | |
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne.
The presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly is the Speaker. There are presently 88 members of the Legislative Assembly elected from single-member divisions.
History
Victoria was proclaimed a Colony on 1 July 1851 separating from the Colony of New South Wales by an act of the British Parliament. The Legislative Assembly was created on 13 March 1856 with the passing of the Victorian Electoral Bill,[1] five years after the creation of the original unicameral Legislative Council. The Assembly first met on 21 November 1856,[1] and consisted of sixty members representing thirty-seven multi and single-member electorates.[2] On the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, the Parliament of Victoria continued except that the colony was now called a state.
In 1917, the Nationalist government in Victoria introduced compulsory preferential voting before the 1917 state election. This enabled the factions in the party to field competing candidates without splitting the vote by keeping preferences within the party.
Membership and elections
The Legislative Assembly presently consists of 88 members, each elected in single-member electoral districts, more commonly known as electorates or seats, using preferential voting, which is the same voting system used for the federal lower house, the Australian House of Representatives. Members represent approximately the same population in each electorate.
Members of the Legislative Assembly are elected for a fixed term of 4 years, with elections occurring on the last Saturday of November every 4 years. There are no limits to the number of terms for which a member may seek election.
Current membership
Distribution of seats
| Party | Seats held | Percentage of Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Labor Party | 47 | 53.40% | ||
| Liberal/National Coalition | 38 | 43.18% | ||
| Liberal Party | 30 | 34.09% | ||
| National Party | 8 | 9.09% | ||
| Greens | 2 | 2.27% | ||
| Independent | 1 | 1.14% | ||
| Total | 88 | 100% | ||
- 45 votes as a majority are required to pass legislation.
Officials
At the beginning of each new parliamentary term, the Legislative Assembly elects one of its members as a presiding officer, known as the Speaker. If the incumbent Speaker seeks a new term, then the House may re-elect him or her merely by passing a motion; otherwise, a secret ballot is held. In practice, the Speaker is usually a member of the governing party or parties, who have the majority in the House. The Speaker continues to be a member of his or her political party, but it is left to their individual discretion as to whether or not they attend party meetings. The Speaker also continues to carry out his or her ordinary electorate duties as a member of Parliament and must take part in an election campaign to be re-elected as a member of Parliament.[3]
A Deputy Speaker is also elected by the Assembly, who supports and assists the Speaker in the execution of their duties.
Non-member officials
The Legislative Assembly is also supported by a department of civil servants who are not elected members of parliament and who provide procedural and administrative advice on the running of the assembly. The head of the department is the Clerk of the Assembly. The clerk is assisted by the deputy clerk, the assistant clerk committees and the assistant clerk procedure.[4]
The assembly is also assisted by the serjeant-at-arms, at present the positions of assistant clerk procedure and serjeant-at-arms are filled by the same person.[5]
2014 Victorian election
Results
|
Victorian state election, 29 November 2014[6][7] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 3,806,301 | |||||
| Votes cast | 3,540,140 | Turnout | 93.01 | +0.05 | ||
| Informal votes | 184,815 | Informal | 5.22 | +0.26 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 1,278,322 | 38.10 | +1.84 | 47 | +4* | |
| Liberal | 1,223,474 | 36.46 | −1.57 | 30 | −5 | |
| Greens | 385,190 | 11.48 | +0.27 | 2 | +2 | |
| National | 185,619 | 5.53 | −1.21 | 8 | −2 | |
| Country Alliance | 43,038 | 1.28 | −0.07 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Family First | 37,194 | 1.11 | −1.18 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Christians | 26,545 | 0.79 | +0.79 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Rise Up Australia | 20,795 | 0.62 | +0.62 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Voice for the West | 16,584 | 0.49 | +0.49 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Sex Party | 8,930 | 0.27 | −0.28 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Animal Justice | 7,778 | 0.23 | +0.23 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Democratic Labor | 2,799 | 0.08 | −0.81 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Shooters and Fishers | 2,622 | 0.08 | +0.08 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Socialist Alliance | 1,728 | 0.05 | −0.00 | 0 | ±0 | |
| People Power Victoria | 1,375 | 0.04 | +0.04 | 0 | ±0 | |
| The Basics Rock 'n' Roll | 1,043 | 0.03 | +0.03 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independent | 112,289 | 3.35 | +0.74 | 1 | +1 | |
| Total | 3,355,325 | 88 | ||||
| Two-party-preferred | ||||||
| Labor | 1,745,020 | 51.99 | +3.57 | |||
| Liberal/National | 1,611,507 | 48.01 | −3.57 | |||
| * Labor also retained four of the five Labor seats which were made notionally Liberal by the 2013 redistribution. | ||||||
Procedure
Most legislation is initiated in the Legislative Assembly. The party or coalition with a majority of seats in the lower house is invited by the Governor to form government. The leader of that party subsequently becomes Premier of Victoria, and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian political parties traditionally vote along party lines, most legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the legislative assembly.
Committees
- Privileges Committee
- Standing Orders Committee
See also
- List of members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
- List of Victorian state by-elections
- Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
References
- 1 2 3 Edward Sweetman (1920). Constitutional Development of Victoria, 1851-6. Whitcombe & Tombs Limited. p. 67. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
- ↑ "Elections". Fact Sheet G3: Elections. Parliament of Victoria.
- ↑ The Speaker
- ↑ Staff of the Legislative Assembly
- ↑ ibid.
- ↑ "State Election 2014 provisional results". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ↑ "Live Results". ABC News. Retrieved 8 Dec 2014.