New South Wales Legislative Council

History

The parliament of New South Wales is Australia's oldest legislature. It had its beginnings when New South Wales was a British colony under the control of the Governor, and was first established by the New South Wales Act 1823. |access-date = 16 September 2014 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140623051859/http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/publications.nsf/key/IS01/$File/DemGrth.pdf |archive-date = 23 June 2014 In 1856, under a new Constitution, the Parliament became bicameral with a fully elected Legislative Assembly and a fully appointed Legislative Council with a Government taking over most of the legislative powers of the Governor. The right to vote was extended to all adult males in 1858. |access-date = 9 September 2014 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140911002252/https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/common.nsf/key/HistoryResponsibleGovernment |archive-date = 11 September 2014

On 22 May 1856, the newly constituted New South Wales Parliament opened and sat for the first time. With the new 54-member Legislative Assembly taking over the council chamber, a second meeting chamber for the 21-member upper house had to be added to the Parliament building in Macquarie Street. |access-date = 30 July 2016 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160821194402/https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lc/roleandhistory/pages/role-and-history-of-the-council.aspx |archive-date = 21 August 2016

In 1925, 1926 and 1929, Premier Jack Lang made attempts to abolish the Legislative Council, following the example of the Queensland Legislative Council in 1922, but all were 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 votes cast by members of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council together, using STV, rather than being appointed by the Governor.

In 1962, Indigenous Australians gained the unfettered right to vote in all state elections, overriding protection orders and other historical restrictions on some Aboriginal people voting.{{cite web |access-date = 10 December 2023 |archive-date = 1 May 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210501063211/https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/roleandhistory/Pages/The-history-of-the-Legislative-Assembly.aspx |url-status = live

In 1978, the Council became a directly elected body in a program of electoral reform introduced by the Wran Labor government. The number of members was reduced to 45, with a third elected each third year, although transitional arrangements meant that there were 43 members from 1978 to 1981, and 44 from 1981 to 1984.

Further reform in 1991 by the Greiner Liberal-National government saw the size of the Legislative Council cut to 42 members, with half being elected every 4 years. (In 1991, the NSW Legislative Assembly was reduced from 109 to 99 Members, and then to 93 members in 1999.)

As with the federal parliament and other Australian 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. As the result of a 1995 referendum, every four years half the seats in the Council come up for election on the fourth Saturday in March, barring exceptional circumstances.

Opening of parliament

The King of Australia has a throne in the Legislative Council. Queen Elizabeth II opened the New South Wales Parliament on two occasions. The first was on 4 February 1954, as part of her first visit to Australia. It was the first time that the monarch of Australia had opened a session of any Australian parliament. The other occasion was on 20 February 1992, during her visit to Sydney to celebrate the sesquicentenary of the incorporation of the City of Sydney, on which occasion she stated: {{cquote|This is my second opportunity to address this Parliament – a Parliament which I described on the previous occasion, in 1954, as the Mother Parliament of Australia. It is interesting to reflect that that was the first time on which the Sovereign had opened a Session of an Australian Parliament. I was also on my first visit to Australia as your Queen. I have returned to New South Wales eight times since then and am always delighted by the warm and generous hospitality accorded to Prince Philip and me by the people of this State. On this occasion I have come to join in commemorating Sydney's first one hundred and fifty years as a city. |access-date = 17 July 2010 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111106215610/http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC19920220002 |archive-date = 6 November 2011

Presidency of the Legislative Council

Main article: President of the New South Wales Legislative Council

From 1846 to 1856 the title of the presiding officer was Speaker of the Legislative Council, and after that date it has been President of the Legislative Council.

Chamber

Main article: Parliament House, Sydney

The Legislative Council chamber is a prefabricated cast-iron building, intended as an "iron store and dwelling with ornamental front", which had been manufactured in Scotland and shipped to Victoria. In 1856, when plans for a new chamber for the Legislative Council were not ready in time, this building was purchased and shipped to Sydney, where it was erected as an extension to Parliament House. The Legislative Council chamber is furnished in red, which follows the British tradition for the upper house.

Composition and powers

Proportional representation, with the whole state as a single electorate, means that the quota for election is small. This almost guarantees the representation of minor parties in the Legislative Council, including micro-parties that might attract less than 2% of the primary vote but are elected through preferences.

In the 1999 elections, a record number of parties contested seats in the council, resulting in an unwieldy ballot paper (referred to as the "table cloth" ballot paper), and a complex exchange of preferences between the numerous parties running candidates. As a result, party registration requirements have since been made more restrictive (e.g., requiring more voters as members, and a larger number of candidates to become eligible for a simple "above-the-line" voting box), and the replacement of party preference arrangements with optional preferential voting. This reduced the number of parties contesting elections and increased the difficulty for small, upstart parties to be elected, so that only six minor parties are now represented in the council (the Greens; One Nation; Shooters, Fishers and Farmers; Animal Justice; Legalise Cannabis and Liberal Democrats), along with Labor, Liberal, and National Party members.

Current distribution of seats (2023–2027)

The President of the Legislative Council has a casting vote should the result be equal from among those present eligible and choosing to vote. With 42 members, with one removed as president, a majority is 21 of the 41 possible of the whole 42.

Section 22I of the NSW Constitution states that "All questions arising in the Legislative Council shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the Members present other than the President or other Member presiding and when the votes are equal the President or other Member presiding shall have a casting vote."

Notes

References

References

1. [[Special Minister of State (New South Wales). (18 February 2025). "NSW Government takes steps to avoid Easter long weekend clash with 2027 state election". [[Premier's Department]].
2. {{Cite Legislation AU. NSW. num_act. ea1843n1130. Electoral Act 1843
3. Tink, Andrew. (2009). "William Charles Wentworth – Father of Australia’s Freedoms".
4. Farrell and McAllister. "The Australian Electoral System".
5. Hallett and Woodward. "New South Wales Elects Upper House. Legislators Choose Members by Hare System of P.R.". National Municipal Review.
6. (2011). "Parliament of New South Wales: History Bulletin 1 "The Heritage Buildings of Parliament House"". Parliament of New South Wales.