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South Australian House of Assembly

Lower house of the state's Parliament From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Australian House of Assemblymap
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The House of Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the upper house being the Legislative Council.

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Overview

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The House of Assembly was created in 1857, when South Australia attained self-government. The development of an elected legislature — although only men could vote — marked a significant change from the prior system, where legislative power was in the hands of the Governor and the Legislative Council, which was appointed by the Governor.

In 1895, the House of Assembly granted women the right to vote and stand for election to the legislature. South Australia was the second place in the world to do so after New Zealand in 1893, and the first to allow women to stand for election.[1] (The first woman candidates for the South Australia Assembly ran in 1918 general election, in Adelaide and Sturt.[2])

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A painting of the House of Assembly meeting in Old Parliament House in 1867

From 1857 to 1933, the House of Assembly was elected from multi-member districts, commonly known as "seats", with each district returning between one and six members. The size of the Assembly varied during this time—36 members from 1857 to 1875, 46 members from 1875 to 1884, 52 members from 1884 to 1890, 54 members from 1890 to 1902, 42 members from 1902 to 1912, 40 members from 1912 to 1915 after the Northern Territory was ceded to federal administration, and 46 members from 1915 to 1938. In 1938, the Assembly was reduced to 39 members, elected from single-member districts.

The House of Assembly has had 47 members since the 1970 election, elected from single-member districts: 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. Voting is by Instant-runoff voting and preferential voting with complete preference allocation, as with the equivalent federal chamber, the Australian House of Representatives. All members face re-election approximately every four years. The most recent election was held on 19 March 2022.

The House is presided over by a Speaker, who, as of the passage of the Constitution (Independent Speaker) Amendment Act 2021, is constitutionally banned from being a member of a registered political party outside of a "relevant election period".[3]

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A map of South Australian electorates 1955-69, during the height of the Playmander

Another distinctive aspect of the history of the South Australian Parliament was the "Playmander", a gerrymandering system that instituted a pro-rural electoral malapportionment introduced by the incumbent Liberal and Country League (LCL) government, and in place for 32 years from 1936 to 1968.[4] The already entrenched rural overweighting was increased to a 2:1 ratio, the number of MPs was reduced to 39 and the multi-member seats were abandoned for single-member seats. The House of Assembly now consisted of 26 low-population rural seats, which due to population shifts, were holding up to a 10-to-1 advantage over the 13 high-population metropolitan seats, even though rural seats contained only a third of South Australia's population. At the peak of the malapportionment in 1968, the rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes.[5]

Labor won enough parliamentary seats to form government just once during the Playmander against the odds − in 1965. Labor won comprehensive majorities of the statewide two-party vote whilst failing to form government in 1944, 1953, 1962 and 1968.[5]

More equitable boundaries were subsequently put in place following the 1968, 1975, and 1989 elections.[5]

Most legislation is initiated in the House of 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 becomes Premier of South Australia, and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian MPs almost always vote along party lines, almost all legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the House of Assembly.

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South Australian House of Assembly ballot paper

As with the federal parliament and Australian other states and territories, voting in the Assembly is compulsory for all those over the age of 18. Voting in the House of Assembly had originally been voluntary, but this was changed in 1942.

While South Australia's total population is 1.7 million, 1.3 million of them live in Adelaide. Over 75% of the state's population resides in the metropolitan area. As a result, Adelaide accounts for 72% (34 of 47) of the seats in the chamber. The dominance of Adelaide, combined with a lack of comparatively-sized rural population centres, results in the metropolitan area frequently deciding election outcomes. At the 2014 election for example, although the state-wide 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.[6]

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Membership

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Election result summaries

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House of Assembly chamber circa 1928.

Father of the House of Assembly since 1 Jan 1964

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Historical composition

1893 54
26 18 10
1896
24 18 12
1899
29 14 11
1902 52
20 17 5
1905
15 11 9 7
1906
17 9 8 5 3
1910 42
22 20
1912
24 16
1915 46
26 20
1918
22 17 6 1
1921
25 16 4 1
1924
27 17 2
1927
23 16 5 2
1930
30 13 2 1
1933
29 6 4 3 3 1
1938 39
15 14 9 1
1941
20 11 8
1944
20 16 3
1947
23 13 3
1950
23 12 4
1953
20 15 4
1956
21 15 3
1959
20 17 2
1962
19 18 2
1965
21 17 1
1968
19 19 1
1970 47
27 20
1973
26 20 1
1975
23 20 2 1 1
1977
27 17 1 1 1
1979
25 19 1 1 1
1982
24 21 1 1
1985
27 16 3 1
1989
22 22 2 1
1993
37 10
1997
23 21 1 1
2002
23 20 3 1
2006
28 15 3 1
2010
26 18 3
2014
23 22 2
2018
25 19 3
2022
27 16 4
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See also

Notes

  1. Current independent MPs: Troy Bell (Mount Gambier), Leon Bignell (Mawson), Geoff Brock (Stuart), Dan Cregan (Kavel), Fraser Ellis (Narungga), and Nick McBride (MacKillop), with Cregan serving in the Cabinet.

References

Further reading

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