The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, represent ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

; the state

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

being the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

. Both houses sit at

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Meeting places of parliament Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * P ...

in Spring Street,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. The main colour used for the upholstery and carpets furnishing the Chamber of the Legislative Assembly is green. The presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly is the Speaker. There are presently 88

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

s 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 The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

by an act of the British Parliament. The Legislative Assembly was created on 13 March 1856 with the passing of the ''Victorian Electoral Bill'', five years after the creation of the original

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

Legislative Council. The Assembly first met on 21 November 1856, and consisted of sixty members representing thirty-seven multi and single-member electorates. 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 Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

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.

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 The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Vic ...

, and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian political parties traditionally vote along party lines, almost all legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the legislative assembly.

Committees

Committees are formed of members from one house or both houses. Committees hold inquiries into particular issues and call for input from the wider community. * Privileges Committee * Standing Orders Committee * Economy and Infrastructure Committee * Environment and Planning Committee * Legal and Social Issues Committee

Officials

Speaker

At the beginning of each new parliamentary term, the Legislative Assembly elects one of its members as a presiding officer, known as the Speaker. The House may re-elect the incumbent speaker 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 their 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 their 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. 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 provide procedural and administrative advice on the running of the Assembly, and performs other functions. The head of the department is the Clerk of the Assembly, who is assisted by a deputy clerk, an assistant clerk committees and an assistant clerk procedure.Staff of the Legislative Assembly
/ref> The Assembly is also assisted by a

serjeant-at-arms A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin , which means "servant". Historically, serjeants-at-ar ...

, who at present also holds the position of assistant clerk procedure.

Membership and elections

The Legislative Assembly presently consists of 88 members, each elected in single-member

electoral districts An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

, more commonly known as electorates or seats. This is done using preferential voting, which is the same voting system used for the federal lower house, the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

. Members represent approximately the same population in each electorate. Since 2006, 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.Constitution (Parliamentary Reform) Act 2003 (Vic)
/ref> There are no limits to the number of terms for which a member may seek election.

Casual vacancies ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. It was Rowling's first publication since the ''Harry Potter'' series, her first novel apart fr ...

are filled at a by-election.

Current distribution of seats

* 44 votes as a majority are currently required to pass legislation.

2022 election

Results

Notes

References

External links

VLA Hansard Assembly Members ListElections since 1856Roles
{{Political parties in Victoria (Australia) Parliament of Victoria Victoria 1856 establishments in Australia