Legislative Council of Victoria

Legislative Council
58th Parliament
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of Victoria
History
Founded	1851
Leadership
President	Bruce Atkinson, Liberal Since 21 December 2010
Deputy President	Gayle Tierney, Labor Since 23 December 2014
Leader of the Council	Gavin Jennings, Labor Since 23 December 2014
Leader of the Opposition	Mary Wooldridge, Liberal Since 17 December 2014
Government Whip	Cesar Melhem, Labor Since 23 December 2014
Opposition Whip	Wendy Lovell, Liberal Since 23 December 2014
Structure
Seats	40
Legislative Council political groups	Government      Labor (14) Opposition      Liberal (14)      National (2) Crossbench      Greens (5)      Shooters, Fishers, Farmers (2)      Sex (1)      Democratic Labour (1)      Vote 1 Local Jobs (1)
Legislative Council committees	Standing Committees Economy and Infrastructure Environment and Planning Legal and Social Issues Domestic Committees Privileges Standing Orders
Elections
Last general election	29 November 2014
Next general election	November 2018
Meeting place
Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament House, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Website
Vic Legislative Council

Standing Committees

Domestic Committees

The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to its federal counterpart, the Australian Senate. Although it is possible for legislation to be first introduced in the Council, most bills receive their first hearing in the Legislative Assembly.

The presiding officer of the council is the President of the Legislative Council. The council presently has 40 members serving four-year terms, elected from eight electoral regions each with five members. With each region electing 5 members, the quota in each region for election, after distribution of preferences, is 16.7% (one-sixth).

The separate colony of Victoria was proclaimed on 1 July 1851 and writs for the election of the first Legislative Council were issued at the same time for the 20 elected members. The Legislative Council initially consisted of 30 members, 10 of which were nominated by the Lieutenant-Governor and 20 were elected from 16 "electoral districts", with Melbourne electing 3 members, and Geelong and the county of Bourke electing 2 members each. The electors were male British subjects over the age of 21 years, who owned freehold valued at £100 or a householder paying rent of £10 per year, both very large sums at the time. Members of the Legislative Council were unpaid, further restricting participation of those without independent means. It took some time before the Legislative Council was elected and ready to sit. The Legislative Council met for the first time in November 1851 at St Patrick's Hall, which had been built in 1847 in Bourke Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council sat there until the opening of the Parliament House in 1856. James Frederick Palmer was the presiding officer of the Council, then called speaker.