Tasmanian Legislative Council

Legislative Council
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania
History
Founded	1825
Leadership
President	Jim Wilkinson, Independent Since 21 May 2013
Chair of Committees	Gregory Raymond Hall, Independent Since 10 May 2008
Structure
Seats	15
Political groups	Government      Liberal (2) Opposition      Labor (2) Crossbench      Independent (11)
Meeting place
Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament House, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Website
Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. It is a unique parliamentary chamber in Australian politics in that it is the only chamber in any state parliament that is majority non partisan, with only 4 of 15 current MLCs being endorsed representatives of a political party.

The Council has 15 members selected by the preferential method within 15 single-member seats. Each seat is intended to represent approximately the same population in each electorate. Members of the Legislative Council are often referred to as MLCs.

Members in the council come up for re-election separately every six years. Elections are held in three divisions and two divisions alternately, in a three-year cycle. The council can block supply and force any government to election. The council cannot be dissolved as there is nothing in the Tasmanian constitution to allow this. As public referenda are not a part of the constitution, the council's rights cannot be reduced and its existence cannot be abolished without its agreement.

Tasmania's Legislative Council has never been controlled by a single political party, as voters in Tasmania have tended to support independents over candidates endorsed by political parties. Labor endorses candidates in some Legislative Council elections. The Labor party is the most successful of any political party in the council's history, having elected a total of 19 members. The Liberals have maintained the view that the Legislative Council "is not a party house", while rarely endorsing candidates with little success. Since 2009, the Liberal Party has endorsed candidates more frequently. The Liberal Party has only ever had three endorsed members in the Legislative Council. One of these, Peter McKay, was first elected as an independent in 1976 but became a Liberal in 1991. The party has often tacitly backed independent conservatives, many of whom were previously Liberal candidates or members at state or federal level. An exception to this was the 2009 Pembroke by-election where the Liberals stood candidate Vanessa Goodwin who won the seat. The Tasmanian Greens endorse candidates in elections but have yet to win a seat on the council.