Western Australian Legislative Council
| Legislative Council | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1832 |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 36 |
 |
|
|
Political groups
|
Government (11) Labor (11) Opposition (16) Liberal (16) Crossbench (9) National (5) Greens (2) Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (2) |
| Meeting place | |
| Legislative Council Chamber Parliament House, Perth Western Australia, Australia |
|
| Website | |
| Official website | |
The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses of Parliament sit in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth.
Effective on 20 May 2005, for the election of members of the Legislative Council, the State was divided into 6 electoral regions by community of interest —3 metropolitan and 3 rural—each electing 6 members to the Legislative Council. The 2005 changes continued to maintain the previous malapportionment in favour of rural regions. The changes took effect for the 2008 State election. Since 2008, the Legislative Council has had 36 members. Since the 2013 State election, the terms of both houses of Parliament have been fixed four-year terms, with elections being held every four years on the second Saturday in March, though the term of the Legislative Council not expiring until May after the election. The term of the current Legislative Council (elected in 2013) will expire on 21 May 2017, when members elected at the 2017 State election will take their seats. The Labor Party will hold 14 of the 36 seats, the Liberals will hold nine seats, while the Nationals and The Greens will hold four seats each and One Nation will hold three seats.
Six members of the Legislative Council are elected from each of the six regions under a proportional and preferential voting system using the single transferable vote method. Because of the proportional representation system in place as well as the malapportionment in favour of rural regions, the Legislative Council has traditionally been controlled by a coalition of the Liberal and National parties, and minor parties and independents have been more easily elected.
...
Wikipedia