Parliament of Western Australia

Parliament of Western Australia
Parliament of Western Australia
	40th Parliament
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Legislative Council; Legislative Assembly
History
Founded	7 February 1832
Leadership
Monarch	Elizabeth II ; since 6 February 1952
Governor	Kim Beazley ; since 1 May 2018
President of the Legislative Council	Kate Doust, Labor ; since 23 May 2017
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly	Peter Watson, Labor ; since 11 May 2017
Premier	Mark McGowan, Labor ; since 17 March 2017
Leader of the Opposition	Zak Kirkup, Liberal ; since 24 November 2020
Structure
Seats	95; 59 MLAs; 36 MLCs
Legislative Assembly political groups	Government; Labor (40); Opposition; Liberal (14); Crossbench; National (5)
Legislative Council political groups	Government ; Labor (14); Opposition; Liberal (9); Crossbench; National (4) ; Greens (4); One Nation (2) ; Shooters, Fishers, Farmers (1); Liberal Democrat (1); Western Australia (1)
Elections
Legislative Assembly voting system	Full preferential voting
Legislative Council voting system	Single transferable vote with group voting tickets
Last general election	11 March 2017
Next general election	13 March 2021
Meeting place
	Parliament House,; Perth, Western Australia,; Australia
Website
	www.parliament.wa.gov.au

The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliament consists of a lower house, the Legislative Assembly, an upper house, the Legislative Council and the Queen, represented by the Governor of Western Australia. The two Houses of Parliament sit in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth.

For a bill to become law, it must be passed by both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly, and receive royal assent from the Governor.

The party or coalition commanding the support of a majority of the members of the Legislative Assembly is invited by the governor to form government. The head of government holds the office of Premier of Western Australia.[1]

Currently, the Legislative Council has 36 members elected for four-year terms from multi-member constituencies by proportional representation, and the Legislative Assembly has 59 members, elected for four-year terms from single-member constituencies, using preferential voting. As with all other Australian states and territories, enrolment to vote and voting for both Houses is compulsory for all resident Australian citizens—and eligible British citizens (i.e., those permanently resident and on the electoral roll prior to the passage of the Australia Act)—who are over the legal voting age of 18.

History

The Western Australian Legislative Council was created in 1832 as an appointed body. In 1870 the then colony was ruled by a governor and an advisory Legislative Council made up of appointed officials and elected members. The Western Australian Legislative Assembly was created in 1890 when the then colony attained self-government. The first premier was John Forrest, who held office until 1901.

On 3 November 2011, the government introduced fixed four-year terms for Parliament, with elections being held every four years on the second Saturday in March.[2][3] The 2013 state election was the first election under the fixed date system.

The two Houses of the 39th Parliament were prorogued on 30 January 2017 by the Governor of Western Australia and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved on the same day. The term of the Legislative Council will expire on 21 May 2017.[4] The electoral roll closed on Thursday, 9 March 2015.[5] Elections for the 40th Parliament took place on Saturday, 11 March 2017. At the election, the Labor Party won a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly and its leader, Mark McGowan, was sworn in as the 30th Premier of Western Australia on 17 March 2017 by Governor Kerry Sanderson. Members of his new Ministry were similarly sworn in on this date.[6]

Notes

References

"Legislative Assembly" (PDF). About Parliament. Parliament of Western Australia. p. 7.1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
"New laws fix state election dates". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
Antony Green (8 February 2011). "Future election dates". Blogs.abc.net.au. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
Election of the Legislative Council
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
"Mark McGowan sworn in as WA's 30th Premier". ABC News. 17 March 2017.

External links

Parliament website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Legislative Assembly" (PDF). About Parliament. Parliament of Western Australia. p. 7.1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

[2] "New laws fix state election dates". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 January 2012.

[3] Antony Green (8 February 2011). "Future election dates". Blogs.abc.net.au. Retrieved 26 January 2012.

[4] Election of the Legislative Council

[5] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[swearing-6] "Mark McGowan sworn in as WA's 30th Premier". ABC News. 17 March 2017.

Members of the Parliament of Western Australia
Legislative Assembly	1890–1894 1894–1897 1897–1901 1901–1904 1904–1905 1905–1908 1908–1911 1911–1914 1914–1917 1917–1921 1921–1924 1924–1927 1927–1930 1930–1933 1933–1936 1936–1939 1939–1943 1943–1947 1947–1950 1950–1953 1953–1956 1956–1959 1959–1962 1962–1965 1965–1968 1968–1971 1971–1974 1974–1977 1977–1980 1980–1983 1983–1986 1986–1989 1989–1993 1993–1996 1996–2001 2001–2005 2005–2008 2008–2013 2013–2017 2017–2021
Legislative Council	1832–1870 1870–1872 1872–1874 1890–1894 1894–1896 1896–1898 1898–1900 1900–1902 1902–1904 1904–1906 1906–1908 1908–1910 1910–1912 1912–1914 1914–1916 1916–1918 1918–1920 1920–1922 1922–1924 1924–1926 1926–1928 1928–1930 1930–1932 1932–1934 1934–1936 1936–1938 1938–1940 1940–1944 1944–1946 1946–1948 1948–1950 1950–1952 1952–1954 1954–1956 1956–1958 1958–1960 1960–1962 1962–1965 1965–1968 1968–1971 1971–1974 1974–1977 1977–1980 1980–1983 1983–1986 1986–1989 1989–1993 1993–1997 1997–2001 2001–2005 2005–2009 2009–2013 2013–2017 2017–2021

Government of Western Australia
Executive	Monarchy Governor Premier Deputy Premier Cabinet Entities Police
Legislative	Parliament Legislative Assembly MLAs Electoral districts Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Legislative Council MLCs Opposition Leader President of the Legislative Council
Judicial	Supreme Court District Court Children's Court Family Court Magistrates Court Other courts and tribunals

Parliament of Western Australia

History

See also

Notes

References

External links