The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the King, represented by the governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Members of the Victorian government are drawn from both chambers, creating a fused executive. The parliament meets at Parliament House in the state capital Melbourne. The current Parliament was elected on 26 November 2022, sworn in on 20 December 2022 and is the 60th parliament in Victoria.
The two Houses of Parliament have 128 members in total, 88 in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and 40 in the Legislative Council (upper house). Victoria has compulsory voting and uses full preferential voting in single-member seats for the Legislative Assembly, and single transferable vote in multi-member seats for the proportionally represented Legislative Council. The council is described as a house of review. Majorities in the Legislative Council are rare, so the government of the day must negotiate with other parties to pass much of its legislative agenda. All members serve four-year terms. The parliament's functions and processes have evolved over time, undergoing significant changes as Victoria changed from an independent colony to a state within the federated Australia.
The Parliament may make laws for any matter within Victoria, subject to some referendum requirements in the Victorian Constitution. Its power is further limited by the ability for the federal laws to override state laws, subject to the Australian Constitution. State courts are responsible for interpreting the laws of Parliament, subject to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The parliament is also vested with other powers, such as the means to investigate matters, conduct research and summon witnesses.
Government is formed by the party or parties who command confidence and supply within the Assembly. The leader of the governing party or parties is the premier, the most senior elected member of Victoria's executive government. Victorians do not directly elect the premier, and the leader of the majority party is appointed premier by the governor. Jacinta Allan has been the premier since her selection as leader of the Labor Party on 27 September 2023.
History
Location Parliament has sat at Parliament House, Melbourne since 1856, with the exception of the period 1901–1927, when Parliament House was used by the Federal Parliament and the Parliament of Victoria sat at the Royal Exhibition Building. The building has undergone significant renovations since its initial construction as it has been expanded, repaired and restored over time. The first major works were conducted in the 1930s, using a £50,000 contribution from the Australian federal government paid in gratitude for the use of the building. Further construction was undertaken throughout the 1970s to make temporary offices for members of Parliament, although these were not modernised until further works began in 2015. Sections of the structure's outer walls have gradually been replaced over time.
Early parliamentary history
Prior to 1851 the area of Australia now known as Victoria was part of the colony of New South Wales and was administered by the Government of New South Wales in Sydney. On 5 August 1850, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Australian Colonies Government Act which made provision for the separation of Victoria from New South Wales. Enabling legislation was passed by the Parliament of New South Wales, and Victoria was formally created a separate colony of the United Kingdom on 1 July 1851.
The Australian Colonies Government Act provided for the colony to be administered by a lieutenant-governor and a Legislative Council of 51 members, 21 of which were to be elected and the remainder appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor. The lieutenant-governor was subordinate in some matters to the governor of New South Wales, who was given the title governor-general. The Legislative Council met for the first time in November 1851 at St Patrick's Hall, Melbourne. The first Legislative Council existed for five years and was responsible for at least three significant and enduring contributions to the parliamentary system of Victoria: drafting the first Constitution of Victoria, ensuring a secret ballot within elections (a novelty within the British Empire at the time), and ordering the construction of Victorian Parliament House in Melbourne.
The Victorian Constitution was approved by the Legislative Council in March 1854. It was the sent to Britain where it was passed by the United Kingdom Parliament as the Victoria Constitution Act 1855. It was granted royal assent on 16 July 1855 and was proclaimed in Victoria on 23 November 1855. The constitution established the Westminster-style system of responsible government that continues in Victoria today. It further stipulated several preconditions on voting that have since been rescinded such as restricting voting to only men of at least 21 years of age who met minimum wealth standards. Rural districts were also very over-represented in order to favour large landowners.
The election for the first Victorian Parliament was held during the spring of 1856, the first Victorian Members of Parliament met on 21 November 1856 in the recently completed Parliament House and were sworn in, and on 25 November 1856 the first Victorian Parliament was officially opened by acting governor Major-General Edward Macarthur. The Legislative Council consisted of thirty members representing six Provinces, each province returning five members. The Legislative Assembly consisted of sixty members representing thirty-seven multi and single-member electorates.
Expansion of suffrage Although Indigenous Australians were denied the vote in some states, Victoria did not directly legislate voting based on race. Therefore, Indigenous Victorian men were entitled to vote from 1857, provided they met the other requirements. Furthermore, Indigenous Victorians who enrolled to vote in Victoria were allowed to vote in federal elections from 1901.
The 1903 constitution, similar to the functional constituencies in China, reserved two seats in the Legislative Assembly to be elected by and from Railway Officers and similarly one seat for Public Officers, and one seat in the Legislative Council for both groups combined. In 1907, these four seats were abolished and such officers voted instead in their electoral district and province and were otherwise prohibited from political campaigning.
Voting was initially restricted based on gender, though. Victoria was the last state within Australia to intentionally recognise female voters. The Electoral Act 1863 granted the vote to all rate payers, which included some women at the time. Therefore, women were legally allowed to, and indeed did, vote in the election of 1864. The act was clarified in 1865 to exclude women. Agitation for allowing women to vote began in earnest in 1891, with presentation of an immense Victorian Women's Suffrage Petition containing over 30,000 signatures was presented to the parliament. This petition was proudly used as a promotional tool for the federation of Australia. The newly federated nation allowed women to vote in elections, as well as stand for office, since 1902. Yet Victoria did not expand its suffrage to include women until 1908, nor allow women to stand for office until 1924. The first woman was not elected into the Victorian Parliament until 1933.
Political parties began to increase in size and influence throughout the 1890s, leading to further agitation for changes to the vote. This also led to voting within each chamber becoming more predictable, as strong party discipline began to form among party members, mostly aligned to three broad ideals: the labour movement, liberal movement and rural interests. Victoria's two-party system took hold, usually as a contest between the Labor Party and a coalition formed by the Country Party (now known as the Nationals) and the more recent Liberal Party.
The principle of ensuring that rural regions, which typically represented the landed gentry when Victoria first formed, were over-represented in parliament was also rescinded. One-man-one vote was adopted in 1899 in the Legislative Assembly, and expanded to the Legislative Council in 1937. Wealth requirements for voting in the Legislative Assembly were removed in 1857, but this reform was not made to the Legislative Council until 1950. Furthermore, the method of voting was changed; first-past-the-post voting was replaced with preferential voting for the Legislative Assembly in 1911 and compulsory voting introduced in 1923. Meanwhile, the preferential voting was used for elections to the Legislative Council from 1921, and elections made compulsory in 1935.
Voting was further expanded in 1973, when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. The minimum age for membership of either house was also lowered to 18.
Expansion of voting divisions
The number of divisions within each of the chambers was gradually increased over time. The Legislative Council was expanded from 30 members representing 6 provinces to its peak of 48 members spread throughout 14 provinces by 1888. The number of both provinces and members continued to change until it remained relatively fixed by 1974, when 44 members represented 22 provinces. Furthermore, the members were distributed evenly, rather than a mixture of single and multi-member districts as the chamber was at its creation.
The Legislative Assembly has similarly fluctuated in size over time. It contained 60 seats within its first iteration in 1856, eventually growing to as many as 95 by 1900. It was not until 1958 when all divisions were up for election at the same time, though, when all of the then 66 seats were contested. The Assembly reached 88 seats in 1985 and has remained at this number ever since.
Current voting methods and districts Until November 2006, the Legislative Council had 44 members serving eight-year terms, elected from single-member constituencies, with half the seats falling vacant every four years. Since then it has had 40 members, each serving four-year terms. They are elected from eight multi-member constituencies, each returning five members, and elected by proportional representation. Since 2006, the Legislative Assembly has had 88 members elected for fixed four-year terms from single-member constituencies, using preferential voting.
Fixed four-year terms were introduced for both houses in 2003, replacing the previous provision that allowed the government to expire after no more than four years.Constitution (Parliamentary Reform) Act 2003 (Vic)
Composition and electoral systems
Parliament consists of the King and two houses: the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The governor acts on behalf of the monarch.
All members of both houses are elected for fixed four-year terms. General elections are held on the last Saturday in November every four years with the parliament expiring on the Tuesday twenty-five days before the election. The most recent general election was held on 26 November 2022.
Parliament can be dissolved earlier by the governor, and a general election called, in two exceptional circumstances: the Legislative Assembly passes a motion of no confidence in the government or its ministers, or the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly are deadlocked and cannot agree to pass a bill.
Anyone enrolled to vote in Victoria can stand for election as a candidate for either House, except for: a judge of the Victorian Courts, a member of the Commonwealth Parliament, an undischarged bankrupt, or someone convicted of a serious criminal offence.
It is also not permitted to be a member of both houses or a candidate for election to both houses of Parliament.