South Australian House of Assembly

House of Assembly
Type
Type	Lower house of the Parliament of South Australia
History
Founded	1857
Leadership
Speaker	Michael Atkinson, Labor Since 5 February 2013
Deputy Speaker	Frances Bedford, Labor Since 6 May 2014
Structure
Seats	47
Political groups	Government      Labor (24) Opposition      Liberal (21) Crossbench      Independent (2)
Meeting place
House of Assembly Chamber, Parliament House, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Website
SA House of Assembly

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. The fourth-term South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party has been in government since the 2002 election.

The 47-seat house consists of 24 Labor, 21 Liberal and 2 independents, Geoff Brock and Martin Hamilton-Smith. Following the 2014 election, the lower house consisted of 23 Labor, 22 Liberal and 2 independents, Geoff Brock and Bob Such. Martin Hamilton-Smith became an independent shortly after the election, reducing the Liberals to 21 seats. Both Hamilton-Smith and fellow independent Geoff Brock are in cabinet and provide confidence and supply while retaining the right to vote on conscience. Labor went from minority to majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election which was triggered by the death of Bob Such. Despite this, the Jay Weatherill Labor government kept crossbench MPs Brock and Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority.^[1]

Overview

The House of Assembly was created in 1857, when South Australia attained self-government. The development of an elected legislature — although only men could vote — marked a significant change from the prior system, where legislative power was in the hands of the Governor and the Legislative Council, which was appointed by the Governor.

In 1895, the House of Assembly granted women the right to vote – the second place in the world to do so after New Zealand in 1893 – and the first to allow women to stand for election.^[2]

The House of Assembly has had 47 members since the 1970 election, each coming from a single-member constituency: currently 34 in the Adelaide metropolitan area and 13 in rural areas. These are commonly known as seats, and are intended to represent approximately the same population in each electorate. Voting is by preferential voting with complete preference allocation, as with the equivalent federal chamber, the Australian House of Representatives. All members face re-election approximately every four years. The most recent election was held on 15 March 2014.

Most legislation is initiated in the House of Assembly. The party or coalition with a majority of seats in the lower house is invited by the Governor to form government. The leader of that party becomes Premier of South Australia, and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian MPs almost always vote along party lines, almost all legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the House of Assembly.

As with the federal parliament and Australian other states and territories, voting in the Assembly is compulsory for all those over the age of 18. Voting in the House of Assembly had originally been voluntary, but this was changed in 1942.

While South Australia's total population is 1.7 million, Adelaide's population is 1.3 million − uniquely, over 75% of the state's population resides in the metropolitan area and has 72% of seats (34 of 47) alongside a lack of comparatively-sized rural population centres, therefore the metropolitan area tends to decide election outcomes. At the 2014 election for example, although the state-wide two-party vote (2PP) was 47.0% Labor v 53.0% Liberal, the metropolitan area recorded a 2PP of 51.5% Labor v 48.5% Liberal.^[3]

Election result summaries

House of Assembly chamber circa 1928. Click here for a 360 degree view. Internet Explorer recommended.

	1857	1860	1862	1865	1868		1870	1871	1875	1878		1881	1884	1887		1890
Parliament	1	2	3	4	5		6	7	8	9		10	11	12		13
Districts	17	17	18	18	18		18	18	22	22		22	26	26		27
Members	36	36	36	36	36		36	36	46	46		46	52	52		54

	1893	1896	1899		1902	1905	1906		1910	1912	1915	1918		1921	1924	1927
Parliament	14	15	16		17	18	19		20	21	22	23		24	25	26
Districts	27	27	27		13	13	13		13	12	19	19		19	19	19
Members	54	54	54		42	42	42		42	40	46	46		46	46	46
Cons.	21	21	28		19			ALP	22	16	26	17	ALP	16	27	16
Lib.	23	15	14		12			LDU	20	24	20	28	LU	25	17	28
ULP	10	12	11		5	15		FSP				1	FSP	4
Other		6	1		6	27								1	2	2

Speakers' chair in 1889

	1930	1933	1938		1941	1944	1947		1950	1953	1956	1959		1962	1965	1968
Parliament	27	28	29		30	31	32		33	34	35	36		37	38	39
Districts	19	19	39		39	39	39		39	39	39	39		39	39	39
Members	46	46	39		39	39	39		39	39	39	39		39	39	39
ALP	30	6	9		11	16	13		12	15	15	17		19	21	19
LCL	13	29	15		20	20	23		23	20	21	20		18	17	19
Other	3	11	15		8	3	3		4	4	3	2		2	1	1

	1970	1973	1975	1977	1979		1982	1985	1989		1993	1997		2002	2006
Parliament	40	41	42	43	44		45	46	47		48	49		50	51
Members	47	47	47	47	47		47	47	47		47	47		47	47
ALP	27	26	23	27	19		24	27	22		10	21		23	28
LPA	20	20	20	17	25		21	16	22		37	23		20	15
LM/AD			2	1	1	Nat	1	1	1			1		1	1
Other		1	2	2	2		1	3	2			2		3	3

	2010	2014	2018		2022	2026		2030	2034	2038		2042	2046		2050	2054	2058
Parliament	52	53
Members	47	47
ALP	26	23
LPA	18	22
Other	3	2

Current distribution of seats

Party	Seats held
	2014	2014–current
Australian Labor Party	24
Liberal Party of Australia	21
Independents	2

• 24 votes as a majority are required to pass legislation.

See also

• List of elections in South Australia
• List of South Australian state by-elections
• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly
• Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
• South Australian Electoral Districts (for the House of Assembly)

References

1. Fisher by-election win for Labor gives Weatherill Government majority in SA: ABC 13 December 2014
2. Women’s Suffrage Petition 1894: parliament.sa.gov.au
3. Metropolitan 2PP correctly calculated by adding raw metro 2PP vote numbers from the 34 metro seats, both Labor and Liberal, then dividing Labor's raw metro 2PP vote from the total, which revealed a Labor metropolitan 2PP of 51.54%. Obtained raw metro 2PP vote numbers from ECSA 2014 election statistics, ECSA 2014 Heysen election and ABC 2014 Fisher by-election.

External links

• House of Assembly Homepage
• General Hansard Information