The President of the Victorian Legislative Council, also known as the Presiding Officer of the Council, is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Council

Victorian Legislative Council

The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...

, the upper house

Upper house

An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...

 of the Parliament of Victoria

Parliament of Victoria

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 Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria; the Legislative Council ; and the Legislative Assembly...

 and equivalent to the President of the Australian Senate

President of the Australian Senate

The President of the Australian Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer of the lower house is the Speaker of the House of Representatives....

. The current President is Bruce Atkinson

Bruce Atkinson

Bruce Norman Atkinson is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council since October 1992, representing Koonung Province from 1992 to 2006 and Eastern Metropolitan Region since. He is currently the President of the Legislative Council.Atkinson was born...

.

The role of the President

The President is always a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council, and is the ceremonial head of that Council. The President performs ceremonial duties, and represents the Council to other organisations. In conjunction with the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria....

, the President is responsible for the administration of the Victorian Parliament. When the Council is sitting, the President enforces procedures and assists the smooth running of Council meetings. The President is assisted in their duties by a Deputy President.

Choosing the President

The President of the Legislative Council is an elected position. When a new President is required, any Member of the Legislative Council may propose, during a Council sitting, any other present Member for the position of President. If more than one Member is proposed and seconded, all Members must agree to one particular candidate. After election, the President presents his or herself as the choice of the Council to be their President.

List of Presidents of the Legislative Council

Note: where no political party is listed, this means that either the party is unknown, or that the President in question was not affiliated with any particular party. Multiple parties are listed in cases where the President represented more than one party over his career as a Member of the Legislative Council.

President	Party (if applicable)	Term in office
Sir James Frederick Palmer James Frederick Palmer Sir James Frederick Palmer was a medical practitioner, Victorian pioneer, first President of the Victorian Legislative Council and former Mayor of Melbourne.-Early life:...		21 November 1856–September 1870
Sir William Mitchell William Henry Fancourt Mitchell Sir William Henry Fancourt Mitchell was an Australian politician. Mitchell was the son of the Rev. George Mitchell of Leicester, England....		27 October 1870–24 November 1884
Sir James MacBain		27 November 1884–8 November 1892
Sir William Zeal		10 November 1892–May 1900
Sir Henry John Wrixon Henry John Wrixon Sir Henry John Wrixon KCMG was an Australian barrister and politician.-Early life:Wrixon was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Arthur Nicholas Wrixon, later a county court judge in Victoria, Australia, and his wife, Charlotte Matilda...		18 June 1901–28 June 1910
Sir John Mark Davies John Mark Davies Sir John Mark Davies KCMG was an English-born Australian politician.Born in Halstead, England in 1840, Davies was the fifth eldest of the six boys and six girls of Ebenezer Davies and Ruth Bartlett. Two of the younger boys were educated at Geelong Grammar School...		6 July 1910–June 1919
Sir Walter Manifold	Nationalist Party of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...	8 July 1919–28 August 1923
Sir Frank Clarke	Nationalist Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime... , UAP United Australia Party The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia... , Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	29 August 1923–June 1943
Sir Clifden Eager	Nationalist Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime... , Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... , Liberal and Country Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	29 June 1943–June 1958
Sir Gordon McArthur	Liberal and Country Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office... , Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	8 July 1958–10 August 1965
Sir Ronald Mack	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	14 September 1965–12 February 1968
Sir Raymond Garrett Raymond Garrett Sir Raymond William Garrett AFC, AE was an Australian photographer, pilot, and politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Garrett served on the Victorian Legislative Council for eighteen years, and was knighted in 1973.Garrett was born in Kew, in Melbourne, Victoria...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	20 February 1968–June 1976
Sir William Gordon Fry	Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	29 June 1976–July 1979
Fred Grimwade Fred Grimwade Frederick Sheppard "Fred" Grimwade was an Australian politician.Grimwade was born in Melbourne, the son of Erick Grimwade and Gwendolen Ada Carnegie...	Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	18 July 1979–15 July 1985
Rod Mackenzie	Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	16 July 1985–24 October 1988
Alan Hunt Alan Hunt (politician) Alan John Hunt AM is an Australian politician, having been a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1961 until 1992....	Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	25 October 1988–26 October 1992
Bruce Chamberlain	Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	27 October 1992–24 February 2003
Monica Gould Monica Gould Monica Mary Gould is a former Australian politician. She was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council between September 1993 and November 2006, representing Doutta Galla Province....	Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	25 February 2003–18 December 2006
Bob Smith Bob Smith (Australian politician) Robert Frederick "Bob" Smith was an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1999 to 2010, representing South Eastern Metropolitan Region....	Australian Labor Party Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	19 December 2006–20 December 2010
Bruce Atkinson Bruce Atkinson Bruce Norman Atkinson is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council since October 1992, representing Koonung Province from 1992 to 2006 and Eastern Metropolitan Region since. He is currently the President of the Legislative Council.Atkinson was born...	Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	21 December 2010–present