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

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

, the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia

Parliament of Western Australia

The Parliament of Western Australia consists of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly . The Parliament sits at Parliament House in Harvest Terrace, Perth....

 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 role of the President

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

Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer in the Legislative Assembly. The office has existed since the creation of the Legislative Assembly in 1890 under the Constitution Act 1889...

, the President is responsible for the administration of the Western Australian Parliament. When the Council is sitting, the President enforces procedures, maintains order, puts questions after debate and ensures each member of the chamber gets a fair opportunity to speak to matters under debate. The President also makes decisions and formal rulings with regards to the chamber's standing orders.

Election of the President

The President of the Legislative Council is elected by the other members of the Council in accordance with Section 49 of the Constitution Act 1889. They must be elected after each general election or upon the death, resignation or removal of a previous President, and can be brought down by a vote of the chamber's members (although this has never happened in Western Australia), so must maintain the confidence of the chamber.

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 Thomas Cockburn-Campbell Thomas Cockburn-Campbell Sir Thomas Cockburn-Campbell, 4th Baronet was an English-born journalist and politician in Australia.-Early life:...	N/A	29 December 1890–27 September 1892
Sir George Shenton George Shenton Sir George Shenton was a prominent businessman in colonial Western Australia, the first Mayor of Perth, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for over thirty years.-Early and family life:...	N/A	11 October 1892–11 May 1906
Sir Henry Briggs	Independent	20 June 1906–8 June 1919
Sir Walter Kingsmill Walter Kingsmill Sir Walter Kingsmill was an Australian politician.Born in Glenelg, South Australia, he was educated at St Peter's College in Adelaide and at the University of Adelaide before becoming a geologist. Moving to Western Australia in 1888, he became a mine manager...	Independent	31 July 1919–21 May 1922
Sir Edward Wittenoom Edward Wittenoom Sir Edward Charles Wittenoom KCMG was an Australian politician, member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for thirty four years.- Early life :...	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...	27 July 1922–10 August 1926
Sir John Kirwan John Kirwan John Kirwan may refer to:* John Kirwan , cricketer* John Kirwan , 20th century Australian politician* John Kirwan , New Zealand dual code rugby footballer and coach...	Independent	10 August 1926–21 May 1946
James Cornell	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...	25 July 1946–25 November 1946
Harold Seddon	Liberal	26 November 1946–21 May 1954
Anthony Loton	Country National Party of Western Australia The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity....	17 June 1954–6 August 1954
Charles Latham Charles Latham Sir Charles Latham was an Australian politician born in Hythe, Kent in England.- Biography :Latham became an orphan in early childhood when his parents Thomas Latham and Isabella died before the age of 8...	Country	6 August 1958–May 1960
Leslie Diver	Liberal	28 July 1960–21 May 1974
Arthur Griffith Arthur Griffith (Australian politician) Sir Arthur Frederick Griffith was an Australian politician, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1950 until 1953 representing the seat of Canning, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council representing the Suburban and North Metropolitan provinces from...	Liberal	22 May 1974–21 May 1977
Clive Edward Griffiths	Liberal	22 May 1977–21 May 1997
George Cash George Cash Samuel Ernest Cash, AM is a former Australian politician, who represented the Liberal Party....	Liberal	22 May 1997–21 May 2001
John Cowdell John Cowdell John Alexander Cowdell is a former Australian politician.Born in Perth, Cowdell holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education. He worked as a public servant and adviser to Kim Beazley before being appointed Assistant Secretary of the Western Australian Labor Party; he was also Dean of...	Labor 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...	22 May 2001–21 May 2005
Nick Griffiths Nick Griffiths Nicholas David Griffiths is an Australian politician.He currently is the member of the Western Australian Legislative Council representing the East Metropolitan Region.Griffiths was born in Barry, Wales...	Labor	24 May 2005–21 May 2009
Barry House Barry House Barry John House is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Council since 1987, representing the region of South West.House was born in Busselton, Western Australia...	Liberal	22 May 2009–present