South Australian House of Assembly - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of South Australia

The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government....

. The other is the Legislative Council

South Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly...

. It sits in Parliament House

Parliament House, Adelaide

Parliament House, on the corner of North Terrace and King William Road in Adelaide city centre, is the seat of the Parliament of South Australia. It was built to replace the adjacent and overcrowded Parliament House, now referred to as "Old Parliament House"...

in the state capital, Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

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 power had been concentrated in the hands of the Governor and the Legislative Council, which was appointed by the Governor.

In 1894, the House of Assembly granted women the right to vote—the second place in the world to do so after New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

in 1893, and the first to allow them to stand for election.

The House of Assembly has had 47 members since 1970, each coming from a single-member constituency. These are commonly known as seats, and are intended to represent approximately the same population in each electorate. Voting is by the preferential system, as with the equivalent federal chamber, the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

. All members face re-election approximately every four years. The most recent election was held on 20 March 2010.

Most legislation is initiated in the House of Assembly. The party or coalition with the most seats in the lower house is invited by the Governor to form government. The leader of that party subsequently becomes Premier of South Australia, and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian major party 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.

Election result summaries

	1857	1860	1862	1865	1868	1870	1871	1875	1878	1881	1884	1887	1890 South Australian state election, 1890 State elections were held in Australia on 9 April 1890. All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent government led by Premier of South Australia John Cockburn defeated the opposition led by Leader of the Opposition Thomas Playford II. Each district...
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 South Australian state election, 1893 State elections were held in Australia on 15 April 1893. All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent conservative government led by Premier of South Australia John Downer was defeated by the liberal opposition led by Charles Kingston, with the support...	1896 South Australian state election, 1896 State elections were held in Australia on 25 April 1896. All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent liberal government led by Premier of South Australia Charles Kingston in an informal coalition United Labor Party led by John McPherson defeated the...	1899 South Australian state election, 1899 State elections were held in Australia on 29 April 1899. All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent liberal government led by Premier of South Australia Charles Kingston in an informal coalition United Labor Party led by Lee Batchelor defeated the...	1902 South Australian state election, 1902 State elections were held in Australia on 3 May 1902. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The House had a reduction of 12 seats compared to the previous election. The incumbent liberal government led by Premier of South Australia John Jenkins in an informal...	1905 South Australian state election, 1905 State elections were held in Australia on 27 May 1905. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent conservative government led by Premier of South Australia Richard Butler in an informal coalition with the liberals was defeated by the United Labor...	1906 South Australian state election, 1906 State elections were held in Australia on 3 November 1906. This was a double dissolution election, and in the South Australian House of Assembly, all 42 seats were up for election. The incumbent United Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Price defeated the opposition led...		1910 South Australian state election, 1910 State elections were held in Australia on 2 April 1910. All 42 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Democratic Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by John Verran....	1912 South Australian state election, 1912 State elections were held in Australia on 10 February 1912. All 40 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia John Verran was defeated by the opposition Liberal Union led by Leader of the...	1915 South Australian state election, 1915 State elections were held in Australia on 27 March 1915. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...	1918 South Australian state election, 1918 State elections were held in Australia on 6 April 1918. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...		1921 South Australian state election, 1921 State elections were held in Australia on 9 April 1921. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Henry Barwell defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition...	1924 South Australian state election, 1924 State elections were held in Australia on 5 April 1924. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Federation government led by Premier of South Australia Henry Barwell was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...	1927 South Australian state election, 1927 State elections were held in Australia on 26 March 1927. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia Lionel Hill was defeated by the opposition Liberal Federation led by Leader of the...
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

	1930 South Australian state election, 1930 State elections were held in Australia on 5 April 1930. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Federation government led by Premier of South Australia Richard L. Butler was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of...	1933 South Australian state election, 1933 State elections were held in Australia on 8 April 1933. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia Robert Richards was defeated by the opposition Liberal and Country League led by...	1938 South Australian state election, 1938 State elections were held in Australia on 19 March 1938. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League government led by Premier of South Australia Richard L. Butler defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader...	1941 South Australian state election, 1941 State elections were held in Australia on 29 March 1941. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League government led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader...	1944 South Australian state election, 1944 State elections were held in Australia on 29 April 1944. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League government led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader...	1947 South Australian state election, 1947 State elections were held in Australia on 8 March 1947. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League government led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader...	1950 South Australian state election, 1950 State elections were held in Australia on 4 March 1950. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick...	1953 South Australian state election, 1953 State elections were held in Australia on 7 March 1953. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick...	1956 South Australian state election, 1956 State elections were held in Australia on 3 March 1956. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick...	1959 South Australian state election, 1959 State elections were held in Australia on 7 March 1959. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick...	1962 South Australian state election, 1962 State elections were held in Australia on 3 March 1962. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition...	1965 South Australian state election, 1965 State elections were held in Australia on 6 March 1965. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV, in power since 1938, was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by...	1968 South Australian state election, 1968 State elections were held in Australia on 2 March 1968. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan was defeated by the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition...
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 South Australian state election, 1970 State elections were held in Australia on 30 May 1970. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Steele Hall was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Don...	1973 South Australian state election, 1973 State elections were held in Australia on 10 March 1973. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan defeated the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Bruce...	1975 South Australian state election, 1975 State elections were held in Australia on 12 July 1975. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition Bruce...	1977 South Australian state election, 1977 State elections were held in South Australia on 17 September 1977. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election...	1979 South Australian state election, 1979 State elections were held in Australia on 15 September 1979. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Des Corcoran was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the...		1982 South Australian state election, 1982 State elections were held in Australia on November 6, 1982. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia David Tonkin was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition...	1985 South Australian state election, 1985 State elections were held in Australia on December 7, 1985. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia John Bannon defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition John...	1989 South Australian state election, 1989 State elections were held in Australia on November 25, 1989. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia John Bannon defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition John...	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 South Australian state election, 2014 The 2014 South Australian state election will elect members to the 53rd Parliament of South Australia on 15 March 2014. All seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose current members were elected at the 2010 election, and half the seats in the Legislative Council or upper house, last...	2018		2022	2026		2030	2034	2038		2042	2046		2050	2054	2058
Parliament	52
Members	47
ALP	26
LPA	18
Other	3

Current Distribution of Seats

Party	\| Seats held
Party	2010	\| 2010-current
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...	26
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
Independents	3

2006-2010

Party	Seats held
Party	2006	2009	2009-2010
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...	27	28
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...	15	14
National Party of Australia National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1	1
Independents	4	4

The Liberals were reduced from 15 to 14 seats when independent Geoff Brock
Geoff Brock
Geoffrey Graeme "Geoff" Brock is a South Australian politician, representing the seat of Frome in the South Australian House of Assembly as an Independent, after a shock win at the 2009 Frome state by-election, defeating the Liberal candidate Terry Boylan. He had a high local profile prior to the...

was elected at the 2009 Frome by-election.

2002-2006

Party	Seats held
Party	2002 South Australian legislative election, 2002 State elections were held in South Australia on 9 February 2002. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia Rob Kerin was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...	2003	2006	2006
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...	23	22	22
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...	20	20	20
National Party of Australia National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1	1	1
Greens		1
Independents	3	3	4

Kris Hanna
Kris Hanna
Kris Hanna was an Australian politician, and member for Mitchell in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1997 until 2010. Originally elected as a Labor member, Hanna defected to the SA Greens in 2003 before becoming an independent in 2006....

was elected as a Labor member in 2002, but defected first to the Greens
Greens South Australia
Greens South Australia is a Green Party located in South Australia, a member of the federation of the Australian Greens party.The party has four members currently elected to parliament, Mark Parnell and Tammy Franks in the South Australian Legislative Council and Sarah Hanson-Young and Penny Wright...

and later became an independent.

1997-2002

Party	Seats held
Party	1997 South Australian legislative election, 1997 State elections were held in South Australia on 11 October 1997. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia John Olsen defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition...	1997-1999	1999	2000	2001	2001-2002
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...	24		25	23	23
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...	21		21	21	19
National Party of Australia National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...	1		1	1	1
Independents	1		0	2	4

Mitch Williams
Mitch Williams (Australian politician)
Michael Richard "Mitch" Williams is a South Australian Liberal politician and farmer. He is currently the deputy opposition leader in the South Australian parliament. He resigned from the Liberal Party and was elected to the safe Liberal seat of MacKillop in the state's south east at the 1997...

was elected as an Independent Liberal member in 1997, but rejoined the Liberal Party
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...

in on 6 December 1999.
Peter Lewis was expelled from the Liberal Party on 6 July 2000. He continued to sit in the Assembly as an independent.
Bob Such resigned from the Liberal Party on 12 October 2000. He continued to sit in the Assembly as an independent.
Murray De Laine resigned from the Labor Party on 15 August 2001. He continued to sit in the Assembly as an independent.
Ralph Clarke, resigned from the Labor Party on 27 November 2001. He continued to sit in the Assembly as an independent.

1993-1997

Party	Seats held
Party	1993 South Australian legislative election, 1993 State elections were held in Australia on 11 December 1993. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Lynn Arnold was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition...	1994	1994-1997
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...	37	36
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...	10	11

Labor were increased from 10 to 11 seats when Robyn Geraghty
Robyn Geraghty
Robyn Kathryn Geraghty has been the sitting Labor member for the electoral district of Torrens in South Australia since 1994.Geraghty has been heavily involved in community issues, as well as introducing various acts in to parliament...

was elected at the 1994 Torrens by-election
Torrens state by-election, 1994
The Torrens state by-election, 1994 was a by-election held on 7 May 1994 for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Torrens, centred in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.