The ''Constitution Act Amendment Act 1901'', No. 779 of 1901,

long title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. The ...

"An Act to amend the Constitution", was an act which amended the

Constitution of South Australia The principles of the current Constitution of South Australia, also known as the South Australian Constitution, which includes the rules and procedures for the government of the State of South Australia, are set out in the ''Constitution Act 193 ...

. Its effect was to reduce the size of the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are ...

following the

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...

. The Constitution had been created by the '' Constitution Act 1856'' and later amended by the ''

Constitution Act Further Amendment Act 1881 The ''Constitution Act Further Amendment Act 1881'', No. 236 of 1881, long title "An Act to further amend "The Constitution Act"", was an act of the government of South Australia to amend the Constitution of South Australia. Its purpose was to am ...

''. The new Act expired the Parliament on 31 March 1902, resulting in a full election for both houses of parliament. The new parliament would be smaller, with eighteen members of the Legislative Council and forty-two members in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

. Each electoral district would elect multiple members, but less than the sum of the members elected by the former electorates that had been merged, resulting in a smaller parliament overall. Legislative Councillors would serve for periods of a minimum of six years (three for half of the initial cohort), with half retiring at each election. Assembly terms were not changed. Elections for both houses would be held together. The amendment also decreased the maximum size of the Cabinet from six to four and fixed a maximum salary for Cabinet members. The legislation saw numerous amendments in both houses of parliament. The initial proposal had been to reduce the membership of the House to 32 and the Council to 16; however, this was altered as opposition in the House would have defeated the bill.

House of Assembly districts

The thirteen districts to elect members of the House of Assembly were composed from the former assembly districts as follows:

Legislative Council districts

Each legislative council district comprised several divisions, each derived from the Assembly districts

References

{{reflist South Australia legislation