The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly, is the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislature of the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

(ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Square, close to the centre of the city of

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Unlike the legislatures of the other mainland states and territories, the Assembly also has the functions of a local council; the city of Canberra has no other local government. It replaced 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 g ...

when the ACT was granted self-government in 1986. Voters had previously rejected self government in a 1978 plebiscite.

Structure and Membership

The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, elected from five electorates ― Brindabella, Ginninderra, Kurrajong, Murrumbidgee and Yerrabi ― each having five members. Members are elected for four-year terms by the Hare-Clark system, a variation of the

Single Transferable Vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

form of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. Members of the Legislative Assembly vote to elect a

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

. In practice, Chief Minister is the leader of whichever party is able to form

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. The Chief Minister, in turn, selects ministers to form a cabinet. The leader of the second-largest party in the Assembly usually becomes the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

. Election dates for the Assembly are fixed in legislation, with elections held on the third Saturday in October every four years (until 1997, elections were held in February). The term of the Assembly was increased in 2004 from three to four years. The last election was held on Saturday the 19th of October, 2024, with the next election expected to be held on 21 October 2028.

Current electorates

Brindabella

Electing five members to the Assembly, Brindabella contains the town centre and all of the suburbs of Tuggeranong. It also includes all of the ACT which is south of the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

, thus making it the largest electorate by area. It used to exclude the whole of the suburb of Kambah.

Ginninderra

Electing five members to the Assembly, Ginninderra contains the town centre and all of the suburbs of

Belconnen Belconnen () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. As at the , the ...

excluding Giralang and

Kaleen Kaleen ( or ) is a suburb in the Belconnen district of Canberra, located within the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb's name is derived from the word for 'water' in the language of the Wiradjuri Aboriginal tribe of the Centr ...

. Its southern boundary was the

Molonglo River The Molonglo River is a perennial stream, perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee River, Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin. It is located in the Monaro (New South Wales), Monaro and Capital Country regions of New ...

prior to the 2016 election. It used to exclude the suburbs of Evatt, Lawson and McKellar.

Kurrajong

Electing five members to the Assembly, Kurrajong contains all the suburbs of Inner North Canberra, Inner South Canberra and

Oaks Estate Oaks Estate is a village in the district of Jerrabomberra (district), Jerrabomberra, in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. It is situated on the northern side of the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales border abutting th ...

. It used to include the suburbs of Deakin, Yarralumla,

Forrest Forrest may refer to: Places Australia *Forrest, Australian Capital Territory *Forrest, Victoria, a small rural township *Division of Forrest, a federal division of the Australian House of Representatives, in Western Australia *Electoral distric ...

and Red Hill.

Murrumbidgee

Electing five members to the Assembly, Murrumbidgee contains all the suburbs of the Molonglo Valley, Weston Creek,

Woden Valley Woden Valley () is a district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. The name of Woden Valley is taken from the name of a nearby homestead owned by James Murr ...

and also includes the suburbs of Deakin, Yarralumla,

and Red Hill. It used to also include the whole of the suburb of Kambah.

Yerrabi

Electing five members to the Assembly, Yerrabi contains all the suburbs of

Gungahlin Gungahlin () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory, one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. The district is subdivided into suburbs, sections and blo ...

as well as the

suburbs of Giralang and

and the village of

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

. It used to also include the suburbs of Evatt, Lawson and McKellar.

Former electorates

Molonglo

Molonglo was an electorate of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly that was contested from the 1995 election to the 2012 election, it covered Inner North Canberra, Inner South Canberra, Weston Creek and most of the suburbs of

Woden Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Emp ...

and

. It was a 7-seat electorate.

Current Government

The current Chief Minister is Andrew Barr, who is also the Minister for Economic Development and Minister for Tourism and Trade. The position of Chief Minister is analogous to the Premier in the Australian states. Barr is the longest serving Chief Minister in ACT history, as well as the longest serving current Premier or Chief Minister in Australia, having taken the post in December 2014. The ACT Labor Party has been in power since 2001, although with the exception of 2004-2008, have served in minority or coalition governments with the support of the ACT Greens. At the 2020 Australian Capital Territory election, 10 Labor members, 9 Liberal members and 6 Greens members were elected. Following the expulsion of Elizabeth Kikkert from the

Canberra Liberals The Canberra Liberals, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (Australian Capital Territory Division), is the division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The party has been in opposition in ...

party room on 10 September 2024, the Liberals were left with 8 members, with Kikkert becoming an independent. At the 2024 Australian Capital Territory election, 10 Labor members, 9 Liberal members, 4 Green members, 1 Independent for Canberra member, and 1 Fiona Carrick Independent member were elected, with Labor to hold power in a minority government.

Salary

, Members of the Legislative Assembly are paid a base salary of $188,798, while additional remuneration is provided depending on the additional office or role the member holds.

History

The current Legislative Assembly was created by four acts of the

Commonwealth Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

in 1988, including the

Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 The ''Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988'' is an Act of the Parliament of Australia enacted on 6 December 1988, that establishes "a body politic under the Crown by the name of the Australian Capital Territory" and is the co ...

. The first election was held on 4 March 1989 and the assembly first sat on 11 May that year. Until this point, the ACT had been directly administered by the Commonwealth Government. It replaced the

(also known for a period as the Legislative Assembly), which existed from 1976 to 1986, but had no executive power, with a principal function of advising the Commonwealth on matters relating to the Territory.

Historical Composition

At its inception, the Assembly was elected by a modified d'Hondt system, the ACT comprised one electorate, electing seventeen members to the Assembly. A 1992

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

supported the Hare-Clark method, which was introduced for the 1995 election. As of this change, the Legislative Assembly had 17 members, elected from three electorates. Brindabella and Ginninderra elected five members, and the now-defunct electorate of Molonglo elected seven. On 30 April 2002, the ACT Electoral Commission made a submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly's Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, which inquired into the appropriateness of the size of the Legislative Assembly for the ACT, and options for changing the number of members and electorates. The Electoral Commission recommended increasing "the size of the Legislative Assembly to three electorates each returning seven members, giving a total of 21 members". In 2014, the Assembly voted to expand the number of members to the present 25, with the change taking effect at the 2016 election. There has only been one

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

in the history of the Legislative Assembly, with Labor winning 9 of 17 seats at the 2004 election.

Historical Results

Powers

As with the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory (also known as the Parliament of the Northern Territory) is the unicameral legislature of Australia’s Northern Territory. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member ...

, the ACT Legislative Assembly lacks the full powers of a state legislature. Section 122 of the

Constitution of Australia The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia. It is a written constitution, which establishes the country as a Federation of Australia, ...

provides that the

"may make laws for the government of any territory" surrendered by any State to the Commonwealth. The Governor-General, on the advice of the Executive, previously had the power to override laws passed by the Assembly. Although this was rare in practice, the Civil Unions Act 2006, which allowed same-sex couples to enter into "civil unions" was overruled following concerns that the civil unions mimicked marriage. In July 2006, the Federal Government again threatened to overrule the ACT Stanhope Government's anti-terror legislation, which was not consistent with other state laws. In 2011 the Federal Parliament passed a

private senator's bill Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

which removed this power in respect to both the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The ACT is unique among Australian states and self-governing territories, as it has no vice-regal post exercising authority as the representative of the monarch, such as a

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

or an

Administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

. The functions vested in a state Governor or territorial Administrator as nominal head of the Executivecommissioning government, proroguing parliament and enacting legislationare exercised by the Assembly itself and by the Chief Minister. Instead of vice-regal or regal assent, a Bill passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly is enacted on "notification"publication in the Government Gazette of a notice authorised by the Chief Minister. However, the Governor-General of Australia does have the power to dissolve the Assembly if it is "incapable of effectively performing its functions or is conducting its affairs in a grossly improper manner".

References

External links

Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory
{{Authority control

1988 establishments in Australia