The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...

, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n capital,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. The Legislative Assembly today has 59 members, elected for four-year terms from single-member electoral districts. Members are elected using the

preferential voting Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

system. As with all other Australian states and territories, voting is compulsory for all Australian citizens over the legal

voting age A legal voting age is the minimum age that a person is allowed to Voting, vote in a democracy, democratic process. For General election, general elections around the world, the right to vote is restricted to adults, and most nations use 18 year ...

of 18.

Role and operation

Most legislation in Western Australia is initiated in the Legislative Assembly. The party or coalition that can command a majority in the Legislative Assembly is invited by the

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 ...

to form a government. That party or coalition's leader, once sworn in, subsequently becomes the

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive br ...

, and a team of the leader's, party's or coalition's choosing (whether they be in the Legislative Assembly or in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

) can then be sworn in as ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian political parties traditionally vote along party lines, most legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the House of Assembly.

History

The Legislative Assembly was the first elected legislature in Western Australia, having been created in 1890, when Western Australia gained self-government. It initially consisted of 30 members, all of whom were elected, although only male landowners could vote. This replaced a system where the Governor was responsible for most legislative matters, with only the appointed

to guide him. Legislative Assembly of Western Australian

Suffrage was extended to all adult males in 1893, although

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

were specifically excluded. Women gained the right to vote in 1899, making Western Australia the second of the Australian colonies (behind

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

) to do so. In 1921, Edith Cowan became the first woman to be elected to parliament anywhere in Australia when she won the Legislative Assembly seat of West Perth for the Nationalist Party.

Electoral distribution and reform

For many years, Western Australia used a zonal electoral system for both houses of parliament. In most Australian jurisdictions, each state electorate represents an approximately equal number of voters. However, in Western Australia, until 2008 an MP represented 28,519 voters in greater Perth (the Metropolitan Region Scheme area) or 14,551 country voters. At the 2006 census taken on 8 August 2006, 73.76% of Western Australia's residents lived in and around Perth, but only 34 of Western Australia's 57 Legislative Assembly seats, representing 60% of the total, were located in the metropolitan region. There has been strong support over time in some quarters for the principle of one vote, one value, particularly from the Labor Party who were at particular disadvantage under the system. Up until 2005, reform had proceeded gradually—the most dramatic changes had occurred with the enactment of the ''Electoral Districts Act 1947'' and the ''Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987'', the latter of which raised the number of metropolitan seats from 29 to 34. Effective on 20 May 2005, the ''Electoral Amendment and Repeal Act 2005'' (No.1 of 2005) abolished the country-metropolitan distinction for the Legislative Assembly, but all seats then in place remained until the following election on 6 September 2008. A redistribution of seats announced by the Western Australian Electoral Commission on 29 October 2007 places 42 seats in Perth and 17 in the country, with a variation of ±10% from the average population normally permitted. The only distinction for rural seats is that any seat with an area of or greater (that is, 4% of the State's land area) may have a variation of +10%–20% from the average, using an adjusted population based on the seat's area in square kilometres.

Current distribution of Assembly seats

30 votes as a majority are required to pass legislation.

Notes

References

{{Government of Western Australia Parliament of Western Australia