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 in the state capital, Adelaide.
It has 22 members elected for eight-year terms by proportional representation, with half the members facing re-election every four years. It is elected in a similar manner to its federal counterpart, the Australian Senate. Casual vacancies - where someone resigns or dies - are filled by a joint sitting of both houses, who then elect a replacement.
As of the 2010 election, the upper house consists of eight Labor, seven Liberal, two Green, two Family First, two No Pokies and one Dignity for Disability.
Famous quotes containing the words south, australian, legislative and/or council:
“Only let the North exert as much moral influence over the South, as the South has exerted demoralizing influence over the North, and slavery would die amid the flame of Christian remonstrance, and faithful rebuke, and holy indignation.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“The legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, ... thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I haven’t seen so much tippy-toeing around since the last time I went to the ballet. When members of the arts community were asked this week about one of their biggest benefactors, Philip Morris, and its requests that they lobby the New York City Council on the company’s behalf, the pas de deux of self- justification was so painstakingly choreographed that it constituted a performance all by itself.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)