Parliament of Victoria
The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.[1] It has a fused executive drawn from members of both chambers.[2] The parliament meets at Parliament House in the state capital Melbourne. The current Parliament was elected on 26 November 2022, sworn in on 20 December 2022 and is the 60th parliament in Victoria.
Parliament of Victoria
King (represented by the governor of Victoria)
21 November 1856
since 8 September 2022
since 9 August 2023
Government (54)
Labor (54)
Opposition (27)
Liberal (19)
National (9)
Greens (4)
Independent Labor (2)
Government (15)
Labor (15)
Opposition (13)
Liberal (11)
National (2)
Greens (4)
Legalise Cannabis (2)
Animal Justice (1)
Libertarian (1)
One Nation (1)
Shooters, Fishers, Farmers (1)
Independent (1)
Independent Liberal (1)
The two Houses of Parliament have 128 members in total, 88 in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and 40 in the Legislative Council (upper house). Victoria has compulsory voting and uses instant-runoff voting in single-member seats for the Legislative Assembly, and single transferable vote in multi-member seats for the proportionally represented Legislative Council. The council is described as a house of review. Majorities in the Legislative Council are rare, so the government of the day must negotiate with other parties to pass much of its legislative agenda. All members serve four-year terms. The parliament's functions and processes have evolved over time, undergoing significant changes as Victoria changed from an independent colony to a state within the federated Australia.[3]
The Parliament may make laws for any matter within Victoria, subject to some referendum requirements in the Victorian Constitution. Its power is further limited by the ability for the federal laws to override state laws, subject to the Australian Constitution. State courts are responsible for interpreting the laws of Parliament, subject to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The parliament is also vested with other powers, such as the means to investigate matters, conduct research and summon witnesses.[4]
Government is formed by the party or parties who command confidence and supply within the Assembly. The leader of the governing party or parties is the Premier, the most senior elected member of Victoria's executive government. Victorians do not directly elect the Premier, and the leader of the majority party is appointed Premier by the Governor. Jacinta Allan has been the Premier since her selection as leader of the Labor Party on 27th September 2023.[5]
Conflict between the Houses[edit]
The Victorian Parliament's means of resolving disputes between the two houses entails a process modelled on the Australian Parliament's. However, the process also includes additional steps and modifications. A bill that is passed by the Assembly but rejected by the council, termed a "Disputed Bill" may be amended by the council and returned to the Assembly within 2 months. If the Assembly does not endorse the amendments then a dispute resolution committee may be formed. This process does not apply to ordinary appropriation bills, which need only pass the Legislative Assembly. The committee must consist of 7 members from the Assembly and 5 from the council, each appointed by their respective house. This committee is often formed following an election in anticipation of its usage later. The committee is given 30 days to resolve the dispute in secret and then present their compromise bill to Parliament.[63]
If the committee either cannot reach an agreement, or the parliament does not pass the committee's suggestion, then the bill is termed a "Deadlocked Bill." At this point, the Premier may advise for a fresh election of the Assembly (and only the Assembly), after which the bill may then go before a joint sitting of both houses. A Deadlocked Bill would likely pass a joint sitting, due to the fact that the Assembly is more than twice the size of the council. Such a bill is treated as though it has passed both houses in the normal fashion.[63]
Parliamentary sovereignty[edit]
Parliamentary sovereignty within Australia is a complex matter due to the nature of the monarchy, federation, and the gradual centralisation of power into the federal government over time. Victoria's Parliament is subjected to the limits of the Commonwealth constitution and its powers stem from the Crown. Furthermore, the Commonwealth Parliament has exclusive powers in some matters that the states may not exercise at all. In matters where the powers of the Victorian and federal parliaments overlap, the federal parliament's powers prevail.[55] There are no other restrictions to Parliament's authority, though, and the largely ceremonial role the crown has in governance makes Victoria's parliament sovereign over Victoria in practice. Such power is nonetheless approved by the governor whose power stems from the monarch.[67] Parliament's sovereign power over Victoria is supreme when compared to the equivalent federal parliament's power over Australia as a whole; Victoria's Constitution does not rigidly define a separation of powers as the Commonwealth's constitution does, meaning that all powers residing within the executive and judicial branches of government stem from Parliament. There is no legal impediment, therefore, to Parliament exercising control over the other branches of government.[67]
Parliamentary sovereignty was legally tested following the passage of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities 2006, which delegated powers to the judiciary to oversee human rights violations within Victoria. Although this allows the judiciary to intervene in Parliament's role in certain circumstances, subsequent legal analyses have determined that the courts only have such power as they have been granted by Parliament. In the specific case of the charter, the judiciary may indicate if legislation contravenes the charter but not invalidate the law, although this does not necessarily mean that a future parliament could not alter the charter to give the judiciary this power.[61] Parliament may delegate powers to another branch, but as it may reverse such powers at any time it maintains sovereignty over the other branches of government.[68] Sovereignty is further reinforced by the fact that no Parliament may pass a law that a later Parliament cannot overturn, including the delegation of powers to other branches. All controversial social issues are, in practice and in law, still determined and debated by Parliament.[69]
The 2003 changes to the Victorian Constitution entrenched several provisions, such as the requirement for a public referendum to alter how members of parliament are elected, and the independence of public offices. Such clauses are seen as infringing parliamentary sovereignty, and while they have not been tested in court, it is probable that these clauses are not legally valid. General legal rationale is that a given parliament can always overturn or amend the legislation of its predecessors. The exception to this is that an alteration to the state's constitution possibly could be entrenched if it was passed by a public referendum. The Australia Act 1986 (Commonwealth) and Westminster tradition place limits on the level to which state constitutions can be entrenched, with the accepted view being that the supposedly entrenched clauses within Victoria's constitution could be overturned by a majority of both houses of parliament in the normal fashion.[61]
The practice of allocating tied grants is used by the federal government to circumvent the power of state parliaments. The federal government cannot exercise powers on matters it has not been given responsibility for, unlike the state parliaments whose powers are hardly limited. Victoria's Parliament, like all of the states of Australia, has a vertical fiscal imbalance and is dependent on the federal government for about half of its funding. The states gave up their ability to raise income taxes during the Second World War, but they have maintained responsibility for the management of the majority of services. The Australian Parliament typically only funds measures that it finds politically advantageous, though, meaning that it will generally make funding for certain projects conditional on accepting particular terms and conditions. Although this allows the federal government to exercise some control over the states, it does not change nor dilute the sovereignty that the Victorian Parliament wields; there is no way for the Australian Parliament to force the Victorian Parliament to accept a tied grant.[59]
Salary and allowances[edit]
Members of both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council are paid a base salary of $182,413 per annum (as of 1 July 2019).[70] In June 2020, the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal announced Victorian MPs would receive no increase in salaries for the financial year 2020–21.[71][72]
Office holders such as the President, Speaker, ministers and party leaders receive additional salary on top of the base salary. The Premier is paid an additional 100 percent of the base salary; the Leader of the Opposition and Government Ministers an additional 75 percent; the President and Speaker an additional 65 percent.[73]
Members are also entitled to receive various allowances for travel and work costs. Members representing non-Melbourne electorates are also entitled to a second home allowance.[74]
Prior to 1870 only Ministers and Office holders were provided with a salary. This in effect meant that members had to be wealthy enough to support themselves before seeking election to Parliament. In 1870 the Victorian Parliament provided for the reimbursing of members in relation to their expenses in attending Parliament, in effect the first salary for Members of the Victorian Parliament. At first passed as temporary measure, it later became permanent. The Act provided for a payment of £300 p.a. to those who did not already receive a salary.[75] This value is difficult to place in a modern context, due to Australia's conversion to a decimal currency and the smaller economy of the time. This salary would equate to approximately $35,000 in 2018 dollars based on inflation, but could be as much as approximately $340,000 when measuring it as a relative income of the time.[76]