In Australian parliamentary practice, the Opposition or the Official Opposition consists of the second largest party or coalition of parties in the Australian House of Representatives , with its leader being given the title Leader of the Opposition . The Opposition serves the same function as the official opposition in other Commonwealth of Nations monarchies that follow the Westminster conventions and practices. It is seen as the alternative government and the existing administration's main opponent in the Australian Parliament and at a general election. By convention, the Opposition Leader in the federal Parliament comes from the House of Representatives , as does the deputy, although the Government and Opposition may also both have leaders in the Senate . The Opposition is sometimes styled as His Majesty's Loyal Opposition to show that, although the group may be against the sitting government, it remains loyal to the Crown (the embodiment of the Australian state), and thus to Australia.
26-663: Opposition (13) Crossbench (6) The South Australian House of Assembly (also referred to as the lower house ) is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia , the other being the Legislative Council . It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide . The House of Assembly was created in 1857, when South Australia attained self-government. The development of an elected legislature — although only men could vote — marked
52-489: A "relevant election period". Another distinctive aspect of the history of the South Australian Parliament was the " Playmander ", a gerrymandering system that instituted a pro-rural electoral malapportionment introduced by the incumbent Liberal and Country League (LCL) government, and in place for 32 years from 1936 to 1968. The already entrenched rural overweighting was increased to a 2:1 ratio,
78-650: A federal level is the centre-right Liberal Party / National Party Coalition , led by Peter Dutton . The opposition parties and leaders in the Australian states and territories are: Leanne Castley (Lib) Mark Speakman (Lib) Selena Uibo (ALP) Steven Miles (ALP) Vincent Tarzia (Lib) Dean Winter (ALP) John Pesutto (Lib) Shane Love (Nat) 1968 South Australian state election Don Dunstan Labor Steele Hall Liberal and Country League The 1968 South Australian State election
104-708: A race, Tom Stott of the Ridley electorate, joined with the LCL's 19 seats to form a coalition government that held a 20 to 19 majority, thus defeating the Dunstan Labor government. The election saw the Liberal and Country League opposition form a minority government , winning the same number of seats in the House of Assembly as the incumbent Australian Labor Party government, despite the fact that Labor won 53.2 percent of
130-575: A significant change from the prior system, where legislative power was in the hands of the Governor and the Legislative Council, which was appointed by the Governor. In 1895, the House of Assembly granted women the right to vote and stand for election to the legislature. South Australia was the second place in the world to do so after New Zealand in 1893, and the first to allow women to stand for election. (The first woman candidates for
156-450: The 1968 , 1975 , and 1989 elections. Most legislation is initiated in the House of Assembly. The party or coalition with a majority of seats in the lower house is invited by the Governor to form government. The leader of that party becomes Premier of South Australia , and their senior colleagues become ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian MPs almost always vote along party lines, almost all legislation introduced by
182-540: The 1975 election , at which Labor retained government despite a two-party-preferred vote of 49.2 percent. A further reform was effected following the 1989 election , at which Labor retained government despite a two-party vote of 48.1 percent. It was enacted that the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission should redraw electoral boundaries after each election, with the objective that the party which received over 50 percent of
208-488: The two-party vote, and the LCL only 46.8. This result was due to what had become known as the Playmander − an electoral malapportionment that had previously resulted in the LCL also forming government despite having a clear minority of the statewide two-party vote in 1944 , 1953 and 1962 . Labor lost the seats of Murray and Chaffey to the LCL. Murray was decided by a mere 21 votes, which, if they had gone in
234-568: The Assembly was reduced to 39 members, elected from single-member districts. The House of Assembly has had 47 members since the 1970 election , elected from single-member districts: currently 34 in the Adelaide metropolitan area and 13 in rural areas. These seats are intended to represent approximately the same population in each electorate. Voting is by Instant-runoff voting and preferential voting with complete preference allocation, as with
260-658: The South Australia Assembly ran in 1918 general election, in Adelaide and Sturt.) From 1857 to 1933, the House of Assembly was elected from multi-member districts, commonly known as " seats ", with each district returning between one and six members. The size of the Assembly varied during this time—36 members from 1857 to 1875, 46 members from 1875 to 1884, 52 members from 1884 to 1890, 54 members from 1890 to 1902, 42 members from 1902 to 1912, 40 members from 1912 to 1915, and 46 members from 1915 to 1938. In 1938,
286-620: The South Australian House of Assembly . This allowed the LCL to form government by one seat. LCL leader Steele Hall had served as Leader of the Opposition for two years before becoming premier. Young and handsome, he was also the first Australian state premier to sport sideburns. Indeed, the 1968 election, fought between Hall and his opponent Don Dunstan, was described by the Democratic Labor Party as
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#1732780601626312-531: The battle of "the matinée idols ". The 1968 election was also notable for the result in the seat of Millicent. Labor won the seat by a single vote. However, a by-election was triggered by a decision of the Court of Disputed Returns . The by-election saw Labor increase their margin. Notably, turnout increased at the by-election. Hall was embarrassed that the LCL was even in a position to govern despite having clearly lost in terms of actual votes. Acknowledging that
338-534: The dam built in his electorate, while Hall thought its construction was not justified. Constituent pressure forced Stott to vote against the Hall government, leading to an early election – the 1970 South Australian state election – which was fought on much fairer electoral boundaries. As expected, Dunstan led Labor to a decisive victory. Further reforms replaced the Playmander with a "one vote one value" system after
364-535: The equivalent federal chamber, the Australian House of Representatives . All members face re-election approximately every four years. The most recent election was held on 19 March 2022. The House is presided over by a Speaker, who, as of the passage of the Constitution (Independent Speaker) Amendment Act 2021 , is constitutionally banned from being a member of a registered political party outside of
390-413: The governing party will pass through the House of Assembly. As with the federal parliament and Australian other states and territories, voting in the Assembly is compulsory for all those over the age of 18. Voting in the House of Assembly had originally been voluntary, but this was changed in 1942. While South Australia 's total population is 1.7 million, 1.3 million of them live in Adelaide. Over 75% of
416-409: The increase of 15 metropolitan seats more than doubling the previous number. Because country areas remained over-represented, the change fell short of the " one vote one value " that Labor had demanded. The most populous metropolitan seats still contained double the number of voters in the least populous rural seats. Nevertheless, while the rural weighting remained, Adelaide would now elect a majority of
442-414: The legislature. Even at its height in the 1940s and 1950s, the LCL had been all but non-existent in Adelaide. Under the circumstances, the reforms made it a near-certainty that Labor would win the next election; indeed, conventional wisdom held that Hall was well aware he had effectively made Dunstan premier for a second time. Eventually, Hall and Stott fell out over the proposed Chowilla Dam . Stott wanted
468-455: The metropolitan area recorded a 2PP of 51.5% Labor v 48.5% Liberal. Senate House of Rep. Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Assembly Assembly 34°55′16″S 138°35′55″E / 34.92111°S 138.59861°E / -34.92111; 138.59861 Opposition (Australia) The current Opposition at
494-418: The number of MPs was reduced to 39 and the multi-member seats were abandoned for single-member seats. The House of Assembly now consisted of 26 low-population rural seats, which due to population shifts, were holding up to a 10-to-1 advantage over the 13 high-population metropolitan seats, even though rural seats contained only a third of South Australia's population. At the peak of the malapportionment in 1968 ,
520-557: The obvious unfairness of the election result put him in a politically unacceptable position, he decided to institute electoral reforms to weaken the malapportionment of the Playmander . Since 1936, the House of Assembly had comprised 39 seats – 13 in metropolitan Adelaide, and 26 in the country. That was in accordance with the requirement of the State Constitution that there be two country seats for every one in Adelaide. However, by 1968, Adelaide accounted for two-thirds of
546-416: The other direction, would have secured Labor's return for a second term of government. The LCL were able to form minority government in the hung parliament with confidence and supply from the long-serving crossbench independent MP Tom Stott , who held the balance of power . Stott, a good friend of former premier Playford , and an opponent of Labor, agreed to support the LCL and became Speaker of
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#1732780601626572-447: The rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes. Labor won enough parliamentary seats to form government just once during the Playmander against the odds − in 1965 . Labor won comprehensive majorities of the statewide two-party vote whilst failing to form government in 1944 , 1953 , 1962 and 1968 . More equitable boundaries were subsequently put in place following
598-425: The rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes. At the election, the LCL won only three metropolitan seats – Burnside , Mitcham and Torrens . However, Labor lost two country seats to the LCL, which resulted in a hung parliament. Hall's reforms included increasing the size of House of Assembly to 47 seats – 28 metropolitan seats and 19 rural seats –
624-420: The state's population resides in the metropolitan area. As a result, Adelaide accounts for 72% (34 of 47) of the seats in the chamber. The dominance of Adelaide, combined with a lack of comparatively-sized rural population centres, results in the metropolitan area frequently deciding election outcomes. At the 2014 election for example, although the state-wide two-party vote (2PP) was 47.0% Labor v 53.0% Liberal,
650-409: The state's population, a nearly-exact reversal of the situation three decades earlier. Although the population in metropolitan areas outnumbered that in rural areas 620,000 to 450,000, the number of members representing the rural areas was twice that allotted to metropolitan areas. The most populous metropolitan seats had five to ten times as many voters as the least populous rural seats. For instance,
676-714: Was held in South Australia on 2 March 1968. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election; 38 of the 39 contests were won by candidates from Australia's two major political parties. The incumbent Labor Party South Australia led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan and the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Steele Hall ) both won 19 seats. The sole independent candidate to win
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