32-471: Opposition (36) Crossbench (5) The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland . Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting . The Assembly has 93 members , who have used the letters MP after their names since 2000 (previously they were styled MLAs ). There
64-462: A unicameral parliament—currently the only Australian state with this arrangement. From 1948 until the reforms following the end of the Bjelke-Petersen era, Queensland used an electoral zoning system that was tweaked by the government of the day to maximise its own voter support at the expense of the opposition. It has been called a form of gerrymander , dubbed the " Bjelkemander " however it
96-475: A conservative Coalition government led by the Country Party (later National Party ) under Frank Nicklin came to power, which, as discussed above, initially modified the voting system to introduce preferential voting, to take advantage of Labor's split. It also separated the provincial cities from their hinterlands. The hinterlands were added to the rural zone, where new Country Party seats were created. As
128-607: A limited number of remote electorates. This plan is still in use today. Presently, 42 seats are contested in Greater Brisbane and 47 in the rest of the state. The youngest person ever elected to Queensland's Legislative Assembly was Lawrence Springborg , former Minister for Natural Resources and Leader of the Opposition . In 1989, he entered parliament aged 21. The Queensland Legislative Assembly sits in Parliament House in
160-578: A split in Labor. In 1992, this was changed to the optional preferential system which was used until full preferential voting was reinstated in 2016. After 1912, electorates elected only a single member to the Assembly. In 1922, the Legislative Council was abolished, with the help of members known as the suicide squad , who were specially appointed to vote the chamber out of existence. This left Queensland with
192-571: Is approximately the same population in each electorate ; however, that has not always been the case (in particular, a malapportionment system - not, strictly speaking, a gerrymander - dubbed the Bjelkemander was in effect during the 1970s and 1980s). The Assembly first sat in May 1860 and produced Australia's first Hansard in April 1864. Following the outcome of the 2015 election , successful amendments to
224-466: Is more accurately referred to as an electoral malapportionment . In a classic gerrymander, electoral boundaries are drawn to take advantage of known pockets of supporters and to isolate areas of opposition voters so as to maximise the number of seats for the government for a given number of votes and to cause opposition support to be "wasted" by concentrating their supporters in relatively fewer electorates. The Queensland "gerrymander", first introduced by
256-518: The Australian Labor Party ( State of Queensland ) and commonly referred to as Queensland Labor or simply Labor , is the branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the state of Queensland . It has functioned in the state since the 1880s. The Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party was the first Labour Party to win government in the world, when, in December of 1899, following
288-651: The Australian state of Queensland comprises the largest party or coalition of parties not in Government . The Opposition's purpose is to hold the Government to account and constitute a "Government-in-waiting" should the existing Government fall. To that end, a Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Ministers for the various government departments question the Premier and Ministers on Government policy and administration, and formulate
320-525: The Brisbane central business district . The building was completed in 1891. The lower house chamber is decorated dark green in the traditional Westminster style. The chamber once featured central tables which divided two rows of elevated benches on each side. The room is now configured in a U-shape away from the Speaker's chair with three rows of benches that have their own desks and microphones. As of October 2024,
352-453: The Labor Party (ALP) government of Ned Hanlon in 1949 used a series of electoral zones based on their distance from Brisbane. Initially Queensland was divided into three zones—the metropolitan zone (Brisbane), the provincial cities zone (which also included rural areas around provincial cities) and the rural zone. While the number of electors in each seat in a zone was roughly equal, there
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#1732845131175384-596: The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) in 2008, National Leader Lawrence Springborg becoming Leader of the LNP and remaining Leader of the Opposition. Since 8 November 2024, the opposition is currently led by Steven Miles of the Queensland Labor Party following the 2024 Queensland state election . Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch) The Queensland Labor Party , officially known as
416-659: The rights and conditions of workers , fair wages , and secure employment . Labor contests Brisbane City Council elections, and has done so since the inaugural election in 1925 . It has been in opposition to the LNP (and before that, the Liberal Party) since 2008 . The last Labor member to serve as Lord Mayor of Brisbane was Tim Quinn , who was defeated in 2004 . Historically, Labor also endorsed candidates outside of Brisbane, including in Ipswich , Townsville and Toowoomba . The current Labor leader on Brisbane City Council
448-707: The 1970s, Queensland Labor's voter base in particular has swayed more heavily toward the metropolitan and urban areas of the state such as Brisbane , the Sunshine Coast , the Gold Coast , and Townsville , with the Country (later National) and Liberal parties competing with Labor in both regions as an electoral bloc. Historically, the Queensland Labor Party was rooted in socialist principles, advocating for state socialism and agrarian socialism , with
480-633: The 47 Labor MPs, 24 belong to the Left, 16 to the Right, and 7 to the Old Guard. As of the 2020 state election , Queensland Labor's seat distribution was as follows: Historically (1910s–1960s) Queensland Labor's voter base and membership has been distributed fairly equitably across the metropolitan, urban, and rural areas of the state, although maintaining a demographic majority within the South East region. Beginning in
512-399: The Country Party needed only 7,000 votes to win a seat, compared with 12,800 for a typical Labor seat. The entrenchment of a Coalition government was also caused by socio-economic and demographic changes associated with mechanisation of farms and urbanisation which led to a drift of working class population from rural and remote electorates to the cities. By the late 1980s the decline in
544-432: The LNP (Liberal National Party) has 52/93 seats and formed majority government within the unicameral chamber. As of October 2024, the composition of Parliament is: Senate House of Rep. Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Council Assembly Assembly Assembly Opposition (Queensland) The Opposition in
576-533: The divisions in the ALP abated in the early 1970s, and tensions in the conservative coalition grew, (thus reducing the advantage to be gained by the use of preferential voting), the conservative government, now led by Joh Bjelke-Petersen , modified the zoning system to add a fourth zone—a remote zone, comprising seats with even fewer electors. Thus the conservative government was able to isolate Labor support in provincial cities and maximise its own rural power base. On average,
608-481: The electoral act in early 2016 include: adding an additional four parliamentary seats from 89 to 93, changing from optional preferential voting to full-preferential voting , and moving from unfixed three-year terms to fixed four-year terms. As of October 2024, the Liberal National Party (LNP) has 51 of 93 seats and formed majority government within the unicameral chamber. Initially, the Legislative Assembly
640-600: The issue. A large public interest non-partisan organisation, the Citizens for Democracy, lobbied extensively the Liberal and Labor parties to abolish the gerrymander and to make it a major issue in the lead up to the landmark 1989 Queensland election. Despite the malapportionment, Labor was rarely able to garner a higher percentage of the vote than the Coalition for most of this period. In 1989 Labor won government, promising to implement
672-476: The non-Labor forces. Since 1989, when the party came back to power after thirty-two years in Opposition, all its leaders have become Premiers despite two spells in Opposition in 1996–98 and 2012–2015. As of 2020, the Queensland branch has three factions: the right, headed by Annastacia Palaszczuk , the left, headed by Steven Miles , and the centralist faction, the Old Guard. Discounting Speaker Curtis Pitt , of
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#1732845131175704-525: The party being broadly left-wing . Prior to 1908, the party also had a radical liberal faction, which split to form the Kidstonites in 1908. Over time, like other Labor/Labour parties, the party has shifted towards the centre-left of the political spectrum . The platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism , while observers describe the Queensland Labor Party as social democratic , supporting labourism , which prioritises
736-518: The policy the Opposition would pursue in Government. It is sometimes styled " His Majesty's Loyal Opposition " to demonstrate that although it opposes the Government, it remains loyal to the King. At times, the Opposition consisted of more than one party, notably when the Coalition parties (the state Nationals and Liberals ) were in Opposition. Those state parties entered Opposition in 1998 and merged to form
768-551: The political fortunes of the National Party, together with rapid growth in south east Queensland meant that the zonal system was no longer able to guarantee a conservative victory. In addition, in 1988 the Federal Labor Government held four constitutional referendums — one of which was for the adoption of fair electoral systems around Australia. Although the referendum did not succeed, it heightened public awareness of
800-502: The recommendations of the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption, including the establishment of an Electoral and Administrative Reform Commission (EARC). EARC recommended the abolition of the zonal system in favour of a "modified one vote, one value" system. Under this proposal, subsequently adopted, most electorates consisted of approximately the same number of electors, but with a greater tolerance for fewer electors allowed in
832-571: The resignation of the Dickson ministry , Queensland Labour leader Anderson Dawson accepted an offer by Lieutenant-Governor Samuel Griffith to form a government. Trade unionists in Queensland had begun attempting to secure parliamentary representation as early as the mid-1880s. William McNaughton Galloway , the president of the Seamen's Union, mounted an unsuccessful campaign as an independent in an 1886 by-election . A Workers' Political Reform Association
864-507: The seat of Barcoo for the labour movement-run People's Parliamentary Association in 1892, and the Labor Party was formally established in Queensland following the first Labor-in-Politics Convention later that year. The Queensland branch subsequently formed the first Labor government in Australia, albeit briefly, when Anderson Dawson took office for a week in 1899 after a falling out between
896-414: Was considerable variation in the number of electors between zones. Thus an electorate in the remote zone might have as few as 5,000 electors, while a seat in the metropolitan zone might have as many as 25,000. Using this system the Labor government was able to maximise its vote, particularly in its power base of the provincial city zone. With the split in the party in the late 1950s the ALP lost office and
928-536: Was founded to nominate candidates for the 1888 election , at which the Brisbane Trades and Labor Council endorsed six candidates. Thomas Glassey won the seat of Bundamba at that election, becoming the first self-identified "labor" MP in Queensland. The Queensland Provincial Council of the Australian Labor Federation was formed in 1889 in an attempt to unite Labor campaign efforts. Tommy Ryan won
960-408: Was produced. That year also saw member numbers increased to 32, and by 1868—as more redistributions occurred—the number grew to 42. Members were not paid until 1886, effectively excluding the working class from state politics. The Assembly was elected under the first-past-the-post (plurality) system 1860 to 1892. From then until 1942 an unusual form of preferential voting called the contingent vote
992-755: Was the lower house of a bicameral parliament influenced by the Westminster system . The upper house was the Legislative Council , its members appointed for life by the governor , on advice of the government of the day. The first sitting, in May 1860, was held in the old converted convict barracks in Queen Street . It consisted of 26 members from 16 electorates, nearly half of whom were pastoralists or squatters. Early sessions dealt with issues of land, labour, railways, public works, immigration, education and gold discoveries. In April 1864, Australia's first Hansard
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1024-410: Was used. This was introduced by a conservative government to hinder the emerging Labor Party from gaining seats with minority support. In 1942 the plurality system was reintroduced. The Labor government then in power had seen its vote decline in the 1940s and sought to divide the opposition. In 1962, it was replaced with full preferential voting, as the governing conservatives wanted to take advantage of
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