Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly

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ACT Legislative Council building

The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly (dt. Legislative Council of the Australian Capital Territory ) is the one-chamber legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The Council Building is located on Civic Square in Canberra city ​​center .

The Council was created in December 1988 by four laws enacted by the Australian Federal Parliament, including the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 , which is the constitution of the ACT. The first elections took place in March 1989. After Queen Elizabeth II signed the law on May 11th of this year, the council held its first session. Up until then, the ACT had been administered directly by the federal government.

The Legislative Council assumes the role of a city administration as well as the executive branch of a higher territory, which is unique in Australia. The council consists of 17 members who are elected using the proportional voting procedure according to the Hare-Clark system (variant of the transferable individual voting ). There are three constituencies, Brindabella and Ginninderra with five seats and Molonglo with seven seats. Originally, a modified D'Hondt procedure was used , but after a referendum in 1993, the Hare-Clark system was introduced. Elections always take place on a Saturday, until 1997 in February and since then in October. The length of the legislative period was extended from three to four years in 2004.

The members of the Legislative Council elect the Chief Minister and up to five (but usually four) other ministers who form the executive branch of the city (informally known as the cabinet). The leader of the second largest party usually becomes the opposition leader.

Like the Northern Territory Council, the ACT Legislative Council does not have the full powers of the parliament of an Australian state. As a result, a law passed by the Legislative Council may be rejected by the Australian Parliament or, on the advice of the Federal Government, by the Governor General; however, this happens extremely rarely.

Composition of the Council

Distribution of seats in the ACT Legislative Assembly
   
A total of 25 seats
Political party 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2008 2012 2016
Australian Labor Party 5 8th 6th 6th 8th 9 7th 8th 12
Liberal Party of Australia 4th 6th 7th 7th 7th 7th 6th 8th 11
Australian Greens - - 2 1 1 1 4th 1 2
Abolish self-government 1 1 - - - - - - -
No self-government 3 - - - - - - - -
Residents rally 4th - - - - - - - -
Australian Democrats - - - - 1 - - - -
Independent - 2 2 3 - - - - -

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