The Legislative Council was the first Parliament in South Australia, formed as a result of the South Australia Act 1842, and replaced the South Australian Colonisation Commission appointed in 1834 by means of the South Australia Act 1834. The 1842 Act gave the British Government, which was responsible for appointing a Governor and at least seven other officers to the Council, full control of South Australia as a Crown Colony, after financial mismanagement by the first administration had nearly bankrupted the colony. The Act also made provision for a commission to initiate the establishment of democratic government, electoral districts, requirements for voting rights, and terms of office. The Australian Colonies Government Act 1850 was a landmark development which granted representative constitutions to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania and the colonies enthusiastically set about writing constitutions which produced democratically progressive parliaments with the British monarch as the symbolic head of state. In 1851 elections for the legislative council were held. In 1855, limited self-government was granted by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. This was expressed in South Australia by the Constitution Act 1856 establishing the constitution of the Parliament of the Province of South Australia. It was the first Constitution in the Australian colonies to provide "manhood" suffrage. This Act provided for a bicameral Parliament with full authority to enact laws, apart from a few Acts requiring the monarch's personal Royal Assent. The Legislative Council was elected by property owners only, while the 37-member House of Assembly was elected by a full male franchise. The adoption of the "one man, one vote" principle removed the ability of voters to vote in any electorate in which they owned property. The Act also defined the rules of tenure for the parliamentarians. Women gained the right to vote and stand for election in 1895, taking effect at the 1896 election. South Australia became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, following a vote to federate with the other British colonies of Australia. Although the lower house had universal suffrage from 1895, the upper house, the Legislative Council, remained the exclusive domain of property owners until the Labor government of Don Dunstan managed to achieve reform of the chamber in 1973. Property qualifications were removed and the Council became a body elected via proportional representation by a single state-wide electorate. Since the following 1975 South Australian state election, no one party has had control of the state's upper house with the balance of power controlled by a veriety of minor parties and independents. Elections were held every 3 years until 1985, when the parliament switched to 4 year terms, meaning 8 year terms for the upper house. Beginning in 2006, election dates have been fixed at the third Saturday in March of every fourth year.
House of Assembly
The House of Assembly is made up of 47 members who are each elected by the full-preference instant-runoff voting system in single-member electorates. Each of the 47 electoral districts contains approximately the same number of voters. Since 1975, the distribution of electoral boundaries has been set by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission. Since 1991, boundaries have been redistributed after each election by the Electoral Commission of South Australia, an independent body. Previously they were redistributed after every third election. Government is formed in the House of Assembly by the leader of the party or coalition who can demonstrate they have the support of the majority of the House, and is called upon by the Governor to form government. The leader of the government becomes the Premier. While South Australia's total population is 1.7 million, Adelaide's population is 1.3 million − uniquely, over 75 percent of the state's population resides in the metropolitan area and has 72 percent of seats alongside a lack of comparatively-sized rural population centres, therefore the metropolitan area tends to decide election outcomes. At the 2014 election for example, although the statewide two-party vote was 47.0% Labor v 53.0% Liberal, the metropolitan area recorded a 2PP of 51.5% Labor v 48.5% Liberal.
Legislative Council
The Legislative Council is made up of 22 councillors who are elected for the entire state by the Proportional Representationsingle transferable voting system to serve for a term of 8 years. Elections for the Legislative Council are staggered so that 11 seats are up for re-election every 4 years, at the same time as House of Assembly elections. The primary function of the Legislative Council is to review legislation which has been passed by the House of Assembly. This can cause tensions between the government and the Legislative Council, which may be viewed by the former as obstructionist if it rejects key legislation, as can happen at times when the electoral makeup of the two houses are different.
