Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral (single house) Parliament of Queensland (see Prior to 1922). Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting system (OPV). The Assembly has 89 'Members of the Legislative Assembly', who use the letters MP after their name since 2000 (previously they were styled MLAs).
The 89 MLAs are intended to represent approximately the same population in each electorate, however that has not always been the case (see Queensland's Gerrymander).
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Recent events
By-elections took place on August 20, 2005 for the electorates of Chatsworth and Redcliffe following the resignations of Deputy Premier Terry Mackenroth and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Ray Hollis. Both formerly safe Labor seats saw Liberal members Michael Caltabiano (Chatsworth) and Terry Rogers (Redcliffe) elected.
Current distribution of seats
(as at declaration of August 20, 2005 by-elections)
| Party | Seats held |
|---|---|
| Australian Labor Party | 61 |
| National Party of Australia | 15 |
| Liberal Party of Australia | 7 |
| One Nation Party | 1 |
| Independent | 5 |
(see detailed list)
Prior to 1922
The Legislative Assembly was the lower house of a normal Westminster style bicameral parliament. The upper house, the Legislative Council was contstituted in the style of a Senate.
In 1922 the Legislative Council took the unusual step of voting to abolish itsef, leaving Queensland with a single-chamber parliament - currently the only Australian state with this arrangement.
Queensland's Gerrymander
Queensland, until the reforms following the end of the Bjelke-Petersen era, had a system where electorates in rural districts were created with significantly smaller numbers of voters than urban seats, in effect making the vote of a person from rural Queensland worth significantly more than a vote by a person living in the highly urbanised areas of Southeast Queensland. (See Gerrymander)
This system was put in place by the Australian Labor Party before the Second World War, but socio-economic and demographic changes associated with mechanisation and urbanisation led to a drift of working class population to the cities and a subsequent shift in the fortunes of the Country Party (later National Party of Australia), which represented the interests of and appealed electorally to rural landholders.
