New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in the state capital, Sydney at Parliament House. It is presided over by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly has 93 members, elected by single-member constituency, which are commonly known as seats. Voting is by the optional preferential system. The Legislative Assembly was crea... more

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in the state capital, Sydney at Parliament House. It is presided over by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly has 93 members, elected by single-member constituency, which are commonly known as seats. Voting is by the optional preferential system. The Legislative Assembly was created in 1856 with the introduction of a bicameral parliament for the Crown Colony of New South Wales. In the beginning, only men were eligible to be members of the Assembly, and only around one half of men were able to pass the property or income qualifications required to vote. Two years later, the Electoral Reform Act, which was passed despite the opposition of the Legislative Council, saw the introduction of a far more democratic system, allowing any man who had been resident in the colony for six months the right to vote, and removing... less