Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of South Australia
55th Parliament
Coat of Arms of South Australia
Parliament of South Australia logo
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Legislative Council House of Assembly
Sovereign	Governor of South Australia (as representative of the King)[a]
History
Founded	22 April 1857; 167 years ago (22 April 1857)
Leadership
Governor	Frances Adamson since 7 October 2021
Speaker of the House of Assembly	Leon Bignell, Independent since 11 April 2024
President of the Legislative Council	Terry Stephens, Liberal since 3 May 2022
Premier	Peter Malinauskas, Labor since 21 March 2022
Leader of the Opposition	David Speirs, Liberal since 19 April 2022
Structure
Seats	69 47 MHAs 22 MLCs
House of Assembly political groups	Government (28)   Labor (28) Opposition (14)   Liberal (14) Crossbench (5)   Independent (5)[b]
Legislative Council political groups	Government (9)   Labor (9) Opposition (8)   Liberal (8) Crossbench (5)   Greens (2)   SA-BEST (2)   One Nation (1)
Length of term	House: 4 years Council: 8 years
Elections
House of Assembly voting system	Instant-runoff voting
Legislative Council voting system	Single transferable vote
First general election	21 February 1851 as unicameral Legislative Council 9 March 1857 as bicameral parliament
Last general election	19 March 2022
Next general election	21 March 2026
Redistricting	Redistributions are carried out after each election by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission.
Meeting place
Parliament House, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Website
www.parliament.sa.gov.au
Constitution
Constitution of South Australia

The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly (lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house).^[2] General elections are held every 4 years, with all of the lower house and half of the upper house filled at each election. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government with the executive branch required to both sit in parliament and hold the confidence of the House of Assembly. The parliament is based at Parliament House on North Terrace in the state capital of Adelaide.

Unlike the federal parliament and the parliaments of most other states, the South Australian Constitution does not define the parliament as including either the monarch or the governor of South Australia as one of its constituent parts. However, the constitution also vests legislative power in the state's governor acting with the advice and consent of both houses of parliament,^[3] making the role of the governor effectively the same as those of the other states.^[1]

The parliament may make laws for any matter within South Australia, subject to the Constitution of South Australia. Its power is further limited by the ability for the federal parliament to override it in some circumstances, subject to the Constitution of Australia. Similarly, the Supreme Court of South Australia, and ultimately the High Court of Australia, provides judicial oversight of parliament. The parliament is also vested with other powers, such as the means to investigate matters, conduct research and summon witnesses.^[4]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).