Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Victoria
Constitutional reform
The resurgence of Victorian Labor was to have significant consequences for the
state’s constitution, with associated consequences for the electoral system and the
Legislative Council. In 2002, Labor won its largest ever lower house majority. In
addition to winning control of the Assembly, Labor also won a majority in the
Legislative Council. Labor had won the Council once before, in 1985, but the
overturning of a result in one seat by the Supreme Court and the Liberal victory in
the subsequent by-election denied Labor that majority after only a few months. 17
This time there was no question about its majority and, in addition to being certain
about getting its legislation through the parliament without amendment, the Bracks
governmentnowalsohadthepowertoreformthestateconstitution.Atthattime,
the state constitution could be altered by an Act of the parliament.
Armed with the recommendations of a constitutional convention that it had
commissioned as part of its agreement with rural independents who held the
balance of power after the 1999 election, 18 the Bracks government introduced the
Constitution (Parliamentary Reform) Bill 2003 (Vic) to the parliament in 2003. The
reformedVictorianconstitutionisnowtheonlyAustralianconstitutiontomake
explicit reference to the position of premier and to note the subordination of the
governor to the premier unless the premier has lost the confidence of the Legislative
Assembly. The amended constitution reinforces the idea of the Assembly as the
house of government by providing that Appropriation Bills need only to pass the
lower house to become law, thereby explicitly removing the Legislative Council’s
previous power to block ‘supply’. The Council’s power to amend or reject all other
Bills remains, although the new constitution provides for a ‘Disputes Resolution’
mechanism where the two houses can’t agree on a Bill. It also allows the premier
todeclareaBilltobe‘Special’inthatitsrejectionbytheupperhousecouldbe
the trigger for the premier to be able to advise the governor for the need to call an
early election. In another diminution of the power of the upper house, the amended
constitution provides for fixed four-year terms for both houses and that elections
forbothhousesbeheldsimultaneously. 19
TheamendedconstitutionstatesthattheLegislativeAssemblywillconsistof
single representatives from 88 electoral districts (the constitutional time-bomb of
a 44-all outcome at the conclusion of an election ticks away), and 40 Legislative
Council members to be elected from eight upper house electoral ‘Regions’ each
made up of 11 lower house districts. The amended constitution comprises a
number of ‘reinforced provisions’ which means that they can now only be altered
by way of a constitutional referendum.
17 Costar and Economou 1992, 251.
18 Victoria, Constitution Commission 2002.
19 Taylor 2006.
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