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The Legislative Council, or the Upper House, of the NSW Parliament has finally taken shape following the March state election and it looks like progressive MLCs have the upper hand by a margin of two votes.
By Jacquelene Pearson
The NSW Legislative Council is now made up of representatives from nine different parties.
The largest group is the Australian Labor Party with 15 upper house members. The Liberal-National Coalition trails by one member on 14 (nine Liberals and five Nationals). The Greens have four members in the Legislative Council.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation have two MLCs each.
That leaves three to make up the numbers: one Animal Justice Party representative, one Liberal Democrat and one Legalise Cannabis. You could call it a patchwork collective.
The Labor MLCs include some of the most powerful Ministers in the new Minns Government.
The Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council is Penny Sharpe MLC who is also Minister for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Heritage.
Daniel Mookhey MLC is NSW Treasurer.
John Graham MLC now has a shopping list of ministries after his name: Special Minister of State, Minister for Roads, The Arts, Music and the Nighttime Economy, Jobs and Tourism and he is Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.
Rose Jackson MLC has responsibility for the portfolios of Water, Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health, Youth and the North Coast in the first Minns ministry.
Tara Moriarty MLC has been given three ministries: Agriculture, Regional NSW and Western NSW.
Courtney Houssos MLC is the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Natural Resources.
Several newly-elected MLCs were not given any ministerial responsibilities – Sarah Kaine, Stephen Lawrence, Cameron Murphy, Bob Nanva and Emily Suuval.
Other Labor MLCs, who did not stand for election in March, also missed out on cabinet positions – Anthony D’Adam and Peter Primrose.
How will minor party representatives on the cross-benches vote when the Minns Government attempts to deliver some of its major election promises?
Major promises made by Labor during the campaign included a cap on crippling road tolls which ironically increased from April 1, building more public schools, a trial of cashless poker machines, minimum staffing levels in public hospitals and housing reforms.
If we split the Legislative Council numbers between ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive’, the progressives come out in front by two votes (21 to 19) and that’s if everyone behaves how we expect them to. The Chair will also come out of those numbers making the stakes for getting legislation through even higher.
We’ve included the following parties in our “conservatives” list: Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, Liberal Party, National Party, One Nation and the Liberal Democrats.
That leaves four parties on the “progressive” side of the ledger: Greens, Labor, Legalise Cannabis and Animal Justice.
It’s going to be an interesting four years.
Members of the Legislative Council are supposed to represent constituents across the state, unlike MPs in the Legislative Assembly who represent constituents in a particular electorate.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the newly-elected MLC, their contact details are listed here .
The Parliament of NSW has not sat since before the election. The first meeting date of the new Parliament will be announced by the Governor and is likely to be in May.
