View source for Western Australian Legislative Assembly

{{Short description|State legislature in Perth, Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}}
{{Infobox legislature
| background_color = #307159
|name               = Legislative Assembly
|legislature        = [[Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 2025–2029|42nd Parliament]]
|coa-pic            = Emblem of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.svg
|foundation         = {{start date and age|30 December 1890}}
|house_type         = Lower house
|body               = Parliament of Western Australia
|leader1_type       = [[Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly|Speaker]]
|leader1            = [[Stephen Price (Australian politician)|Stephen Price]]
|party1             = [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]]
|election1          = 8 April 2025
| leader2_type = Deputy Speaker
| leader2 = [[Ali Kent]]
| party2 = [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]]
| election2 = 8 April 2025
| leader3_type = Leader of the House
| leader3 = [[David Michael (politician)|David Michael]]
| party3 = [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]]
| election3 = 8 April 2025
| leader4_type = Manager of Opposition Business
| leader4 = [[Libby Mettam]]
| party4 = [[Western Australian Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| election4 = 8 April 2025
| leader5_type = Government Whip
| leader5 = [[Terry Healy (politician)|Terry Healy]]
| party5 = [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]]
| election5 = 8 April 2025
| leader6_type = Opposition Whip
| leader6 = [[Liam Staltari]]
| party6 = [[Western Australian Liberal Party|Liberal]]
| election6 = 8 April 2025
| members            = 59 
| political_groups1= '''[[Government of Western Australia|Government]] (46)'''<br>{{Color box|{{party color|Australian Labor Party}}|border=darkgray}} [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]] (46)<br>'''[[Opposition (Western Australia)|Opposition]] (13)'''{{efn|name=fn1|After the [[2025 Western Australian state election|2025 election]], the Nationals and Liberals formed an opposition alliance. However, it is not a formal coalition and both parties maintain their independence from each other.}}<br>{{Color box|{{party color|Liberal Party of Australia}}|border=darkgray}} [[Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division)|Liberal]] (7)<br>{{Color box|{{party color|National Party of Australia}}|border=darkgray}} [[National Party of Australia (WA)|National]] (6)
|structure1         = 2025.04.07 Western Australian Legislative Assembly - Composition of Members.svg
|structure1_res     = 200px
| session_room       = Western Australian Legislative Assembly.jpg
| session_res        =250px
| voting_system1 = [[Instant-runoff voting|Full preferential voting]]
| term_length = 4 years
| first_election1 = [[1890 Western Australian colonial election|December 1890]]
| last_election1 = [[2025 Western Australian state election|8 March 2025]]
| next_election1 = March 2029
|meeting_place = Legislative Assembly Chamber<br />[[Parliament House, Perth|Parliament House]], [[Perth]]<br />[[Western Australia]], [[Australia]] 
|website       = [https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/parliament/memblist.nsf/WALegislativeAssembly WA Legislative Assembly]
}}

The '''Western Australian Legislative Assembly''', or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the [[Parliament of Western Australia]], an Australian state. The Parliament sits in [[Parliament House, Perth|Parliament House]] in the [[Western Australia]]n capital, [[Perth]].

The Legislative Assembly today has 59 members, elected for four-year terms from single-member [[Electoral districts of Western Australia|electoral districts]].  Members are elected using the [[instant-runoff voting|preferential voting]] system. As with all other Australian states and territories, voting is compulsory for all Australian citizens over the legal [[voting age]] of 18.

==Role and operation==
Most legislation in Western Australia is initiated in the Legislative Assembly. The party or coalition that can command a majority in the Legislative Assembly is invited by the [[Governor of Western Australia|Governor]] to form a government. That party or coalition's leader, once [[oath of office|sworn in]], subsequently becomes the [[Premier of Western Australia]], and a team of the leader's, party's or coalition's choosing (whether they be in the Legislative Assembly or in the [[Western Australian Legislative Council|Legislative Council]]) can then be sworn in as ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian political parties traditionally vote along party lines, most legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the House of Assembly.

==History==
[[File:WA Legislative Assembly 1896.JPG|thumb|right|350px|Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1896]]
The Legislative Assembly was the first elected legislature in Western Australia, having been created in 1890, when Western Australia gained self-government. It initially consisted of 30 members, all of whom were elected, although only male landowners could vote. This replaced a system where the Governor was responsible for most legislative matters, with only the appointed [[Western Australian Legislative Council|Legislative Council]] to guide him.

[[File:Legislative Assembly of Western Australian b.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Legislative Assembly – 4 November 2012]]

Suffrage was extended to all adult males in 1893, although [[Indigenous Australians]] were specifically excluded. Women gained the right to vote in 1899, making Western Australia the second of the Australian colonies (behind [[South Australia]]) to do so. In 1921, [[Edith Cowan]] became the first woman to be elected to parliament anywhere in Australia when she won the Legislative Assembly [[electoral district of West Perth|seat of West Perth]] for the [[Nationalist Party (Australia)|Nationalist Party]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edith Dircksey Cowan |url=https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/parliament/library/MPHistoricalData.nsf/(Lookup)/80E6430BA5F9A786482577E50028A588?OpenDocument|access-date=2021-11-08|website=Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia }}</ref>

==Electoral distribution and reform==
For many years, Western Australia used a zonal electoral system for both houses of parliament. In most Australian jurisdictions, each state electorate represents an approximately equal number of voters. However, in Western Australia, until 2008 an MP represented 28,519 voters in greater Perth (the [[Metropolitan Region Scheme]] area) or 14,551 country voters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waec.wa.gov.au/download/September%20enrolment%20statistics%202.pdf|title=Electoral enrolment statistics |author=Western Australian Electoral Commission|date=30 September 2007|access-date=2008-01-15 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080722024823/http://www.waec.wa.gov.au/download/September%20enrolment%20statistics%202.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 22 July 2008}}</ref> At the 2006 census taken on 8 August 2006, 73.76% of Western Australia's residents lived in and around Perth,<ref>{{Census 2006 AUS|id=505|name=Perth (Statistical Division)|accessdate=2008-01-15|quick=on}}<br />* {{Census 2006 AUS|id=5|name=Western Australia|accessdate=2008-01-15|quick=on}}</ref> but only 34 of Western Australia's 57 Legislative Assembly seats, representing 60% of the total, were located in the metropolitan region. There has been strong support over time in some quarters for the principle of [[one vote, one value]], particularly from the [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor Party]] who were at particular disadvantage under the system. Up until 2005, reform had proceeded gradually—the most dramatic changes had occurred with the enactment of the ''Electoral Districts Act 1947'' and the ''Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987'', the latter of which raised the number of metropolitan seats from 29 to 34.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1987-07-12|title=Acts Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 1987|url=https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/law_a6168.html|access-date=2021-02-26|website=Western Australian Legislation}}</ref>

Effective on 20 May 2005, the ''Electoral Amendment and Repeal Act 2005'' (No.1 of 2005) abolished the country-metropolitan distinction for the Legislative Assembly, but all seats then in place remained until the [[2008 Western Australian state election|following election]] on 6 September 2008. A redistribution of seats announced by the Western Australian Electoral Commission on 29 October 2007 places 42 seats in Perth and 17 in the country, with a variation of ±10% from the average population normally permitted. The only distinction for rural seats is that any seat with an area of {{convert|100000|km2|sqmi|0}} or greater (that is, 4% of the State's land area) may have a variation of +10%–20% from the average, using an adjusted population based on the seat's area in square kilometres.<ref name="EARA 2005">{{Citation|title=Electoral Amendment and Repeal Act 2005 (No. 1 of 2005)|url=http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/wa/num_act/eaara20051o2005296/s4.html|access-date=2021-02-26}}</ref>

==Current distribution of Assembly seats==
{{for|upper house results|Western Australian Legislative Council}}
{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! Party
! colspan=2 | Seats held
|-
|| [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]] || align=center | {{bartable|46||10||background-color:{{Australian politics/party colours|Labor}}}}
|-
|| [[Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division)|Liberal]] || align=center | {{bartable|7||10||background-color:{{Australian politics/party colours|Liberal}}}}
|-
|| [[National Party of Australia (WA)|National]] || align=center | {{bartable|6||10||background-color:{{Australian politics/party colours|Nationals WA}}}}
|-
|| Total || 59
|}

30 votes as a majority are required to pass legislation.

==See also==
* [[2025 Western Australian state election]]
* [[Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly]]
** [[Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 2025–2029]]
* [[Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly]]
* [[Electoral districts of Western Australia]]
* [[Western Australian Legislative Council]]
* [[Parliaments of the Australian states and territories]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Parliaments of Australia}}
{{Members of the Parliament of Western Australia}}
{{Government of Western Australia}}

[[Category:Western Australian Legislative Assembly| ]]
[[Category:Parliament of Western Australia]]
[[Category:State lower houses in Australia|Western Australia]]
[[Category:1890 establishments in Australia]]