The Legislative Council of New Cambria is the upper house of the bicameral General Assembly of New Cambria, commonly called the Parliament. The lower house is the House of Assembly. Unlike the House of Assembly, the Senate is not directly elected, but rather consists of 40 members, called MLCs, who are indirectly elected and appointed by various methods. The Legislative Council is modeled after the British House of Lords, and is intended to play a deliberative and revising role in shaping legislation. Thus, its powers are much weaker than those of the House of Assembly, and it can only delay laws with which it disagrees, rather than veto them outright.
The main business of the Legislative Council is the revising of legislation approved by the House of Assembly. The Legislative Council can initiate legislation, but its legislative role is limited in that it cannot initiate financial legislation, and it cannot amend, though it can reject outright, financial legislation sent to it by the House of Assembly. The fact that a bill approved by the House of Assembly must also be debated and approved in the Legislative Council is a safeguard against legislation being enacted too quickly. However, the Legislative Council cannot indefinitely delay legislation which has already been passed by the House of Assembly.
In addition to its legislative role, the Legislative Council also frequently debates important issues, called matters of public importance. The government of the day must maintain the support of the House of Assembly, but does not require such support from the Legislative Council, which allows MLCs greater freedom in debating these matters because the fate of the government will not be at stake.
Composition[]
The Legislative Council consists of forty members, called MLCs:
- Twenty members elected by an electoral college consisting of:
- Sitting members of the House of Assembly;
- Sitting members of local government councils;
- Outgoing members of the Legislative Council
- Twenty members appointed by the Governor-General:
- Twelve on the advice of the Prime Minister;
- Eight on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition.
In theory, the Legislative Council does not recognize party affiliations. However, MLCs are elected by members of the House of Assembly and local councillors, the composition of the Legislative Council will tend to reflect the party strengths in the House of Assembly. If there is a coalition government, or a minority government with support agreements, a Prime Minister may advise the Governor-General to appoint some members of the coalition or supporting parties to the Legislative Council.
In practice, MLCs will divide into groups supporting and opposing government business when voting on issues, and the government of the day nearly always enjoys a majority in the Legislative Council, due to the twelve Prime Ministerial appointments. By constitutional convention, MLCs are seldom cabinet ministers, though several prominent MLCs have held ministerial portfolios in the past, typically after having lost their seats in the House of Assembly at a general election. Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers, however, always have been MHAs.
Election and term of office[]
The term of the Legislative Council is dependent on the term of the House of Assembly. An election for the 20 elected MLCs must take place no later than 90 days after the first sitting of the House of Assembly following a general election, and the Prime Minister's and Opposition Leader's appointees are usually announced shortly after the election results are known. The Legislative Council's term begins on the date the new MLCs are sworn in, and they serve until the date their successors are sworn in.
Although the appointed members technically serve at the pleasure of the Governor-General, and the Prime Minister or Opposition Leader could advise the Governor-General to replace a sitting MLC with a new appointee, it has become convention that once elected or appointed, MLCs serve the full term of the Legislative Council. If the Prime Minister or Opposition Leader changes midterm, however, the new officeholder is entitled to make a new slate of appointments.