Government of Tasmania

Government of Tasmania

Emblem of the Tasmanian Government and its agencies

Formation
Australian state Tasmania
Website http://www.tas.gov.au/
Legislative branch
Legislature

Parliament of Tasmania;

Meeting place Parliament House
Executive branch
Leader Premier
Appointer Governor
Meeting place Parliament House
Judicial branch
Court Supreme Court
Seat Hobart

The Government of Tasmania, also referred to as the Tasmanian Government, is the state democratic administrative authority of Tasmania. The Government of Tasmania, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, was formed in 1856 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended from time to time. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, Tasmania has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Constitution of Australia regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth.

Under the Australian Constitution, Tasmania ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas. In practice, however, the independence of the Australian states has been greatly eroded by the increasing financial domination of the Commonwealth.

Executive and judicial powers

Tasmania is governed according to the principles of the Westminster System, a form of parliamentary government based on the model of the United Kingdom. Legislative power rests with the bicameral Parliament of Tasmania, which consists of the Crown, represented by the Governor of Tasmania, and the two Houses, the Tasmanian Legislative Council and the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

Executive power rests formally with the Executive Council, which consists of the Governor and senior ministers. In practice executive power is exercised by the Premier of Tasmania and the Cabinet, who are appointed by the Governor, but who hold office by virtue of their ability to command the support of a majority of members of the House of Assembly. Judicial power is exercised by the Supreme Court of Tasmania and a system of subordinate courts, but the High Court of Australia and other federal courts have overriding jurisdiction on matters which fall under the ambit of the Australian Constitution.

Current Ministry

Main article: Hodgman Ministry

The current ministry of Tasmania comprises the following nine Liberal members :

Office Minister

Premier
Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events
Minister for Sport and Recreation
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

 Will Hodgman, MP

Deputy Premier
Minister for Education and Training
Minister for Primary Industries and Water

 Jeremy Rockliff, MP

Minister for Health
Minister for Information Technology and Innovation
Leader of Government Business, House of Assembly

 Michael Ferguson, MP

Attorney-General
Minister for Justice
Minister for Corrections
Minister for the Arts
Leader for the Government, Legislative Council

 Vanessa Goodwin, MLC

Minister for State Growth
Minister for Energy
Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage

 Matthew Groom, MP

Treasurer
Minister for Planning and Local Government
Minister for Forestry

 Peter Gutwein, MP

Minister for Building and Construction
Minister for Mining

 Guy Barnett, MP

Minister for Police and Emergency Management
Minister for Infrastructure

 Rene Hidding, MP

Minister for Human Services
Minister for Women

 Jacquie Petrusma, MP

Houses of Parliament

A panoramic view of Parliament House from the front steps.

House of Assembly

Tasmania's House of Assembly is the lower house of the Tasmanian parliament. There are five House of Assembly divisions: Bass, Braddon, Denison, Franklin and Lyons. These divisions have the same boundaries as the five Commonwealth House of Representatives divisions for Tasmania. There are twenty-five members of the House of Assembly, with five members elected for each of the divisions using the Hare-Clark voting system of multi-member proportional representation. Members are elected for a term of up to 4 years.

Party Seats held Percentage of Assembly Current House of Assembly
Liberal Party of Australia 15 60%                              
Australian Labor Party 7 28%              
Tasmanian Greens 3 12%      

Legislative Council

Tasmania's Legislative Council is the upper house of the Tasmanian parliament. It has 15 members, each representing one of the following 15 electoral divisions: Apsley, Montgomery, Rosevears, Derwent, Murchison, Elwick, Nelson, Rumney, Huon, Launceston, Wellington, Mersey, Pembroke, Western Tiers and Windermere. The boundaries of the current divisions are determined by the Legislative Council Redistribution Tribunal.[1] Elections are conducted on a 6-year periodic cycle. Elections for 3 members are held in May one year, with elections for 2 members held in May the following year and so on.

Party Seats held Current Legislative Council
Australian Labor Party 1                          
Liberal Party of Australia 2                          
Independents 12                          

Parliament House

Both houses meet since 1841 in Parliament House in the Hobart suburb of Salamanca by the waterfront. The house was originally intended as a customs house but changed use when Tasmania achieved self-government.

Tasmanian government agencies

The Tasmanian Government delivers services, determines policy and regulations, including legal interpretation, by a number of agencies grouped under areas of portfolio responsibility. Each portfolio is led by a government minister who is a member of the Parliament. As of April 2016 there were eight lead agencies, called government departments, that consist of:[2]

A range of other agencies support the functions of these departments.

State-owned businesses

The Government of Tasmania also owns and operates a number of state-owned companies:[3]

Other levels of government

Federal representation of Tasmania

As a State of Australia, Tasmania is represented in the House of Representatives and Australian Senate. Tasmania has five representative in the federal House of Representatives in the divisions of Bass, Braddon, Denison, Franklin and Lyons. Tasmania also has twelve Senators in line with other states.

Local government in Tasmania

Local Government elections are conducted under the Local Government Act using the Hare-Clark voting system of multi-member proportional representation. Elections for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and half the councillor positions are held during September and October in each uneven numbered year. Tasmania has twenty-nine local government areas. These include six cities (three in greater Hobart, one covering each of Launceston, Burnie and Devonport) and twenty-three municipalities. The largest council (by number of enrolled electors) is City of Launceston and the smallest council is Municipality of Flinders (which serves the Flinders Island and surrounding islands, and has just over 800 electors)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tasmanian Legislative Council". Tasmanian Electoral Commission. 2006-09-08.
  2. ↑ "Tasmanian Government Organisations". Service Tasmania. Government of Tasmania. 14 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Tasmanian Government Businesses". Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance. Tasmanian Government.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.