President of the New South Wales Legislative Council

President of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Incumbent The Hon. Don Harwin, MLC since 3 May 2011
Style	The Honourable Mr / Madam President (in the Council)
Appointer	The Monarch's representative at the behest of the Legislative Council
Term length	Elected at start of each Parliament
Inaugural holder	Sir Alfred Stephen
Formation	20 May 1856
Deputy	The Hon. Trevor Khan, MLC

The President of the New South Wales Legislative Council is the presiding officer of the upper house of the Parliament of New South Wales, the Legislative Council. The presiding officer of the lower house is the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The role of President has generally been a partisan office, filled by the governing party of the time. The incumbent President is no exception, currently held by Don Harwin of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Election

The President is elected by the Council in a secret ballot. The Clerk of the Council conducts the election. The Presidency has always been a partisan office and the nominee of the government party has nearly always been elected—although this cannot be guaranteed since the government of the day does not necessarily have a majority in the Council. The President is assisted by an elected Deputy President. The traditional practice has been that the government nominates an MLC to be elected as President, and the Opposition nominates an MLC to be Deputy President. However, as with now, this is not always the case.

Impartiality

The President has a casting vote (in the event of an equality of votes). Like the Speaker, the President continues to attend party meetings, and at general elections stands as a party candidate. On the other hand, the President does not usually take part in debates in the Council and does not speak in public on party-political issues. He or she is expected to conduct the business of the Council in an impartial and dignified manner.

Section 22I of the NSW Constitution states that "All questions arising in the Legislative Council shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the Members present other than the President or other Member presiding and when the votes are equal the President or other Member presiding shall have a casting vote."

Role

The President’s principal duty is to preside over the Council, although he or she is assisted in this by the Deputy President and a panel of Acting Deputy Presidents, who usually preside during routine debates. The occupant of the Chair must maintain order in the Council, uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure) and protect the rights of backbench Councillors. The President, in conjunction with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, also administers Parliament House, Sydney, with the assistance of administrative staff.

Although the President does not have the same degree of disciplinary power as the Speaker does, the Council is not as rowdy as most Australian legislative chambers, and thus his or her disciplinary powers are seldom exercised.

Perquisites and ceremony

File:President of the Council John Peden presiding over the state opening of the NSW Parliament, 18 September 1929.jpg

Sir John Peden (1929–1946) in the full traditional dress presiding over the State Opening of Parliament, 18 September 1929.

Following the Westminster tradition inherited from the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, the traditional dress of the speaker includes components of Court dress such as the black silk lay-type gown (similar to a Queen's Counsel gown), a wing collar and a lace jabot or bands (another variation included a white bow tie with a lace jabot), bar jacket, and a full-bottomed wig. The dress of speakers has often variated according to the party in power, but is determinate on the personal choice of the speaker. Most Labor party Presidents eschewed the wig while retaining the court dress, while conservative and independent speakers tended to wear the full dress.

The President, currently, no longer wears the full traditional court dress outfit. Max Willis (1991-1998) was the last President to do so. From 1998 to 2011, all the Presidents opted not to wear any dress at all, preferring normal business attire. However, upon his election, President Harwin returned to tradition by wearing the gown during question time and on significant occasions such as the Opening of Parliament. However, there is nothing stopping any given Speaker, if they choose to do so, from assuming traditional court dress or anything they deem appropriate.

List of Presidents of the Legislative Council

#	President	Party affiliation	Term start	Term end
1	The Hon. Sir Alfred Stephen	None	20 May 1856	28 January 1857
2	The Hon. John Plunkett	None	29 January 1857	6 February 1858
3	The Hon. Sir William Burton	None	9 February 1858	10 March 1861
4	The Hon. William Wentworth	None	24 June 1861	10 October 1862
5	The Hon. Sir Terence Murray	None	14 October 1862	22 June 1873
6	The Hon. Sir John Hay	None	8 July 1873	10 January 1892
7	The Hon. Sir John Lackey	None	26 January 1892	23 May 1903
8	The Hon. Sir Francis Suttor	Progressive	23 May 1903	4 April 1915
		Liberal Reform
9	The Hon. Frederick Flowers	Labor	27 April 1915	14 December 1928
10	The Hon. Sir John Peden	Nationalist	5 February 1929	22 April 1946
		United Australia
		Liberal
11	The Hon. Ernest Farrar	Liberal	30 April 1946	16 June 1952
12	The Hon. William Dickson	Labor	18 August 1952	22 May 1966
13	The Hon. Sir Harry Budd	Country	9 August 1966	5 November 1978
14	The Hon. Johno Johnson	Labor	7 November 1978	3 July 1991
15	The Hon. Max Willis	Liberal	3 July 1991	29 June 1998
16	The Hon. Virginia Chadwick	Liberal	29 June 1998	5 March 1999
17	The Hon. Dr Meredith Burgmann	Labor	11 May 1999	2 March 2007
18	The Hon. Peter Primrose	Labor	8 May 2007	17 November 2009
19	The Hon. Amanda Fazio	Labor	24 November 2009	3 May 2011
20	The Hon. Don Harwin	Liberal	3 May 2011	present

Deputy President and Chair of Committees

Originally titled Chairman of Committees, the current style was adopted on 5 May 2004 during the term of the first female holder of the office. Various legal and constitutional amendments to follow this change were made in the Constitution Amendment (Parliamentary Presiding Officers) Act 2014.

Chairman of Committees	Party affiliation	Term start	Term end
The Hon. George Allen	None	4 June 1856	15 January 1873
The Hon. Joseph Docker	None	15 January 1873	9 February 1875
The Hon. Sir Joseph Innes	None	9 February 1875	16 December 1880
The Hon. Joseph Docker	None	16 December 1880	11 December 1884
The Hon. William Piddington	None	17 March 1885	25 November 1887
The Hon. Archibald Jacob	None	1 December 1887	28 May 1900
The Hon. William Trickett	None	13 June 1900	23 July 1912
The Hon. Broughton O'Conor	Liberal Reform	24 July 1912	22 April 1934
	Nationalist
	United Australia
The Hon. Ernest Farrar	United Australia	2 May 1934	22 April 1946
	Liberal
The Hon. Thomas Steele	Country	30 April 1946	11 March 1953
The Hon. Ernest Gerard Wright	Labor	11 March 1953	22 April 1967
The Hon. Stanley Eskell	Liberal	2 August 1967	6 March 1969
The Hon. Thomas McKay	Liberal	12 March 1969	5 November 1978
The Hon. Clive Healey	Labor	8 November 1978	22 February 1988
The Hon. Sir Adrian Solomons	National	28 April 1988	2 July 1991
The Hon. Duncan Gay	National	3 July 1991	10 May 1999
The Hon. Tony Kelly	Labor	11 May 1999	29 April 2003
The Hon. Amanda Fazio	Labor	30 April 2003	5 May 2004
Deputy President	Party affiliation	Term start	Term end
The Hon. Amanda Fazio	Labor	5 May 2004	24 November 2009
The Hon. Kayee Griffin	Labor	24 November 2009	4 March 2011
The Hon. Jenny Gardiner	Nationals	3 May 2011	5 May 2015
The Hon. Trevor Khan	Nationals	5 May 2015	present

Assistant President

Assistant President	Party affiliation	Term start	Term end
The Hon. Fred Nile	Christian Democrats	28 June 2007	present

External links

• NSW Legislative Council