New South Wales Legislative Council

Legislative Council
58th Parliament
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of New South Wales
History
Founded	25 August 1824; 200 years ago (25 August 1824)
Leadership
President	Ben Franklin, Nationals since 9 May 2023
Deputy President and Chair of Committees	Rod Roberts, Independent since 9 May 2023
Leader of the Government	Penny Sharpe, Labor since 28 March 2023
Deputy Leader of the Government	John Graham, Labor since 28 March 2023
Leader of the Opposition	Damien Tudehope, Liberal since 28 March 2023
Government Whip	Bob Nanva, Labor since 3 May 2023
Deputy Government Whip	Cameron Murphy, Labor since 21 April 2023
Opposition Whip	Chris Rath, Liberal since 21 April 2023
Structure
Seats	42
Political groups	Government (15)   Labor (15) Opposition (14)   Liberal (9)   National (5) Crossbench (13)   Greens (4)   Shooters, Fishers, Farmers (2)   Animal Justice (1)   Legalise Cannabis (1)   Libertarian (1)   Independent (4)[a]
Length of term	8 years
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	25 March 2023
Next election	2027
Meeting place
Legislative Council Chamber Parliament House, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Website
NSW Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the Legislative Assembly, it sits at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. It is normal for legislation to be first deliberated on and passed by the Legislative Assembly before being considered by the Legislative Council, which acts in the main as a house of review.

The Legislative Council has 42 members, elected by proportional representation in which the whole state is a single electorate. Members serve eight-year terms, which are staggered, with half the Council being elected every four years, roughly coinciding with elections to the Legislative Assembly.
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