The Legislative Council of New South Wales: Past, Present and Future

Read the paper The Legislative Council of New South Wales: Past, Present and Future

In 1978 the people of NSW overwhelmingly supported proposals to transform the Legislative Council of NSW from an indirectly elected house to one directly elected by the people. This was the most important change to the composition of the Council in its to then 122-year history - a history that had been marked by repeated attempts to abolish or reform the Council and by criticism and questioning of the Council's role and operations.

Barbara Page
Senior lecturer in the Department of Government and Public Administration at the University of Sydney
Background Paper 1, 1990 

First published 1990. Reprinted 1995.