The President of the South Australian Legislative Council is the presiding officer of the South Australian Legislative Council, the upper house of the Parliament of South Australia. The other presiding officer is the speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly.
The current President of the Legislative Council is Liberal Party member, Terry Stephens, who has served since 2022, and previously served in 2020.
The President of the Legislative Council is elected by all Members of the Council to chair over the proceedings of the Council, must be seen as impartial and authoritative in maintaining order and enforcement of the Standing Orders (or rules and procedures of the Council) of the Council.
The President, along with the Speaker of the House of Assembly are both members of the Joint Parliamentary Service Committee, which regulates the functions and operations of the Parliament, and its staff.
The election of the Office of President is governed by Chapter III of the Standing Orders. If an election of the President is required, members of the Council are asked to submit nominations, which must be seconded by another member. If at the time of the election, there are no other nominations for the position, the nominee is deemed elected unopposed; however, if more than two Members have been nominated, then a secret ballot is held, with the nominee with the majority of the votes of the Members present becoming President; but if no candidate has a majority, then a process whereby the name of the Member who has the smallest number of votes is removed and another ballot held. This continues until the number of nominees is reduced to two, and then the nominee of those final two with the majority of votes is elected President.
In 2020, the election of President saw an unusual deadlock contest between Liberal Party nominee Jing Lee and John Dawkins, a former Liberal member nominated by the Labor Party and the cross-bench. After two consecutive ballots, which resulted in an 11âÂÂ11 deadlock, the tie-break procedure under Section 20 of the Standing Orders was triggered. Per the rules, both names were placed in a box; the Clerk of the Legislative Council drew John Dawkins' name first, officially electing him President.
Unlike the House of Assembly's Deputy Speaker, the Legislative Council has no formal deputy to the President. If the President needs to leave the chair during a sitting period, the President may select another member of the Council to act in their place; and in the absence of the President in any other occasion, the Standing Orders direct that the Council shall select another member to fill the office until the next meeting of the Council.
Between 1836 and 1851, the Legislative Council was established with members wholly nominated by the Crown, the Governor of South Australia appointed as the presiding officer, firstly by Letters Patent and then by the subsequent passage of the South Australia Act 1842. After a series of reforms in 1850 and 1851, the governance of South Australia created a partially representative Legislative Council, with the role of presiding officer of the Council fulfilled by a Speaker elected by the members of the Council.
Since the passage of the Constitution Act 1856, establishing true democratic self-governance, and subsequent reforms to the Constitution of South Australia, the Legislative Council has been presided over by the President.
From the establishment of the Council in 1836 until the reforms in 1851, the Governor of South Australia presided over the Legislative Council.
Between 1851 and 1857, the Speaker was the presiding officer of the Legislative Council.
In 1857, following constitutional reforms, the presiding officer of the Legislative Council was called the President.