Wednesday 14th January 2926
Back to the City. We had a list of places we wanted to visit and the common denominator was that they all enjoyed free entry. And so would we. We alighted from the 109 on Collins, and walked uphill to Parliament House on Spring St. On the days parliament isn't sitting, they run tours on the hour. We have done something similar in NSW, so we thought it might be good to see how Victoria does it. The tours are small; no more than 25 on each, so elbows were required to ensure a place. We soon made friends with a mother and son Trump supporters team from Washington State. Uncannily, the mother was a doppelganger of Karen next door at home, and her name was also Karen. Spooky. Well, after agreeing we would come and stay with them, we went in. The Victoria State assembly was fashioned on the Westminster model. Two houses; lower house being The Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Legislative Council. Both houses being elected, but as I understand it, the lower house being first past the post system of voting, and the upper house some form of proportional representation. The lower house main parties were: majority, Labor under the Leader Jacinta Allan, Opposition: Liberals, Nationals, Greens; in total 88 MPs. The upper house has 40 members in all, represented as follows: Labor (Government):15, Liberal: 12 seats, National: 2 seats, Greens: 4 seats, Legalise Cannabis: 2 seats, One Nation: 1 seat, Animal Justice: 1 seat, Libertarian (formerly Liberal Democrats): 1 seat, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers: 1 seat, Independent: 1 seat. And that's it. So at least the largest party is the same as the Assembly, but to get anything through with a majority in the upper house, they need agreement from other parties.
Everything looked very similar to Westminster, even down to the green and red seat colours and the position of speaker. The Legislative Council had the seat only King Charles or his appointed Governor is permitted to occupy, and as the third tier of government, is required to sign off all laws by the King or his Governor.
One intriguing element was that in 1891, some scallywag stole the new Mace for the Legislative Assembly. The Mace remains missing to this day, and even though over 100 years have passed, the government remains committed to retrieving it, and is prepared to pay $50,000 for its safe return! I was looking in all the bushes I can tell you.
Having our fill of politics for one day, we popped into the park for a coffee, and then jumped on the number 35, the old heritage free circular loop tram to take us around the city to St.Paul's Cathedral on Flinders. Designed by William Butterfield in England (who incidentally never came to Australia), work started on it in 1880 and it was consecrated in 1891, with the final tower construction completed to a design by John Barr. It is quite stunning in its Gothic Revival style, popular of its time and stands in a position where there has been Christian worship since 1836.
Then, before heading back to Port Melbourne on the 234 bus, we sat in the sunshine in old fashion deckchairs in Federation Square, watching the Australian Open on the big screen.
A simple, but enjoyably stimulating day, and at least we can now visit the States and have lively discussions about Trump.
ps The chandelier in the Legislative Assembly, is one of three that originally hung in both chambers. However, when they were removed in 1912 for cleaning, two of the 2000 piece chandeliers went missing. The only genuine lamp now is in the library. The Assembly chandelier is a Waterford 2020 copy. To the casual observer, there would seem to be a certain amount of carelessness regarding parliamentary inventory!
