Constitution Commission Publications

House of Review Discussion Paper
Constitution Commission Consultation Paper
A House for Our Future

House of Review Discussion Paper
The Commission was established on 19 March 2001. As a preliminary step it conducted a series of public lectures on the Victorian Constitution in central Melbourne. It also wrote a Discussion Paper, designed to highlight the major issues set out in its Terms of Reference and other matters raised in the lecture series. The Discussion Paper formed the platform for the Commission's consultation program across rural and regional Victoria and in suburban Melbourne. The consultation program was supported by advertising on commercial television outside the metropolitan area and extensive press advertising. The Commission visited ten centres, seven non-metropolitan and three in Melbourne's suburban centres.

The House of Review Discussion Paper (PDF, 195 kb) was published August 2001.

Constitution Commission Consultation Paper
The Commission had received over 150 written submissions from its consultation process, many of which came from organisations representing large groups within the Victorian community.The Commission also met with over 500 people at its public seminars and consultation sessions and had a large number of visits to its website at www.constitution.vic.gov.au.The Commissioners also had considerable informal input from members of the public. The Consultation Paper collected and published the information and ideas gained through the consultation process. It also set out preliminary conclusions and options for dividing the State into new Legislative Council electorates.

The Constitution Commission Consultation Paper (PDF, 673 kb) was published in December 2001. It gave the Victorian public an indication of the issues facing the Commission and the people of Victoria.
A House for Our Future
The final report of the Commission is titled A House for Our Future. The report recommended that Legislative Council Members be elected by the proportional representation method. It urged adoption of an Australian Senate type of voting, but with optional preferences. Voters therefore would not have to fill in all of the voting paper for a vote to be valid. The Commission recommended fixed four year terms for both Houses of the Parliament and a strengthened committee system. Among other recommendations, the Commission urged the entrenchment of a number of areas of the Victorian Constitution. Entrenchment means that the provisions can only be varied by a special majority of Members of Parliament voting on a bill, or by referendum of the Victorian people.

The Commission reported to the Government on 30 June 2002. The Report formed the basis of the reforms in the Constitution (Parliamentary Reform) Act 2003. This Act sets out the most comprehensive reform of Victoria's parliamentary system since 1856.

A House For Our Future is a 99 page report. For ease of access, it has been divided into the separate pdf files below.

Each part of the report is saved as Adobe Acrobat PDF files below. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free from the Adobe website.

If you would like to request a hard copy, contact (03) 9651 5094.

A House For Our Future
Table of Contents (48 kb)

I. Chairman's Introduction (76 kb)
II. Terms of Reference (58 kb)
III. Executive Summary (63 kb)

Report
Part A
1. Climate for Change (68 kb)
2. Responsible Government (50 kb)
3. Principles of Good Governance (48 kb)
4. Government Mandate (63 kb)
5. Accountability and Responsibility (54 kb)
6. Cynicism and Distrust (81 kb)
7. Political Parties (61 kb)
8. An Effective Upper House (52 kb)

Part B
9. Towards a More Representative Electoral System (65 kb)
10. The Electoral Model (7,543 kb)
11. The Voting System (75 kb)
12. Parliamentary Terms (51 kb)
13. The Parliamentary Committee System (71 kb)
14. Ministers in the Upper House (55 kb)
15. Deadlock Resolution (55 kb)
16. Question Time (54 kb)
17. A Code of Conduct (46 kb)
18. Procedural Developments (58 kb)
19. A New Constitution (45 kb)
20. Major Recommendations (45 kb)

Part C
21. Personnel (45 kb)
22. What the Commission Did (50 kb)
23. Response to the Consultation (50 kb)

Appendices
Appendix A. Bibliography (66 kb)
Appendix B. Formal Submissions Received (55 kb)
Appendix C. Events (45 kb)
Appendix D. Meetings (45 kb)
Appendix E. Newspoll Results (70 kb)