With less than a month to go before the Victorian state election, the media and community focus has been fixed on the potential make up of the lower house of the new parliament. This is understandable. The party, or parties, that win a majority of seats in the chamber form government.

But the upper house in the state is also important. In Victoria, the Legislative Council has many of the same powers as the Legislative Assembly. For example, the Legislative Council can initiate, as well as reject, bills. The upper house cannot, however, introduce bills that seek to spend money, nor can it reject the government’s budget. And a bill must be approved by both chambers of parliament to become law.

The powers of the Victorian upper house mean that, while it may not be able to block government spending, it can have a major impact on the policies of government.

The latest polling has the Coalition on track to win majority government - although there is much that can still change in the final weeks before polling day.

The race in the Upper House promises to be a tighter affair. A recent Morgan poll gave the Coalition 12 of the 40 upper house seats, Labor ten, the Greens eight and One Nation six, with four........

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