{ { Infobox legislature
| background_color = #307159
|name = Legislative Assembly
|legislature = 41st Parliament
|coa-pic = Emblem of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.svg
|foundation =
|house_type = Lower house
|body = Parliament of Western Australia
|leader1_type = Speaker
|leader1 = Michelle Roberts
|party1 = Labor
|election1 = 29 April 2021
| leader2_type = Deputy Speaker
| leader2 = Stephen Price
| party2 = Labor
| election2 = 11 May 2017
| leader3_type = Leader of the House
| leader3 = David Templeman
| party3 = Labor
| election3 = 17 March 2017
| leader4_type = Manager of Opposition Business
| leader4 = Peter Rundle
| party4 = Nationals
| election4 = 30 January 2023
| leader5_type = Government Whip
| leader5 = Cassie Rowe
| party5 = Labor
| election5 = 17 March 2021
| leader6_type = Opposition Whip
| leader6 = Vacant
| party6 =
| election6 = 31 October 2023
| members = 59
| political_groups1= Government (53) Labor (53)Opposition (6) National (3) Liberal (3)|structure1 = 2021.03.20 Western Australian Legislative Assembly - Composition of Members.svg |structure1_res = 200px | session_room = Western Australian Legislative Assembly.jpg | session_res =250px | voting_system1 = Full preferential voting | term_length = 4 years | first_election1 = December 1890 | last_election1 = 13 March 2021 | next_election1 = 8 March 2025 |meeting_place = Legislative Assembly ChamberParliament House, PerthWestern Australia, Australia |website = WA Legislative Assembly }}
The Western Australian Legislative Assembly', or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth.
The Legislative Assembly today has 59 members, elected for four-year terms from single-member electoral districts. Members are elected using the preferential voting system. As with all other Australian states and territories, voting is compulsory for all Australian citizens over the legal voting age of 18.
Role and operation
Most legislation in Western Australia is initiated in the Legislative Assembly. The party or coalition that can command a majority in the Legislative Assembly is invited by the Governor to form a government. That party or coalition's leader, once sworn in, subsequently becomes the Premier of Western Australia, and a team of the leader's, party's or coalition's choosing (whether they be in the Legislative Assembly or in the Legislative Council) can then be sworn in as ministers responsible for various portfolios. As Australian political parties traditionally vote along party lines, most legislation introduced by the governing party will pass through the House of Assembly.
History
The Legislative Assembly was the first elected legislature in Western Australia, having been created in 1890, when Western Australia gained self-government. It initially consisted of 30 members, all of whom were elected, although only male landowners could vote. This replaced a system where the Governor was responsible for most legislative matters, with only the appointed Legislative Council to guide him.
Suffrage was extended to all adult males in 1893, although Indigenous Australians were specifically excluded. Women gained the right to vote in 1899, making Western Australia the second of the Australian colonies (behind South Australia) to do so. In 1921, Edith Cowan became the first woman to be elected to parliament anywhere in Australia when she won the Legislative Assembly seat of West Perth for the Nationalist Party.