A review of Legislative Council division boundaries is required every 9 years; the most recent was completed in 2017.

Tasmanian's upper house is unique in Australian politics, in that historically it is the only chamber in any state parliament to be significantly non-partisan.

[6] The Council has the power to block supply and force a government to election but cannot itself be dissolved early, because there is nothing in the Tasmanian constitution to allow that.

The constitution can only be altered by a vote in each house of parliament, so the Council's rights cannot be reduced, and it cannot be abolished, without its agreement.

However, the party has often tacitly backed independent conservatives, many of whom had previously been Liberal candidates or members at state or federal level.

Candidates for Legislative Council elections are required by law to restrict their expenditure to a specified limit ($10,000 in 2005; increasing by $500 per year).

In addition, no other person or political party may spend money to promote a specific candidate.

Other than at elections for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, no other jurisdiction imposes expenditure limits on candidates.

The Legislative Council consisted of six members chosen by the Lieutenant-Governor, who continued to report to the Governor of New South Wales.

The Council remained fully nominative until the Australian Colonies Government Act came into effect in Van Diemen's Land on 21 October 1851, when the Council was expanded to 24 members, with 16 elected by the voters and eight nominated by the Governor, who ceased to be a member.

The franchise for these elections was extremely limited, with only men over 30 and who owned a certain amount of property eligible to vote.

On 24 October 1856, an Act was proclaimed permitting the introduction of a bicameral, representative Parliament with the creation of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, where the power of the executive government resided, and the abolition of nominee positions on the Council.

Reforms in 1907 saw the House of Assembly switch to using the Hare-Clark system with multi-member seats, and introduced preferential voting to the Council.

Others including the Morling Report[7] proposed abolishing the Council and merging some of the electorates into the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

[9][11] The current distribution of seats (updated post 2024 Tasmanian Legislative Council periodic elections) is:[12] When the Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land was created in 1825 it was a fully nominated body with the Lieutenant-Governor as Presiding Officer.

This composition is unique in Australia where most Public Accounts Committees are dominated by lower house members.

[16] It has the power to look into any issue pertaining to the financials of the State, including government agencies, to ensure that money is going where it is intended.

Sessional Committees are always sitting and can examine any issue relating to the Ministry for which they are responsible, or any bill referred to it by the Legislative Council.

Select Committees are established to conduct an inquiry on one specific issue and then normally cease to exist once they have tabled their final report.

The Estimates committees are established by the Legislative Council Standing Orders as a way to ‘examine and report’ on the proposed expenditure in an appropriation (money) bill.