1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2002

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/01/2002

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Contents >> Government >> Commonwealth elections

Franchise

Any Australian citizen 18 and over, or British subject who was on the Commonwealth Roll as at 25 January 1984, is qualified to enrol and vote at Commonwealth elections. Residence in an electorate for a period of one month before enrolment is necessary to enable a qualified person to enrol. Enrolment and attendance at a polling place on polling day (except under certain lawful exceptions) are compulsory for all eligible persons.

Parliamentary terms

Members of the House of Representatives are elected for a maximum term of three years, though elections may be called earlier. Senators have fixed terms of six years. Normally half the Senate retires every three years, and elections for the Senate are usually held at the same time as elections for the House of Representatives, though they need not be.

At times of disagreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate, both houses may be dissolved and an election called for both houses. Six of the forty Commonwealth elections have been double dissolution elections.

Table 2.3 shows the number and terms of all parliaments since Federation.

2.3 COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTS(a)

Number of Parliament	Date of opening	Date of dissolution

First	9 May 1901	23 November 1903
Second	2 March 1904	5 November 1906
Third	20 February 1907	19 February 1910
Fourth	1 July 1910	23 April 1913
Fifth	9 July 1913	30 July 1914(b)
Sixth	8 October 1914	26 March 1917
Seventh	14 June 1917	3 November 1919
Eighth	26 February 1920	6 November 1922
Ninth	28 February 1923	3 October 1925
Tenth	13 January 1926	9 October 1928
Eleventh	6 February 1929	16 September 1929
Twelfth	20 November 1929	27 November 1931
Thirteenth	17 February 1932	7 August 1934
Fourteenth	23 October 1934	21 September 1937
Fifteenth	30 November 1937	27 August 1940
Sixteenth	20 November 1940	7 July 1943
Seventeenth	23 September 1943	16 August 1946
Eighteenth	6 November 1946	1 October 1949
Nineteenth	22 February 1950	19 March 1951(b)
Twentieth	12 June 1951	21 April 1954
Twenty-first	4 August 1954	4 November 1955
Twenty-second	15 February 1956	14 October 1958
Twenty-third	17 February 1959	2 November 1961
Twenty-fourth	20 February 1962	1 November 1963
Twenty-fifth	25 February 1964	31 October 1966
Twenty-sixth	21 February 1967	29 September 1969
Twenty-seventh	25 November 1969	2 November 1972
Twenty-eighth	27 February 1973	11 April 1974(b)
Twenty-ninth	9 July 1974	11 November 1975(b)
Thirtieth	17 February 1976	8 November 1977
Thirty-first	21 February 1978	19 September 1980
Thirty-second	25 November 1980	4 February 1983(b)
Thirty-third	21 April 1983	26 October 1984
Thirty-fourth	21 February 1985	5 June 1987(b)
Thirty-fifth	14 September 1987	19 February 1990
Thirty-sixth	8 May 1990	8 February 1993
Thirty-seventh	4 May 1993	29 January 1996
Thirty-eighth	30 April 1996	31 August 1998
Thirty-ninth	10 November 1998	8 October 2001(a)

(a) As at October 2001. Parliament was dissolved on 8 October 2001 and an election called for 10 November 2001, for the House of Representatives and half the Senate. At that election the Liberal-National Party coalition was returned to office. (b) A dissolution of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

Electorates

For the purpose of House of Representatives elections each State or Territory is divided into single-member electorates corresponding in number to the number of members to which the State or Territory is entitled. In Senate elections the whole State or Territory constitutes a single electorate.

Redistributions of House of Representatives electorates must be held at least every seven years. A redistribution must take into account current and projected enrolments, community of economic, social and regional interests, means of communication and travel, physical features and area, and existing electorate boundaries. Within each State and Territory the electorates must, as far as possible, be equal in numbers of electors. There is usually a variation in size of electorates from one State or Territory to another.

The Electoral Commissioner determines the representation entitlements of the States and Territories during the thirteenth month after the first meeting of a new House of Representatives. Determinations are based on the latest population statistics as provided by the Australian Statistician. The representation entitlements of the States and Territories at the 1999 determination are shown in table 2.4, which also shows the total size of the House of Representatives at the time of the next election. Tasmania has a constitutional entitlement to five members of the House of Representatives based on it being a State at the time of Federation in 1901. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have gained representation since 1901, and current legislation provides a minimum representation of one member of the House of Representatives for each.

2.4 REPRESENTATION ENTITLEMENTS(a)

State/Territory	Seats no.

New South Wales	50
Victoria	37
Queensland	27
Western Australia	15
South Australia	12
Tasmania	5
Australian Capital Territory	2
Northern Territory	2
Total	150

(a) 1999 Determination.
Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

1998 election

First preference votes cast for the major political parties in each State and Territory at the 1998 election for each House of the Commonwealth Parliament are shown in table 2.5.

Parliament was dissolved on 8 October 2001 and an election called for 10 November 2001, for the House of Representatives and half the Senate. At that election the Liberal-National Party coalition was returned to office. The final tally of votes recorded was not available at time of printing of this edition of Year Book Australia. It will be included in the next edition.

2.5 COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS, Votes Recorded - 3 October 1998

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

First preference votes	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA

Australian Labor Party	1,489,021	1,261,289	719,743	319,267
Liberal Party	1,131,545	1,053,990	615,153	389,382
National Party	293,126	77,385	199,185	4,796
Country Liberal Party	-	-	-	-
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation	332,510	105,798	285,983	90,773
Australian Democrats	154,496	171,091	80,003	93,905
The Greens	98,647	59,383	47,440	4,576
Unity - Say No to Hanson	57,666	29,265	-	-
Christian Democratic Party	38,023	3,793	11,243	3,521
Others	116,110	80,687	34,625	19,771
Formal votes	3,711,144	2,842,682	1,993,375	925,991
Informal votes	1,554,859	103,524	68,659	44,074
Total votes recorded	3,866,003	2,946,205	2,062,034	970,065

	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.

Australian Labor Party	377,545	150,384	38,469	98,588	4,454,306
Liberal Party	397,836	117,377	-	59,424	3,764,707
National Party	13,596	-	-	-	588,088
Country Liberal Party	-	-	36,014	-	36,014
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation	96,708	7,553	7,401	9,895	936,621
Australian Democrats	41,364	10,024	4,658	14,394	569,935
The Greens	52,674	17,091	2,753	8,145	290,709
Unity - Say No to Hanson	321	-	-	-	87,252
Christian Democratic Party	8,336	-	-	-	64,916
Others	54,395	5,048	1,642	4,237	316,515
Formal votes	1,042,775	307,477	90,937	194,683	1,109,063
Informal votes	45,509	9,819	3,951	5,743	436,138
Total votes recorded	1,088,284	317,296	94,888	200,426	11,545,201


SENATE

First preference votes	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA

Australian Labor Party	1,452 560	1,153,100	654,623	303,299
Liberal-National Party	1,375 563	1,076,844	-	-
Liberal Party	-	-	570,692	383,637
National Party	-	-	190,662	4,445
Country Liberal Party	-	-	-	-
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation	361,009	117,048	297,245	91,910
Australian Democrats	275,910	279,806	156,451	117,619
The Greens	81,612	70,872	42,264	20,895
Christian Democratic Party	58,079	13,881	28,826	9,598
Unity - Say No to Hanson	61,607	20,603	9,487	-
Senator Harradine Group	-	-	-	-
Others	89,385	111,006	53,460	15,413
Formal vote	3,755,725	2,843,160	2,003,710	946,816
Informal votes	128,596	111,686	62,859	27,424
Total votes recorded	3,884,321	2,954,846	2,066,569	974,240

	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.

Australian Labor Party	368,878	128,377	38,259	83,867	4,182,963
Liberal-National Party	-	-	-	-	2,452,407
Liberal Party	408,748	104,268	-	61,385	1,528,730
National Party	13,429	-	-	-	208,536
Country Liberal Party	-	-	36,063	-	36,063
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation	110,294	11,655	8,657	9,621	1,007,439
Australian Democrats	68,095	12,107	5,119	32,833	947,940
The Greens	61,063	17,905	4,232	6,385	305,228
Christian Democratic Party	10,264	945	-	923	122,516
Unity - Say No to Hanson	2,271	-	-	-	93,968
Senator Harradine Group	-	24,254	-	-	24,254
Other	21,036	8,866	672	2,021	301,859
Formal votes	1,064,078	308,377	93,002	197,035	11,211,903
Informal votes	29,354	9,704	1,887	3,952	375,462
Total votes recorded	1,093,432	318,081	94,889	200,987	11,587,365

Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

The numbers of electors enrolled for the 1998 election are shown in table 2.6.

2.6 COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION OF 3 OCTOBER 1998, Electors Enrolled

State/Territory	no.

New South Wales	4,076,081
Victoria	3,081,632
Queensland	2,188,024
South Australia	1,013,989
Western Australia	1,149,619
Tasmania	330,121
Northern Territory	105,048
Australian Capital Territory	209,536
Australia	12,154,050

Source: Department of the Parliamentary Library.

The state of the parties in the Commonwealth Parliament at October 2001 is shown in table 2.7.

2.7 STATE OF THE PARTIES, Commonwealth Parliament - October 2001

no.

House of Representatives

Australian Labor Party

Liberal Party

National Party

Independent

Total

148

Senate