| AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT |
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Australia has eight state and territory governments, and one federal government. The state governments are NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA and Tasmania. Territory governments are ACT and NT. Most have an upper and lower house.
Voting is compulsory in all elections in Australia. Those who cannot explain their failure to vote may be fined.
All members of the Federal Parliament can be contacted via the switchboard on 02 6277 7111
The postal address is: Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600.
The Federal Government has a maximum term of 3 years, while the upper house (Senate) has a term of 6 years. Generally, half senate elections take place. A "double dissolution" will create a full senate election.
FEDERAL PARLIAMENT SHORT HISTORY
1972 Labor won office after 23 years of Liberal government. G Whitlam Prime Minister, L Bowen Deputy
1974 Labor re-elected after double dissolution.
1975 Liberals won office after Governor General Kerr dismissed the Labor government in controversial circumstances on 11 Nov. M Fraser Prime Minister, Bill Hayden Labour leader
1983 Mar 05 Labor won office. B Hawke PM, L Bowen Deputy 25 seat majority. Peacock Liberal Leader
1984 Dec 01 Labor re-elected with 16 seat majority.
1985 Sep 05 Howard replaces Peacock as Liberal Leader
1987 Jul 11 Labor re-elected with 17 seat majority. P Keating deputy leader.
1989 May 09 Peacock topples Howard to become Liberal leader.
1990 Mar 24 Labor re-elected with 8 seat majority. J Hewson replaces A Peacock as Liberal leader.
1991 Dec P Keating topples B Hawke as Prime Minister.
1993 Mar 13 Labor re-elected with majority of 13. Labor 79 seats, Coalition 66, Independents 3
1994 May A Downer replaces J Hewson as Liberal leader.
1995 Jan J Howard replaces A Downer as Liberal leader.
1996 Mar 03 Liberals won office with 40+ seat majority. K Beazley ALP Opposition Leader.
1998 Oct 03 Early Election - Howard re-elected
2001 Nov The election won on a lie - the good ship "Tampa" - Howard re-elected
2004 Oct 09 Howard won - an interest rate scare - rates would stay at record lows and Mark Latham.
2007 Nov 24 Labor win - 6 interest rate rises and Workchoices and Rudd
1996: At the election on March 3, 1996, the Coalition parties ended 13 years of Labor Party Government. The Liberal Party and National Party comprise the coalition. The coalition won a large majority in the lower house. Labor's vote was 46.4%.
1996: The coalition does not have a majority in the upper house. The balance of power is held there by the Democrats (7 seats), Greens (2 seats) and Independent (1 seat). The coalition is 2 seats short of a majority. The new Senate took office on 1st July 96.
1996 ELECTION RESULTS
House of Representatives Voting House of Reps Senate
Party Seats Coalition 46.9% 44.0%
Liberal Party 76 Labor 38.8 36.2
National Party 18 Democrats 6.8 10.8
Labor Party 49 Green 3.1 3.4
Independents 5 All Others 4.4 5.6
Total Seats 148
House/State Labor Coalition Swing
Senate (from 1-7-96) NSW 47.4 52.6 7.0
Party Seats Vic 50.3 49.7 1.5
Liberal Party 20 Qld 39.8 60.2 8.6
National Party WA 44.0 56.0 2.0
Labor Party 14 SA 42.7 57.3 4.6
Greens 1 ACT 55.5 44.5 3.1
Democrats 5 Tas 51.6 48.4 5.7
Total 76 NT 49.6 50.4 5.7
Total 46.4 53.6 5.1
1998: John Howard called an early election held on 3rd October 1998 and used GST as his big policy call. Labor opposed it. As this was in school holidays, the results took some time. This was the 39th election since federation. Despite a Labor majority in votes, it lost the election.
The results on a two party preferred basis:
1996 1998
Coalition 53.6% 48.6%
Labor 46.4% 51.4%
NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT TOT
1998 ALP SEATS 22 19 8 3 7 5 - - 67
1998 LP SEATS 18 16 14 9 7 - - - 64
1998 CP SEATS 9 2 5 - - - - - 16
1998 OTH SEATS 1 - - - - - - - 1
1998 ALL SEATS 50 37 27 12 14 5 2 1 148
1998 ALP % 51.3 53.5 47.1 47.5 50.8 57.3 62.4 50.5 51.4
1998: The 3rd October 1998 election elected half the Senate and 40 of the 76 seats were contested. (ACT and NT Senators take their seats immediately whilst the others take their seats on 1st July 1999.
NSW VIC QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT TOT 1999 ALP SEATS 5 5 4 4 4 5 1 1 29 1999 LP SEATS 4 5 4 6 6 5 1 - 31 1999 CP SEATS 1 1 1 - - - - 1 4 1999 DEM SEATS 2 1 2 2 2 - - - 9 1999 OTH SEATS - - 1 - - 2 - - 3* 1999 ALL SEATS 12 12 12 12 12 12 2 2 76* Others: Harradine, Greens, Hanson
2001: John Howard went to an election in November 2001, as late as possible. A major crisis with the Sept 11 incidents in USA and the good ship "Tampa" were major factors. The Liberals won with a slightly increased majority.
House of Representatives Party Seats At 1996 Before 98 1998 election 2001 election Liberal Party 76 72 64 69 National Party 18 18 16 13 Labor Party 49 49 67 65 Independents 5 9 1 3 Total Seats 148 148 148 150 Coalition majority 44 12 14
2001: Despite a swing in the lower house, the Government failed to gain any Senate seats. This was a half senate election with only the senators with terms ending in 2002 being contested. The new senators take their place on 1st July 2002. The state of the Senate:
1996 1998 Term till Jun 2001
Election Election 2002 2005 Election
Liberal 31 31 16 15 31
National 6 4 2 2 4
Labor 28* 29 12 17 28*
Greens 2 1 1 - 2
Democrats 7 9 5 4 8
Hanson - 1 - 1 1
Independent 2* 1 - 1 2*
76 76 36 40 76
2004: John Howard has a stunning win on a formulae of interest rate scares, attacks on Labor leafer Latham and negative campaigning. Labor's vote fell to 47.3%.
House of Representatives Party Seats At 1996 1998 2001 2004 Liberal Party 76 64 69 75 National Party 18 16 13 12 Labor Party 49 67 65 60 Independents 5 1 3 3 Total Seats 148 148 150 150 Coalition majority 12 14
2004: This was a half senate election with only the senators with terms ending in 2005 being contested. The new senators take their place on 1st July 2005. The Coalition has surprised the country with a rare majority in the upper house. The state of the Senate:
1996 1998 Term till Jun 2001 2004
Election Election 2002 2005 Election Election
Liberal 31 31 16 15 31 33
National 6 4 2 2 4 6
Labor 28* 29 12 17 28* 28
Greens 2 1 1 - 2 4
Democrats 7 9 5 4 8 4
Hanson - 1 - 1 1 -
Independent 2* 1 - 1 2* 1
76 76 36 40 76 76
2007: John Howard has a stunning loss, losing his own seat of Bennelong. After 6 interest rate rises, his credibility fell. Workchoices was industrial relations "reform" that gave employers almost total control of IR. The union movement ran "your rights at work" campaign, which moved many votes. Finally Kevin Rudd proved to be a very good campaigner. The government ran a very significant scare campaign alleging 70% of the front bench of a Rudd Government would be union "thugs". The final scare was that ALP would be in power in every Government (state/federal) in Australia. Australia didnt mind! The swing was 5.45%. Labor's vote was 52.7%.
House of Representatives Party Seats At 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 Liberal Party 76 64 69 75 55 National Party 18 16 13 12 10 Labor Party 49 67 65 60 83 Independents 5 1 3 3 2 Total Seats 148 148 150 150 150 Majority 12 14 24 10
2007: This was a half senate election with only the senators with terms ending in 2005 being contested. The new senators take their place on 1st July 2008.
The state of the Senate: (Half Senate election terms are not in line with HR)
--------- --------- -------- --------- ---------
1996 Poll 1998 Poll 2001 Poll 2004 Poll 2007 Poll
Till 6/09 Till 6/02 Till 6/05 Till 6/08 Till 6/11
Liberal 31 16 31 15 31 33 31?
National 6 2 4 2 4 6 6?
Labor 28* 12 29 17 28* 28 31?
Greens 2 1 1 - 2 4 3 6?
Democrats 7 5 9 4 8 4 0 0
Hanson - - - 1 1 1 - - - -
Independent 2* - 1 1 2* 1 1 1 2
40 76 36 76 40 76 36 76 40 76
We have set out below a short summary of the voting systems used in Federal elections. For more information goto the Electoral Commission Site.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - COUNTING VOTES
Ballot papers are green and list the candidates and their party affiliations. The order of the candidates on the ballot paper is determined randomly by a draw conducted immediately after the close of nominations
To vote for a Member of the House of Representatives, an elector is required to write the number "1" in the box next to the candidate who is their first choice, and the numbers "2", "3" and so on against all the other candidates, in order of the elector's preference. Ballot papers must be numbered to show all preferences or they will not be counted.
A candidate receiving more than 50% of the first preference votes is immediately elected.
However, if no candidate gains 50% of first preferences, the one with the fewest votes is excluded. That candidate's votes are then transferred to the other candidates according to the preferences shown. This process continues until one candidate has more than 50% of the votes and is declared elected.
There are 76 Senators - 12 for each State and 2 for each Territory. Normally only half the State Senators and the four Territory Senators are elected at each election, but when there is a double dissolution of Parliament as there was in 1987, all 76 places are up for election.
Senators are elected by a preferential voting system, known as proportional representation. Unlike House of Representatives elections in which candidates have to gain more than 50% of the votes to be elected, Senate candidates must gain a quota of the formal votes to be elected.
The quota is worked out by dividing the total number of formal ballot papers by one more than the number of candidates to be elected, and adding one to the result. In percentage terms, at a half senate election in the states, a quota is (100 / 7) per cent or 14.29% of the total number of formal votes.
Senate ballot papers are white listing the candidates and their party affiliations in order of groups drawn followed by independents. The order of the candidates on the ballot paper is determined by a random draw conducted immediately after the close of nominations.
The ballot papers are divided into two sections to distinguish the two
alternative methods of voting for Senators:
(a) Above the line: Voters only have to put the number "1"
in one box next to the party or group they want to support.
Their preferences will be counted according to the way the party or
group has registered them with the Australian Electoral Commission.
(b) Below the line: Vote put the number
"1" in the box of the candidate they want as their first choice,
number "2" in the box of the candidate they want as their second choice,
and so on until all the boxes have been numbered.
Candidates who receive a quota, or more, of first preference votes are immediately elected. The surplus votes of candidates who receive more than the quota are transferred to second choice candidates.
Because it is not possible to determine which votes actually elected the candidate and which votes are surplus, all the elected candidates' ballot papers are transferred at a reduced value. The transfer value of the elected candidate's ballot papers is worked out by dividing the number of surplus votes by the total number of the elected candidate's ballot papers.
In 1996, candidate Robert Woods (LP) gained 1 518 178 votes. As the NSW quota was 526 041, his surplus is 992 137. To work out the transfer value, Woods' surplus ballot papers (992 137) are divided by the total number of his ballot papers: 992 137 / 1 518 178 = 0.65350505
This figure is taken to the eighth decimal point, without rounding. So the transfer value is 0.65350505.
The next step is to re-examine all Woods' ballot papers (1 518 178).
Let's say that of the 1 518 178 people who voted for Woods as first choice, 1 513 870 put David Brownhill (NP) as second choice.
Those 1 513 870 second choice ballot papers are then multiplied by the transfer value to work out how many votes they represent: 1 513 870 x 0.65350505 = 989 321
These 989 321 transferred votes are then added to the number of first preference votes
If Brownhill got 1 826 first preference votes, and the extra 989 321 votes transferred from Woods are added, he has a total of 991 147 votes - more than the quota required - and is therefore elected. Brownhill's surplus votes are then transferred in the same manner.
As a result of this process of transferring surplus votes, other candidates may be elected. If however, all surplus votes from elected candidates are transferred and there are still some unfilled positions, further counting is undertaken. Starting with the lowest scoring candidate, unelected candidates are excluded from the count and their ballot papers are distributed to the remaining candidates to whom the voters have given their preferences. When a candidate gains a quota following the distribution, he or she is elected. The above process continues until all Senate positions are filled.
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