If a candidate gains an absolute majority of first preference votes, they win the seat. If no candidate receives an absolute majority, the candidate with the least number of votes is excluded and their votes are redistributed according to second preferences.
The process of redistributing votes according to preferences continues until one candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote and is then elected. Twelve senators are elected to represent each state and 2 senators are elected to represent each territory. State senators are elected for a period of 6 years using a system of rotation that ensures that only half the state senators end their term every 3 years.
Territory senators are elected for a period of 3 years at the same time as the members of the House of Representatives and half of the Senate. Half-Senate elections are usually held at the same time as House of Representatives elections, though they do not have to be. Senators are elected by a preferential voting system— proportional voting —which is designed to allocate seats to candidates in proportion to votes cast in an election.
To win a seat, a senator must gain a quota of first and later preferences. For a state senator at a half-Senate election, this equals The counting procedure for a Senate election is more complicated than the system used for the House of Representatives—it sometimes takes several weeks after an election to count all the Senate votes and finalise the result.
Once the election result is finalised, the successful candidates are declared and the writs are returned to the Governor-General for the House of Representatives and state governors for the Senate.
A by-election is a mini-election held for a House of Representatives electorate if a member resigns, becomes ineligible or dies between federal elections.
A casual vacancy occurs in the Senate if a senator resigns, becomes ineligible or dies between federal elections. Federal elections are organised and run by the Australian Electoral Commission, who make sure that elections are free, fair and legal. The Commonwealth Electoral Act and the Australian Constitution set out the requirements for running elections.
This image is of a sample Senate ballot paper. It has a horizontal line through the image with a few boxes with writing above the line and many boxes with writing below the line. Some of the boxes above the line have been numbered 1 to 6. Permission should be sought from the Australian Electoral Commission AEC for third-party or commercial uses of this image. To contact the AEC email: media aec. This image is of a sample House of Representatives ballot paper. Number the boxes from 1 to 8 in the order of your choice'.
Some boxes also have a LOGO box next to them. Voting is compulsory for all people enrolled. People who do not vote may be fined. Who conducts the election? The Australian Electoral Commission, a statutory authority headed by the Electoral Commissioner, is responsible for the administration of all Commonwealth electoral matters including, for example, the conduct of elections, the maintenance of up to date lists of electors electoral rolls and the drawing of electorate boundaries.
An election takes place in response to a formal order writ from the Governor-General or the Speaker in the case of a by-election requiring the Electoral Commissioner to conduct an election. For a general election a single writ is issued for each state and territory. AEC staff counting the votes on an election day. Candidates are listed in a random order, determined by drawing lots. The system of voting used in elections for the House of Representatives is preferential, that is, voters have to rank all candidates in order of preference—they may not just vote for one candidate.
Voters are directed to mark their vote on the ballot paper by placing numbers in the squares opposite the names of the candidates so as to indicate their order of preference, for example, if there are three candidates, by writing the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the appropriate squares. Ballot papers which are incorrectly filled out informal are not valid and are not included in the count. Preferential voting is designed to produce the election of the candidate who is most representative of the wishes of an electorate.
To be successful a candidate must be supported by the majority that is, more than half of voters. This system is considered fairer than a non-preferential first-past-the-post system under which the candidate with the most votes is elected, even though he or she may have support from less than half the voters.
The result—declaration of the poll and return of the writs. The result of each election is announced declared as soon as possible after counting has been completed in the electoral division. Following a general election, when the results for all divisions have been declared the Electoral Commissioner certifies on each writ the name of the successful candidate for each division and returns the writs to the Governor-General, who in turn forwards them to the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
The validity of an election may be challenged by a petition addressed to the Court of Disputed Returns the High Court acting in a special capacity. This may occur if it is alleged that a candidate was not eligible to become a Member for one of the reasons listed earlier in this infosheet or if it is claimed that there has been some irregularity in the election process.
Disclosure of income and expenditure, public funding. Tonight's telegrams report that your House proposes to grant the right to vote without the right to be a candidate. That was the mistake in New Zealand. That, as Bebel says, "is the knife without the blade". For the sake of other countries as well as your own, fight for the whole loaf. Rose Scott's papers, Mitchell Library. In the politics of a democracy there should be no sex.
A woman without a vote is an inferior, and thereby liable to be so regarded. Maybanke Anderson, The Sun , 6 July On 12 June it will be a hundred years since Australia became the first country in the world to give most women the right to vote and the right to stand for the Commonwealth Parliament. New Zealand was the first nation to give women the right to vote, but not to stand, in Although Australia was seen as a pioneer of women's political rights, it had the greatest time lag of all western democratic countries between the eligibility of women to stand for the national legislature and their actual election to it 41 years.
Section 4 of the Commonwealth Franchise Act stated that "No aboriginal native of Australia Asia Africa or the Islands of the Pacific except New Zealand shall be entitled to have his name placed on an Electoral Roll unless so entitled under section 41 of the Constitution", i. It is believed that a narrow interpretation of section 41 of the Constitution was used by electoral officials to bar federal enrolment to any individual not entitled to a State vote before The Commonwealth Franchise Act was a significant piece of legislation yet it is interesting that it contained only five sections and was only two pages long.
In the Act was repealed and its provisions re-enacted in the Commonwealth Electoral Act This table shows Australia's place in the achievement of women's suffrage in the international context. This table shows the dates for women's franchise in each of the Australian parliaments and the names and dates elected of the first women.
The ACT and the Northern Territory achieved self-government more recently; women were elected to these bodies at the first elections in and respectively.
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