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The next Australian federal election will elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia and must be held on or before 16 April 2011. The election will be called following the dissolution or expiry of the current Parliament. Australia has compulsory voting, uses full-preference instant-runoff voting in the lower house and single transferable vote group voting tickets in the upper house. The election will be conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission, an independent body answerable to Parliament.
[edit] DateThe last federal election was held on 24 November 2007. The last date on which the next election can be held is calculated in the following way:[3]
The first meeting of the House of Representatives and the 42nd Parliament occurred on 12 February 2008.[8][9] Therefore it expires on 11 February 2011, unless dissolved sooner. (Of Australia's 41 completed parliaments, only one, the 3rd Parliament 1907-1910, continued for the full three years, all the others having been dissolved earlier.[10]) The writs must therefore be issued by 21 February 2011 (ten days after the expiry). The last date on which nominations can close is therefore 20 March 2011 (27 days after the writs). The last day that is a Saturday and no more than 31 days following the close of nominations is 16 April 2011. It is, however, extremely unlikely that an election would be left until 2011.[11] A Senate election must be held in time for state senators to take their places on 1 July 2011. It will probably be held in conjunction with the House of Representatives election. In this event, half (36) of the 72 state senators, and all 4 of the territory senators, will face election (territory senators begin their terms immediately). There are precedents for holding a separate Senate election, but the last time this occurred was 1970. If this were to occur, however, the only senators to face election would be the 36 state senators referred to above. The writs for a "half-Senate" election cannot be issued until one year before the end of the current term. The current term ends on 30 June 2011; one year before then is 30 June 2010; and thus the earliest possible such election would be in August 2010. It is also possible that a double dissolution election could be called if legislation cannot proceed through the Senate after two attempts. A double dissolution may only occur on or before 11 August 2010:
[edit] House of Representatives
The Labor Party, currently led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and the Liberal Party, currently led by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, are the two main parties in Australia. The Liberal Party is usually in a coalition with the smaller National Party, currently led by Warren Truss. In the 150-member Australian House of Representatives, Labor won government with 83 seats, with the coalition on 65 seats (55 Liberal and 10 National), with two seats held by independents. The Australian Greens won 8 per cent of the 2007 vote, and the Family First Party won 2 per cent, but neither party won any seats in the lower house. The coalition total was reduced to 64 seats when Rob Oakeshott, former state Nationals turned independent MP, won the seat of Lyne at the September 2008 Lyne by-election, resulting from the resignation of former Howard minister and Nationals leader Mark Vaile. The April 2008 Gippsland by-election, resulting from the resignation of the former Howard minister and Nationals MP Peter McGauran, saw the Nationals' Darren Chester retain the seat with a 6 per cent margin increase. The Liberals suffered a swing in the September 2008 Mayo by-election resulting from the resignation of former Howard minister and Liberal leader Alexander Downer, and came within a couple of percent of losing the seat to the Greens candidate. Liberals retained seats at the Bradfield and Higgins by-elections in December 2009. [edit] RedistributionsThe redistribution for Western Australia has made Liberal-held Swan notionally Labor, and vastly changed Kalgoorlie and O'Connor, with the former being safer for the Liberals, and the latter becoming less safe for the Liberals. Kalgoorlie has also been renamed Durack. The redistribution has also damaged the WA Nationals' chances of a House of Representatives seat.[12][13][14] Tasmania was also redistributed, and while there are some changes to the look of boundaries, little will change in terms of seat margins.[15][16] New South Wales lost a seat to Queensland for the second election in a row. The Labor Party suggested the abolition of the marginal Liberal seat of Macarthur, while the Liberal Party suggested that Liberal-held Hume and National-held Riverina be merged to create a new seat called "Bradman" (in honour of Sir Donald Bradman). The National Party suggested the abolition of Labor-held Banks.[17] The draft New South Wales redistribution, published in August 2009, proposed that Reid be abolished and that Lowe be renamed "McMahon" in honour of former Prime Minister Sir William McMahon. In response to widespread criticism of the abolition of the name "Reid", the finalised redistribution, published in October 2009, instead had Lowe renamed "Reid" and Prospect renamed "McMahon". Boundary changes also resulted in the Liberal seats of Macarthur, Greenway and Gilmore becoming notionally Labor-held, with major changes to other seats, including Calare, Parkes and Macquarie.[18] In Queensland, the seat of Wright has been created as a Liberal-held seat based on the Gold Coast hinterland. The changes also see the status of marginal Liberal seats Dickson and Herbert change to marginal Labor seats.[19] A redistribution for Victoria will commence in 2010 in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, but it is unlikely to be finalised before the election is called.[20] [edit] Senate
In the 76-member Australian Senate, from July 2008, the Labor and Liberal Parties hold 32 seats each. The balance of power rests with the crossbench, consisting of:
For a majority, Labor requires an additional seven votes from non-Labor Senators in order to pass legislation. If the Liberal Party chooses to vote with the Labor Party on legislation, support from the crossbench will not be required. [edit] Senators facing re-election
[edit] Retiring MPs and Senators[edit] MembersWhere a Member of the House of Representatives chooses not to contest the election, their term will end at the dissolution of the parliament. Members who have indicated their intention to retire are: [edit] Liberal
[edit] Labor
[edit] SenatorsWhere a Senator chooses not to contest the election, their term will end on 30 June 2011. Senators who have indicated their intention to retire are: [edit] Liberal
[edit] PollingNewspoll polling is conducted via random telephone number selection in city and country areas nationwide, Friday to Sunday, usually each fortnight. Sampling sizes consist of around 1100-1200 electors. The declared margin of error is ±3 per cent.
[edit] See also[edit] External links
[edit] References
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