3 March 2014
PDF version [291KB]
Brenton Holmes
Politics and Public Administration
Each State and Territory has one or more legally constituted bodies who administer elections and/or oversee the political financing of political parties and financial entitles that are associated with them.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is responsible for the administration of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. The Commission’s website contains:
The AEC also publishes Electoral Backgrounders to assist candidates, political parties, parliamentarians, media commentators, academics, schools, and citizens generally. The Backgrounders are very helpful, but are no substitute for a careful reading of the legislation—in the final analysis it is for the courts to decide upon the operation of the law in any particular case.
These links will take you to the official websites :
Useful Australian election databases, blog and archives
- The Electoral Council of Australia and New Zealand is a consultative council of all of Australia’s Electoral Commissioners and is concerned with roll accuracy, integrity and electoral administration.
- The Electoral Regulation Research Network was established in 2012 with the aim of fostering exchange and discussion amongst academics, electoral commissions and other interested groups on research relating to electoral regulation
- Antony Green has a website hosted by the ABC that contains comprehensive information about federal, state and territory elections. He also maintains an up-to-date blog of election activity and issues.
- Adam Carr's Election Archives: All House of Representatives and Senate results since 1901, recent state and territory results.
- The Australian Election Studies: Based at the Australian National University, this site aims to provide a long-term perspective on stability and change in the political attitudes and behaviour of the Australian electorate, and investigate the changing social bases of Australian politics as the economy and society modernise and change character. The studies have been running as a series of surveys beginning in 1987 that have been timed to coincide with Australian Federal elections. The series also builds on the 1967, 1969 and 1979 Australian Political Attitudes Surveys.
- Australian Politics and Elections Database: A University of WA database of parties, elections, governments and representation for state and federal parliaments since 1890. This website has been created by researchers associated with the UWA and is intended for anyone who wants to find out general information about Australian parliamentary politics and elections.
- Australian Electoral Commission Election Statistics 1993, 1996 and 1998: Election results by polling booth (available to Senators, Members and Parliamentary staff only.
- The National Library of Australia's Pandora Archive has captured political party and candidate websites from the federal elections from 2001:
– 2001 Australian Election Archive
– 2004 Australian Election Archive
– 2007 Australian Election Archive
Australian Electoral History
Relevant overseas electoral authorities
- Elections Canada is the Canadian agency responsible for the conduct of federal elections and referendums.
- New Zealand Electoral Commission: includes information from the Electoral Commission, Electoral Enrolment Centre and the Chief Electoral Office.
- New Zealand Election Study: NZES began in its present form in 1990. The NZES's main source of data are questionnaires which are posted to randomly selected electors following each election.
Other Resources
© Commonwealth of Australia
Creative Commons
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.