When will it be? Timetables for the next Commonwealth Election
Margaret Healy
Politics and Public Administration Group
23 January 1998
While the calling of an election is a matter of political judgment and
timing, a constitutional and legislative framework governs the electoral
timetables and processes. The Australian Constitution requires periodic
elections for both Houses of Parliament, and separate provisions reflect
the different constitutional status of each House. The Commonwealth
Electoral Act 1918 provides the detailed framework.
The House of Representatives Election
The maximum term of the House of Representatives is set by section 28
of the Constitution, which states:
Every House of Representatives shall continue for three years from the
first meeting of the House, and no longer, but may be sooner dissolved
by the Governor-General.
Section 32 of the Constitution requires the writs(1) for an election
to be issued within ten days of the expiry or dissolution of the House
of Representatives. Detailed election procedures are specified in the
Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. Eight writs are issued for a general
election of the House of Representatives, one for each State and Territory,
and these must all be issued on the same day. The detailed timetabling
provisions are:
- Section 155 provides that the electoral rolls close seven days after
the issue of the writ.
- Section 156 provides that nominations of candidates close not less
than 11 days, or more than 28 days after the date of the writ.
- Section 157 provides that polling day shall not be less than 22 days,
nor more than 30 days after the date of nomination.
- Section 158 provides that the election must be held on a Saturday.
- Section 159 provides that the writ must be returned no more than 100
days after the issue of the writ.
- Section 160 provides that the elections for all Divisions of the House
of Representatives must be held on the same day, and that all writs
are to be returned on the same day.
The time period allowed from the issue of the writs to polling day is
no less than 33 days and no more than 68 days. In 1996 the House of Representatives
was dissolved on 27 January, the writs were issued on 29 January,
the rolls closed on 5 February, nominations closed on 9 February
and the election was held on 2 March 1996. Thus the whole election
period lasted 33 days.
To calculate the last possible date of the next election, the maximum
number of days specified must be applied. The next election must be held
within 68 days of the expiry of the 38th Parliament, which opened on 30
April 1996, and which therefore expires on 30 April 1999. The election
for the House of Representatives must be held by 3 July 1999, the
last Saturday within this period.
However an election may be held at any time before that date, and generally
elections are called well before there is a constitutional or legal necessity.
There has only been one instance of an election being held after a parliament
expired through effluxion of time. This was in 1910, with the Third Parliament.
The Half Senate Election
Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate is a continuing body.
Generally, half the Senate retires at each election. (The term of Senators
for the Territories, however, coincide with that of the House of Representatives.)
Section 13 of the Constitution requires that:
the election to fill vacant places shall be made within one year before
the places are to become vacant.
There is no constitutional requirement that elections for the House of
Representatives and the Senate be held simultaneously, but they are generally
held together. Separate half Senate elections were held in 1953, 1964,
1967 and 1970. The latest possible date for the next House of Representatives
election (3 July 1999) occurs shortly after the period during which a
half Senate election must be held. If the elections for the House of Representatives
and half the Senate are to be held simultaneously, the date must conform
with the constitutional provisions relating to the terms of Senators and
the period during which the election must be held.
The last election was held on 2 March 1996, and the
preceding one on 13 March 1993. The terms of Senators elected
in 1993 expire on 30 June 1999. Therefore the next half Senate
election must be held between 1 July 1998 and 30 June 1999.
About six weeks must be allowed to enable the counting of the Senate
vote to be completed before 30 June 1999, as this process must be completed
before the new Senate terms commence on 1 July 1999.(2) This means
that the latest possible date for a simultaneous election is mid-May 1999.
Of course, a simultaneous election for both Houses may be held at any
time within the year preceding the expiry of the Senate term.
A Double Dissolution
Usually an election for the Commonwealth Parliament is for the House
of Representatives and half the Senate. However, section 57 of the
Constitution provides that both Houses may be simultaneously dissolved
should there be a legislative deadlock between them. Section 57 provides
in part:
If the House of Representatives passes any proposed law, and the Senate
rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the
House of Representatives will not agree, and if after an interval of three
months the House of Representatives, in the same or the next session,
again passes the proposed law with or without any amendments which have
been made, suggested, or agreed to by the Senate, and the Senate rejects
or fails to pass it, or passes it with amendments to which the House of
Representatives will not agree, the Governor-General may dissolve the
Senate and the House of Representatives simultaneously. But such dissolution
shall not take place within six months before the date of the expiry of
the House of Representatives by effluxion of time.
As a double dissolution may not take place within six months before the
date of the expiry of the House of Representatives by effluxion of time,
the last possible date for the dissolution of both Houses is Thursday
29 October 1998. (This is calculated by counting back six months from
the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives, which would occur
on 30 April 1999.)
After that date the usual timetabling requirements would apply. The writs
must be issued within ten days of the dissolution. i.e. by Sunday 8 November
1998. The writs may be issued on the same day as the dissolution occurs,
but as section 12 of the Constitution requires the writs for Senate
elections to be issued by the State Governors, these writs might not be
issued on the same day as the dissolution. Should the writs be issued
on the same day, and the shortest times apply, nominations would close
on Monday 9 November and polling would be 5 December 1998. Should the
maximum times apply, the writs would have to be issued by Sunday 8 November,
and nominations would have to close by Sunday 6 December. The latest
possible polling day would then be Saturday 2 January 1999. It would
be quite impractical to hold an election during this holiday period, and
so the maximum periods are most unlikely to apply. Either the first or
the second Saturday of December 1998 (5 December or 12 December)
is a more likely date.
A critical consideration affecting the timing of any double dissolution
is the date from whence is calculated the three month interval which must
elapse before the House of Representatives may pass its amended or rejected
legislation for the second time. Although some aspects of section 57 remain
unclear, a majority of the High Court held in Victoria v The Commonwealth
and Connor (1975) 134 CLR 81 that the three month interval commences
on the date on which the Senate rejects or fails to pass the bill. (The
High Court has not expressed a definitive view as to the commencement
of the three-month period where the Senate passes a bill with amendments
'to which the House will not agree'.) Other factors which may influence
the timing are the number of triggers the Government desires, (so that
if re-elected, the Government could pass the Bills at a joint sitting
of both Houses), and the need to pass other legislation before an election.
Discussions on the possibility of a double dissolution being held in
1998 have focussed on the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997, but in fact
there are other possible triggers, such as the Workplace Relations Amendment
Bill 1997, rejected by the Senate on 21 October 1997. If this bill is
to be used as a trigger, the three-month interval will have occurred by
the time the House of Representatives resumes sitting on 2 March 1998.
The Senate passed the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997 on 5 December 1997
with amendments to which the House resolved on 6 December that it would
not agree. If it is assumed that the formal disagreement required by section
57 arose no later than 6 December, the House will be able to pass
this possible trigger Bill, as well as the others, for the second time
after the first week of the Autumn sitting in 1998. The House must then
wait for the Senate to consider the bills for the second time. It is only
if the Senate again rejects, unacceptably amends or fails to pass any
of the possible triggers that the provisions of section 57 may be invoked.
- A writ is the formal document authorising the holding of an election.
- The High Court held in Vardon v. O'Loghlin (1907) 5 CLR 201
that the term 'election' comprises the whole proceedings from the issue
of the writ to the valid return.
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