Research Note 10 1998-99

When will it be? Timetables for Commonwealth Elections

Margaret Healy
Politics and Public Administration Group
8 December 1998

Australia's 39th Parliament was elected on 3 October 1998. This was an early election, held 2 years and seven months after the election of 2 March 1996, and some seven months before the last practical date on which a conjoint election of the House of Representatives and half the Senate could have been held. The Parliament first met on Tuesday 10 November 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 Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 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:

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 10 days or more than 27 days after the date of the writ.
• Section 157 provides that polling day shall not be less than 23 days nor more than 31 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 1998 the House of Representatives was dissolved on 31 August, the writs were issued on the same day, the rolls closed on 7 September, nominations closed on 10 September and the election was held on 3 October 1998. 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 39th Parliament, which opened on 10 November 1998, and which therefore expires on 9 November 2001. The election for the House of Representatives must be held by 12 January 2002, 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 3^rd Parliament.

Commonwealth Parliament: latest possible election timetable
House of Representatives (last election 3.10.98)	12.1.2002
Half Senate	1.7.2001-30.6.2002
Simultaneous HR and Half Senate	12.1.2002
Double dissolution	14.7.2001 (Dissolution of Parliament by 9.5.2001)

The Half Senate Election

Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate is a continuing body. Generally, half the Senate retires at each election. (The terms of Senators for the Territories, however, coincide with those of the House of Representatives.) Section 13 of the Constitution requires that:

There is no constitutional requirement that elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate be held simultaneously, but they are generally held together, primarily to avoid the duplication of costs in holding separate elections. The cost of holding the 1996 election was $57.2m. Separate half Senate elections were held in 1953, 1964, 1967 and 1970. The latest possible date for the next House of Representatives election (12 January 2002) occurs in 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 3 October 1998, and the preceding one on 2 March 1996. The terms of Senators elected in 1996 expire on 30 June 2002. Therefore the next half Senate election must be held between 1 July 2001 and 30 June 2002. A simultaneous election for both Houses may be held at any time during this period.

The latest possible date for a simultaneous election is the same date as is required for the House of Representatives-12 January 2002.

In the extremely unlikely event of different dates being chosen for the next House of Representatives and the half Senate elections, the Senate election would have to be held by mid-May 2002.This is to enable the count to be completed before the commencement of the new Senate terms on 1 July 2002.(2)

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:

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 Wednesday 9 May 2001. (This is calculated by counting back six months from the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives, which would occur on 9 November 2001.)

After that date the usual timetabling requirements would apply. The writs must be issued within ten days of the dissolution, i.e. by Saturday 19 May 2001. 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 Saturday 19 May 2001, and polling would be Saturday 16 June 2001. Should the maximum times apply, the writs would have to be issued by Saturday 19 May 2001, and nominations would have to close by Friday 15 June 2001.

The latest possible polling day would then be Saturday 14 July 2001.

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 in which 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.

1998 and beyond

In the Howard Government's first term it appeared likely that there would be a double dissolution. The major bill in contention between the two Houses was the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997. However the election of 11 Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party candidates at the Queensland state election on 13 June 1998 had a considerable effect on strategic political thinking. Prospects for obtaining a Senate majority decreased: the lower quota required for election at a double dissolution (7.69 instead of 14.29 per cent) might well facilitate the election of minor party candidates at the expense of the major parties.

A compromise on the Native Title legislation was negotiated between the Government and Independent Senator Brian Harradine. Although there was still a possible trigger, namely-the Workplace Relations Amendment Bill 1997, which was rejected by the Senate on 21 October 1997, the Government, abandoned the option of a double dissolution in favour of an early election for the House of Representatives and for half the Senate. This resulted in the re-election of the Howard Government, but after the commencement of the new Senate term on 1 July 1999, the balance of power resides with the Australian Democrats.

Senate Composition from 1.7.99
Australian Democrats	9
Australian Greens	1
Australian Labor Party	29
Independent	1
Liberal	31
National Party of Australia Country Liberal Party	3 1
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party	1
Total	76

1. A writ is the formal document authorising the holding of an election.
2. 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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