First election using preferential voting

14 December 1918

Preferential voting is a system where voters indicate an order of preference for candidates on their ballot paper. Using preferential voting, voters rank the candidates rather than just select their first choice. Preferential voting has led to the election of candidates supported by the majority of the people they represent and the promotion of the two-party system.

The first election using preferential voting demonstrates how it results in the election of ‘most preferred’ candidates. In the House of Representatives, candidates need a majority of votes to be elected. If one candidate does not receive a majority of votes initially, voters preferences will be used to determine the result. In the electorate of Corangamite future Labor Prime Minister James Scullin received 42.5% of the first round of votes and would have won the seat using the old ‘first-past-the post’ system. However, after preferences were distributed his votes only rose slightly, while the Victorian Farmers Union candidate William Gibson’s rose from 26.4% to 56.3% of the votes, securing him the seat. (Scullin would later be elected to represent the seat of Yarra at the 1922 election.)

Since proportional representation was introduced for Senate elections in 1949 the government, formed in the House of Representatives, has not always had a majority in the Senate. More minor party and independent senators have been elected, increasing the range of viewpoints represented in the Australian Parliament.