After a double dissolution, does the senate get back to the normal half-senate election pattern?
Great question! A double dissolution occurs when both the Senate and the House of Representatives are dissolved – shut down – in order for a federal election to take place.
Senators who represent states are elected for 6 year terms. Unlike members of the House of Representatives, they are not usually all elected at the same time. Every 3 years the terms of half of the state senators expire, allowing for a complete rotation of senators every 6 years. This is called a half-senate election.
Senators representing the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have 3 year terms which are concurrent with House of Representatives terms.
So what happens after a double dissolution, given that all senators' terms start on the same day? How do we get back to the half-Senate election pattern?
Luckily the drafters of the Australian Constitution realised this problem and included in the Constitution a way to avoid all senators standing for election at the same time. Section 13 states that after a double dissolution, state senators are to be divided into 2 groups; the first group is to have a three-year-term, while the second group is to have a six-year term.
But how does the Senate work out which state senators will have a half term and which senators will have a full term?
In the past, the elected state senators with the highest number of votes in each state have been granted a six-year term. Three-year terms were granted to the elected state senators with the lowest number of votes in each state. This re-established the normal pattern of Senate elections.
Sample Senate ballot paper – voting above the line
Australian Electoral Commission
Sample Senate ballot paper – voting above the line
Australian Electoral Commission
Description
This image is of a sample Senate ballot paper showing how to cast a valid vote above the line. There is a printed black horizontal line through the ballot paper. There are 7 boxes with 'Party' written above the line. These boxes have been numbered 1 to 6, one box has been left blank. There are many boxes with 'Surname, Given names, party' written below the line. All the boxes below the line have been left blank.
Permission should be sought from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) for third-party or commercial uses of this image. To contact the AEC email: media@aec.gov.au or phone: 13 23 26.