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Notes
| Definitions of variables : Assembly - In this database, the term 'assembly' is used to refer to the lower house of all state and territory parliaments even though their official names vary slightly. These lower houses are the chambers in which the government must retain a majority to remain in office. Assemblies are the critical components of parliamentary government and are the basis for broad based popular representation in the governmental process. In South Australia and Tasmania the chamber is called the House of Assembly, but in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, it is called the Legislative Assembly. The lower house of the Commonwealth Parliament is called the House of Representatives. The parliaments of the two self-governing territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, have been unicameral since their establishment. In both territories the single chamber is called the Legislative Assembly and performs the same function as the lower house in state parliaments. All state (formerly colonial) parliaments had two chambers when the Australian colonies gained self-government in the late 1850s (Western Australia in 1890), the upper house being called the Legislative Council and being elected (or nominated) from a restricted section of the community. All states except Queensland remain bicameral (Queensland abolished its upper house in 1922) and these chambers have been reformed so that they have the same franchise as the lower house and is an important component of the law making process. This database does not yet contain information on all state upper houses. The Senate is the upper house of the Commonwealth Parliament and information on Senate elections is contained in this database. At large election - An election held 'at large' is one in which the whole body of voters vote as one electoral district for all the candidates to be elected. At large elections are usually associated with electoral systems using proportional representation; see also multimember district, single member district. Only two at large general elections have been held for the lower house of an Australian parliament during the period covered in this database -- the elections of 1989 and 1992 for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. Ballots - a vote can be a single mark, or one or more marks or numbers to elect one or more candidates. At some elections, voters could mark ballots with more than one vote, giving the result that there were more votes cast than voters. This was the case for elections for the South Australian House of Assembly until 1927. Bicameralism - A bicameral parliament is one which has two chambers, a lower house and an upper house (see assembly). All state (formerly colonial) parliaments had two chambers when the Australian colonies gained self-government in the late 1850s (Western Australia in 1890), the upper house being called the legislative council and being elected (or nominated in the case of New South Wales and Queensland) from a restricted section of the community. All states except Queensland remain bicameral; Queensland abolished its upper house in 1922 and several attempts were made to abolish the New South Wales Legislative Council until it became a directly elected chamber in 1978. Change from previous election (Swing) The change in first preference vote won by a party at a given election when compared with the previous election, expressed as the difference between the percentage first preference vote shares. Note that the party must be listed in the database for both elections (see listed party) for a figure to appear in the column. If the party was a listed party in the previous election but ran candidates under a difference name, no figure for changed vote share will appear (see party name). Colony - The six largely self-governing political communities which had grown from British settlement of Australia after 1788 were called colonies -- New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia. When the six colonies joined in a federal union in 1901, their political institutions were unchanged and most of their law making powers remained intact but, as components of a federation, their name was changed from colony to state. For the sake of simplicity, the term state is used in this database to include the period before 1901 when the term 'colony' or 'colonial' would be the technically correct term. Contingent voting - This can be thought of as a form of preferential voting (AV) with compulsory or optional preferences which permits the voter to vote for one or two candidates, but no more than two, by indicating a first choice candidate and, if the voter wishes, a second choice candidate. If a candidate gains more than 50 percent of the first preference votes cast in an electoral district, he or she is declared elected. If there is no such candidate, the second preferences shown on the ballot papers of all but the two candidates with the most first preference votes are divided between the top two candidates. After this assignment, the candidate with the most votes is declared the winner. This system has been used in general elections for the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1893 until 1941 (in single and multimember districts until 1909), and for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1928. It was also used for the first direct election of the Mayor of London in 2000 where it was called supplementary voting. For a discussion of contingent voting, see David M Farrell and Ian McAllister, The Australian Electoral System: Origins, Variations and Consequences, pp 25, 52-54 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2006, ISBN 0868408581). Electoral district - Electoral districts are also called electorates but, as the term electorate also refers to the whole body of voters across a political system, the term electoral district has been used in this database to keep the distinction clear. Electoral roll - The electoral roll is the list of voters who are registered to vote at an election. Electoral system - The electoral system is the set of rules which specifies how elections are organized and how votes are cast and counted at an election. The broad category of electoral system used to elect members at an election is shown in the database, and the entries are indexed in this database under the name of each electoral system. Australia has been adventurous in its experimentation with electoral rules and electoral law. First past the post - A first past the post electoral system is one in which a voter is required to mark the ballot paper, usually with a cross or tick, indicating the voter's preferred candidate. The winning candidate is the one with the most votes. In electoral contests where there are only two candidates, the candidate with the most votes will have a majority (that is, more than 50 percent of the votes cast). If there are more than two candidates, the candidate with the most votes may only have a plurality (that is, more than any other candidate, but less that 50 percent of the votes cast). For this reason, first past the post voting is sometimes called plurality voting and is indicated in this database as 'first past the post (plurality) voting'. First past the post electoral systems were widely used in Australia until the rise of the Australian Labor Party prompted anti-Labor parties after 1910 to adopt preferential voting for most lower house elections in Australia. First past the post electoral systems are usually associated with single member districts, but they can also be used in multimember districts. The use of plurality voting with multimember districts is often called 'block voting'; the voter is given as many votes as there are candidates to be elected from the district. Such a system favours well organized party tickets and a successful party can win all the seats in a multimember district with a plurality of votes. This system was used for the Commonwealth Senate until 1919. Plurality voting can also be used in multimember districts by giving the voters as many ballots as there are candidates to be elected from the district. This enables voters to vote for several candidates or to cast more than one ballot for their favoured candidate (see also ballots). Franchise - The franchise refers to those who are eligible to vote at elections. In Australia, the franchise is now universal for all Australian citizens over 18 years of age (often referred to as universal suffrage) although, even with universal franchise, there may be some who are disqualified from voting for such reasons as serving a sentence for a criminal offense or having been declared of unsound mind. There may also be residency requirements before a person can vote in a particular electoral district. In the past, the franchise has been restricted in a variety of ways. At the beginning of the period covered in this database, ownership of property was required to vote at some elections, and most women were disenfranchised; this was often the case for those eligible to vote for upper houses in the period after the granting of responsible government in 1856. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not have full voting rights in Commonwealth and some state elections until the 1960s. Hare-Clark system - The Hare-Clark system is a form of proportional representation by the single transferable vote method (STV) used to elect members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly since 1909. For a brief summary of the Hare-Clark system and its context, see David M Farrell and Ian McAllister, The Australian Electoral System: Origins, Variations and Consequences, pp 26-27 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2006, ISBN 0868408581). Informal (invalid) vote - In this database, an informal vote is one which does not follow the electoral rules required for the vote to be counted as a valid vote. The term informal vote can also refer to the total number of informal votes cast at an election. The sum of the total valid votes and the total informal vote will be the total of votes cast at the election. The rate of informal voting is calculated by expressing the informal vote as a percentage of the total votes cast at an election. Multimember district - A multimember electoral district is one which returns more than one member to a representative assembly (see single member district). Multimember districts can be combined with first past the post electoral systems and with preferential voting, but are now usually used as part of systems of proportional representation. Multiple voting - In this database multiple voting refers to electoral systems which permit (or require) a voter to cast more than one vote on a ballot paper to elect more than one member from a multimember electoral district using first past the post (plurality) voting. It can also refer to electoral systems which permit a voter to cast more than one ballot to elect more than one member from an electoral district; see also informal ballots multiple votes. Multiple voting should be distinguished from plural voting which permits a voter to vote in more than one electoral district. Optional preferences - In this database, if a voter under a system of preferential voting must vote for only one candidate, but may rank more than one candidate listed on the ballot paper, this is referred to as preferential voting with optional preferences. Proportional representation - Proportional representation refers to any electoral system which aims to create a representative parliamentary chamber in which the proportion of seats in the assembly matches the pattern of votes cast at an election. Proportional representation can be based on the proportional representation of parties or on the representation of candidates according to their support in terms of preferences expressed by the voters. All systems of proportional representation require elections to be held in multimember districts and the larger the number of members in each electoral district (district magnitude), the more proportional the result. This means that the higher the district magnitude, the easier it is for small parties to be represented in a parliamentary chamber. In this respect, proportional representation is an electoral system which is likely to encourage diversity of representation. The following two kinds of proportional representation have been used to elect members of parliament in Australia. Proportional representation by party list (PR-List) - Party-based variants of proportional representation require the voter to choose between lists of party candidates rather individual candidates. A wide variety of these PR-List systems (some of which provide a limited choice of candidates) have been used in Europe. A list system of proportional representation was used for South Australian Legislative Council from 1973 to 1981, and a modified d'Hondt list system was used for the first two elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory in 1989 and 1992. Proportional representation by the single transferable vote method (PR-STV) - The major candidate-based system of proportional representation is proportional representation by the single transferable vote method (STV). This has been the most common form of proportional representation adopted in Australia. It requires a preferential voting system where voters rank the candidates running for election in the order of the voters' choice. The preferences are counted using a quota to calculate the successful candidates. There are several ways in which the quota can be calculated and a variety of ways of transfering preferences between candidates. Note that the adoption of 'above the line' voting for PR-STV systems used by Australian upper houses has reduced the significance the voter's ability to rank individual candidates (see below). After a trial for the city electoral districts of Hobart and Launceston in 1897 and 1900, proportional representation by STV has been used since 1909 for elections for the Tasmanian House of Assembly, the lower house of the Tasmanian Parliament, where it is often called the Hare-Clark system. It has also been used for the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory for elections since 1995, and is used as the basis for representation in the Commonwealth Senate since 1949, and the legislative councils of New South Wales, South Australian, Victoria and Western Australia. Registration of voters - Registration (enrolment) as a voter is now compulsory for all Australian parliamentary elections (note the partial exception of South Australia, below). With minor qualifications for length of residence and variations for some state and territory elections, all eligible Australian citizens are required to be registered as voters. Comprehensive voter registration can be achieved by surveying households, and by requiring state agencies which compile lists of names and addresses to provided these lists to electoral authorities. For commentary on the context of compulsory registration, see David M Farrell and Ian McAllister, The Australian Electoral System: Origins, Variations and Consequences, pp 121-124 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2006, ISBN 0868408581). Compulsory enrolment was introduced for Australian lower house elections over the period between 1911 and 1930. Single member district - The term single member district is used to indicate that a member of parliament is the only representative elected from an electoral district. This is in contrast with multimember districts where several members are elected from a single district. The lower houses of all Australian parliaments except Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory now use single member districts, but a mixture of single and multimember districts was common in nineteenth and early twentieth century parliaments. The members of a parliamentary chamber can also be elected from a single state wide electoral district (see at large election). This system is currently used for the election of members of the Western Australian Legislative Council. The choice of single member districts as the basis for representation for a parliamentary chamber is a major part of the electoral system and usually has the effect of favouring the representation of large parties. In political science, single member districts are said to have a district magnitude of one. A district magnitude of more than one is needed for proportional representation. State - The Australian federation is composed of six states; New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The states have extensive law making powers and responsibility for the administration of most public services. Until federation in 1901, the states were largely self-governing colonies. This database contains information on parties, elections, governments and representation of all states since 1890 (New South Wales since 1856). There have been no new states added to the federation since 1901 but two self-governing territories of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have been created and now operate for many purposes as if they were states. They lack, however, constitutional guarantees for their governments and their law making power, and the same representation in the Senate as the original states. Turnout - The turnout at election is the proportion of voters on the electoral roll (registered voters) who cast a vote. In this database, turnout is measured as the rate of voting in contested seats, shown as a percentage of registered voters. Uncontested seats - the number of seats in which only one candidate ran for office, and won the seat without any votes having to be cast. Although there have been very few uncontested seats at general elections in Australia since 1980, they were a regular feature of elections in some states until the 1960s. The frequency of uncontested seats and the number of enrolled voters they contain can be a useful indicator of the competitiveness of the party system at a general election. For more information and analysis, see Campbell Sharman, 'Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition: The Australian Case', Party Politics, 9(6) November 2003: 679-702. Election dates: ACT Legislative Assembly are: 4 March 1989, 15 February 1992, 18 February 1995, 21 February 1998, 20 October 2001, 16 October 2004 and 18 October 2008. NSW House of Assembly are: 11 March 1856, 13 January 1858, 8 June 1859, 6 December 1860, 22 November 1864, 3 December 1969, 13 February 1872, 8 December 1874, 24 October 1877, 18 November 1880, 30 November 1880, 15 October 1882, 16 October 1885, 4 February 1887, 1 February 1889, 17 June 1891, 17 July 1894, 24 July 1895, 27 July 1898, 3 July 1901, 6 August 1904, 10 September 1907, 14 October 1910, 6 December 1910, 6 December 1913, 24 March 1917, 20 March 1920, 25 March 1920, 20 May 1925, 8 October 1927, 25 October 1930, 11 June 1932, 11 May 1935, 25 March 1938, 10 May 1941, 27 May 1944, 3 may 1947, 17 June 1950, 14 February 1953, 3 March 1956, 21 March 1959, 3 March 1962, 1 May 1965, 24 February 1968, 13 February 1971, 17 November 1973, 1 May 1976, 7 October 1978, 19 September 1981, 24 March 1984, 19 March 1988, 25 May 1991, 25 March 1995, 27 March 1999, 22 March 2003, 24 March 2007. NT Lower House are: 19 October 1974, 13 August 1977, 7 June 1980, 3 December 1983, 7 March 1987, 27 October 1990, 4 June 1994, 30 August 1997, 18 August 2001, 18 June 2005, 9 August 2008. QLD House of Assembly are: 29 April 1893, 21 March 1896, 11 March 1899, 11 March 1902, 27 August 1904, 18 May 1907, 2 October 1909, 27 April 1912, 22 May 1915, 15 March 1918, 9 October 1920, 12 May 1923, 8 May 1926, 11 May 1929, 11 June 1932, 11 May 1935, 2 April 1938, 29 March 1941, 15 April 1944, 3 May 1947, 29 April 1950, 7 March 1953, 19 May 1956, 3 August 1957, 28 May 1960, 1 June 1963, 28 May 1966, 17 May 1969, 27 May 1972, 7 December 1974, 12 November 1977, 29 November 1980, 22 October 1983, 1 November 1986, 2 December 1989, 19 September 1992, 15 July 1995, 13 June 1998, 17 February 2001, 7 February 2004, 9 September 2006, 21 March 2009. SA House of Assembly are: 9 April 1890, 14 April 1893, 25 April 1896, 29 April 1899, 3 May 1902, 27 May 1905, 3 November 1906, 2 April 1910, 10 February 1912, 27 March 1915, 5 April 1918, 9 April 1921, 5 April 1924, 26 March 1927, 5 April 1930, 8 April 1933, 19 March 1938, 29 March 1941, 29 April 1944, 8 March 1947, 4 March 1950, 7 March 1953, 3 March 1956, 7 March 1959, 3 March 1962, 6 March 1965, 2 March 1968, 30 May 1970, 10 March 1973, 12 July 1975, 17 September 1977, 15 September 1979, 6 November 1982, 7 December 1985, 25 November 1989, 11 December 1993, 11 October 1997, 9 February 2002, 18 March 2006. Tasmanian House of Assembly are: 8 September 1856, 29 June 1861, 6 November 1862, 3 October 1866, 6 September 1871, 5 September 1872, 30 May 1877, 25 May 1882, 26 July 1886, 22 May 1891, 29 December 1893, 20 January 1897, 9 March 1900, 2 April 1903, 29 March 1906, 30 April 1909, 30 April 1912, 23 January 1913, 26 March 1916, 31 May 1919, 10 June 1922, 3 June 1925, 30 May 1928, 9 May 1931, 9 June 1934, 20 February 1937, 13 December 1941, 23 November 1946, 21 August 1948, 6 May 1950, 19 February 1955, 13 October 1956, 2 May 1959, 2 May 1964, 10 May 1969, 22 April 1972, 11 December 1976, 28 July 1979, 15 May 1982, 8 February 1986, 13 May 1989, 1 February 1992, 24 February 1996, 29 August 1998, 20 July 2002, 18 March 2006. VIC House of Assembly are: 20 April 1892, 20 September 1894, 14 October 1897, 1 November 1900, 1 October 1902, 1 June 1904, 14 April 1907, 29 December 1908, 16 November 1911, 26 November 1914, 15 November 1917, 21 October 1920, 30 August 1921, 26 June 1924, 9 April 1927, 30 November 1929, 14 May 1932, 2 March 1935, 2 October 1937, 15 March 1940, 12 June 1943, 10 November 1945, 8 November 1947, 13 May 1950, 5 December 1952, 28 May 1955, 31 May 1958, 15 July 1961, 27 June 1964, 29 April 1967, 30 May 1970, 19 May 1973, 20 March 1976, 5 May 1979, 3 April 1982, 2 March 1985, 1 October 1988, 3 October 1992, 30 March 1996, 18 September 1999, 30 November 2002, 25 November 2006. WA House of Assembly are: 5 December 1890, 14 June 1894, 27 April 1897, 24 April 1901, 28 June 1904, 27 October 1905, 11 September 1908, 3 October 1911, 21 April 1914, 29 September 1917, 12 March 1921, 22 March 1924, 25 March 1927, 12 April 1930, 8 April 1933, 15 February 1936, 18 March 1939, 20 November 1943, 14 March 1947, 25 March 1950, 14 February 1953, 7 April 1956, 21 March 1959, 31 March 1962, 20 February 1965, 23 March 1968, 20 February 1971, 30 March 1974, 19 February 1977, 23 February 1980, 19 February 1983, 8 February 1986, 4 February 1989, 6 February 1993, 14 December 1996, 10 February 2001, 26 February 2005, 6 September 2008. |
