Rotation of senators after a double dissolution

Following a double dissolution election, Australia's constitution re-establishes the rotation of senators by allowing the senate to allocate half the elected state senators a short (three-year) term. By convention, and as intended by the constitution, the same method has always been used to allocate long and short term seats. However, legislation introduced in 1984 with the intention of changing the convention to a new, fairer method has resulted in two 'legitimate' methods being available. In both of the double dissolution elections that have taken place since, a coalition of two parties has controlled the senate to allocate themselves two extra long term seats by choosing the more favourable method. In both cases, this was the traditional method. Despite two bipartisan senate resolutions to use the new method, it has never been employed.

Senators affected

Year of election	State represented	Party represented	Senator name	Term allocated	Controlling coalition
1987	NSW	Democrats	Paul McLean	6 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	NSW	Nationals	David Brownhill	3 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	VIC	Democrats	Janet Powell	6 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	VIC	Nationals	Julian McGauran	3 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	SA	Labor	Graham Maguire	6 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	SA	Liberal	Robert Hill	3 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	QLD	Liberal	Warwick Parer	6 years	Labor/Democrats
1987	QLD	Labor	Gerry Jones	3 years	Labor/Democrats
2016	NSW	Labor	Deborah O'Neill	6 years	Liberal/Labor
2016	NSW	Australian_Greens	Lee Rhiannon	3 years	Liberal/Labor
2016	VIC	Liberal	Scott Ryan	6 years	Liberal/Labor
2016	VIC	Justice Party	Derryn Hinch	3 years	Liberal/Labor

1984 legislation

Section 13 of the Australian Constitution requires the senate to divide the state senators into two classes following a double dissolution, with 3-year and 6-year terms. This has traditionally been done by allocating longer term seats to the senators elected earliest in the count. The 1984 amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act required the Australian Electoral Commission to conduct a recount for half the seats which was seen as producing a fairer allocation. This alternative allocation has not yet been used. Following double dissolution elections in 1987 and 2016, the first-elected allocation continued to be used, despite Senate resolutions in 1998 and 2010 agreeing to use the new method.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Changes to the Electoral Act in 1984 by the Hawke Government included:

• an independent Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) was established to administer the federal electoral system.
• the number of senators was increased from 64 to 76 (12 from each State and two from each Territory), an increase of 12, and the number of members of the House of Representatives was increased from 125 to 148, an increase of 23.
• the group voting ticket voting system (the original "above-the-line" voting) was introduced.
• the registration of political parties was introduced to permit the printing of party names on ballot papers.
• public funding of election campaigns and disclosure of political donations and electoral expenditure was introduced.
• the compulsory enrolment and voting requirement was extended to cover Indigenous Australians.
• the franchise qualification was changed to Australian citizenship, though British subjects on the roll immediately before 26 January 1984 retained enrolment and voting rights.
• the grace period after an election is called before the electoral rolls are closed was extended to seven days and the time that polling places closed was changed from 8pm to 6pm.
• Section 282 was added, requiring the AEC to conduct a recount following a dissolution under section 57 of the Constitution as if only the elected candidates had been named on the ballot papers, and only half the number were to be elected.<ref>Template:Cite</ref> The constitution requires the Senate to allocate long and short term senate seats, and this provides one way of determining which senators are allocated which terms. As of 2016, this method had not yet been applied,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> despite two bipartisan senate resolutions in favour of using it as well as two double dissolution elections (1987 and 2016).

1987 election

In accordance with section 13 of the Constitution,<ref name="s13">Template:Cite Legislation AU Rotation of senators.</ref> following a double dissolution of Parliament, the terms for Senators commence on 1 July preceding the election – i.e., on 1 July 1987. The Senate decides which senators were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 1993 and which senators were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 1990. In 1983 the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 had been amended to include provision for a recount of ballot papers to determine the senators to get the long term vacancies.<ref>Template:Cite Legislation AU Re-count of Senate votes to determine order of election in other circumstances.</ref> This was the result of a unanimous recommendation from the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite the unanimous recommendation for reform, Labor and the Democrats maintained the previous system where the first six senators elected in each state were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 1993 while the other half were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 1990. The effect of this system was that Democrat Senators Paul McLean and Janet Powell got a long term instead of National Senators David Brownhill and Julian McGauran. There was no net effect on Labor and Liberal in that in South Australia, Labor Senator Graham Maguire got a long term instead of Liberal Senator Robert Hill, while in Queensland, Liberal Senator Warwick Parer got a long term instead of Labor Senator Gerry Jones.<ref>Template:Cite hansard</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Senators took their seats immediately following the election on 11 July 1987. The four territory senators were elected in July 1987 and their terms ended at the next federal election, which was March 1990.

2016 election

In accordance with section 13 of the Constitution,<ref name="s13">Template:Cite Legislation AU Rotation of senators.</ref> it was left to the Senate to decide which Senators were allocated six- and three-year terms. The senate resolved that the first elected six of twelve Senators in each state would serve six-year terms, while the other six elected in each state would serve three-year terms. This had been the Senate practice on all seven previous occasions that required allocation of long and short terms.<ref name="Odgers"/> In 1983 the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform had unanimously recommended an alternative "recount" method to reflect proportional representation,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and section 282 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act was inserted to provide for a recount on that basis.<ref>Template:Cite Legislation AU Re-count of Senate votes to determine order of election in other circumstances.</ref> This alternative method had been supported by both major parties in senate resolutions passed in 1998<ref>Template:Cite hansard</ref> and 2010.<ref name=Odgers>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite hansard</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite the previous resolutions, an agreement between Liberal's Mathias Cormann and Labor's Penny Wong led the Senate to choose the first-elected method again. As a result, in New South Wales, Labor's Deborah O'Neill got a six-year term at the expense of The Greens' Lee Rhiannon getting a three-year term, while in Victoria Liberal's Scott Ryan got a six-year term at the expense of the Justice Party's Derryn Hinch getting a three-year term. Both methods of allocation had the same outcome for all other senators.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>