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Chronology Of Australian Federal Parliaments
The term of Parliament of Australia, Australian parliaments is determined by the opening and dissolution (or expiration) of the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The Australian Senate, Senate is not normally dissolved at all, except at a double dissolution, when the entire parliament is dissolved. Parliaments do not have a fixed term. The maximum term permitted by section 28 of the Constitution of Australia is three years, counted from the date the parliament first meets after a general election. However, the Governor-General of Australia, Governor-General, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister, may dissolve the parliament earlier. This has happened in all but one case (the 3rd Parliament 1907–1910). However, the 18th Parliament (1946–49) was only five days short of the full three years, and eight parliaments have exceeded 2 years, 300 days. The average length of completed parliaments since Federation of Aust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of Australia
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the Governor-General of Australia, governor-general), the Australian Senate, Senate and the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives.Constitution of Australia, Section 1 of the Constitution of Australia, section 1. The combination of two elected chambers, in which the members of the Senate represent the States and territories of Australia, states and territories while the members of the House represent electoral divisions according to population, is modelled on the United States Congress. Through both chambers, however, there is a Fusion of powers, fused executive, drawn from the Westminster system.. The upper house, the Senate, consists of 76 members: twelve for each state, and two each for the territories, Northern Terr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1922 Australian Federal Election
The 1922 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes lost its majority. However, the opposition Labor Party led by Matthew Charlton did not take office as the Nationalists sought a coalition with the fledgling Country Party led by Earle Page. The Country Party made Hughes's resignation the price for joining, and Hughes was replaced as Nationalist leader by Stanley Bruce. Future Prime Minister Frank Forde and future opposition leader John Latham both entered parliament at this election. At this election, Hughes as the sitting prime minister made his second seat transfer, in this case, from Bendigo to North Sydney. Hughes had held Bendigo since transferring there from West Sydney at the 1917 election also as the sitting prime minister. Hughes remains the only sitting Prime Ministe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1955 Australian Federal Election
The 1955 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. An early election was called to bring the House and Senate elections back in line; the previous election in 1954 had been House-only. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies increased its majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt. Future Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and future opposition leader Billy Snedden both entered parliament at this election. Results House of Representatives * Ten members were elected unopposed – five Liberal and five Country. This would be the last federal election where any seat attracted only one candidate. Senate Seats changing hands * Bob Joshua contested his seat as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist). See also * Candidates of the Australian federal election, 1955 * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954 Australian Federal Election
The 1954 Australian federal election were held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, but no Senate election took place. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt, despite losing the two-party preferred vote. Although the ALP won the two-party preferred vote, six Coalition seats were uncontested compared to one ALP seat. The Psephos blog makes clear that if all seats had been contested, the Coalition would have recorded a higher primary vote than the ALP and possibly also a higher two-party preferred vote. This was the first federal election that future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam contested as a member of parliament, having entered parliament at the 1952 Werriwa by-election. Though they did not win government, this election was the last time that the Labor party would achieve more than 50% of the primary vote. the only other tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1951 Australian Federal Election
The 1951 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 28 April 1951. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and all 60 seats in the Senate were up for election, due to a double dissolution called after the Senate rejected the Commonwealth Bank Bill. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Ben Chifley with a modestly reduced majority, and secured a majority in the Senate. This was the last time the Labor party ever held a Senate majority. Chifley died just over a month after the election. Issues Although the Coalition had won a comfortable majority in the House in 1949, Labor still had a four-seat majority in the Senate. Chifley thus made it his business to obstruct Menzies's agenda at every opportunity. Realizing this, Menzies sought to call a double dissolution at the first opportunity in hopes of gaining control of both houses. He thought he had his chance in 1950, when he in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1949 Australian Federal Election
The 1949 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1949. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives and 42 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley, was defeated by the opposition Liberal–Country coalition under Robert Menzies. Menzies became prime minister for a second time, his first period having ended in 1941. This election marked the end of the 8-year Curtin-Chifley Labor Government that had been in power since 1941 and started the 23-year Liberal/Country Coalition Government. This was the first time the Liberal party won government at the federal level. The number of MPs in both houses had been increased at the election, and single transferable vote under a proportional voting system had been introduced in the Senate. Though Labor lost government, Labor retained a Senate majority at the election. However, this ended at the 1951 election. With the Senate changes in place, La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1946 Australian Federal Election
The 1946 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 28 September 1946. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley defeated the opposition Liberal–Country coalition, led by Robert Menzies. It was the Liberal Party's first federal election since its creation. This was the first time the Labor party had won a second consecutive election. This was also the last time the Labor party would win a federal election until the 1972 election. The election was held in conjunction with three referendum questions, one of which was carried. Results House of Representatives ---- ;Notes * Independent: Doris Blackburn ( Bourke, Vic.) * In South Australia, the Liberal Party was known as the Liberal and Country League. Senate ---- ;Notes * Of the three senators elected on Liberal–Country joint tickets, two were Liberal Party members and one was a Country ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1943 Australian Federal Election
The 1943 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Prime Minister John Curtin, defeated the opposition Country–UAP coalition led by Arthur Fadden in a landslide. Fadden, the leader of the Country Party, was serving as Leader of the Opposition despite the Country Party holding fewer seats in parliament than the United Australia Party (UAP). He was previously the Prime Minister in August 1941, after he was chosen by the coalition parties to lead the government after the forced resignation of Prime Minister Robert Menzies, the UAP leader. However, he stayed in office for only six weeks before the two independents who held the balance of power joined Labor in voting down his budget. Governor-General Lord Gowrie was reluctant to call an election for a parliament barely a year old, especially considering the internati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1940 Australian Federal Election
The 1940 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Coalition, consisting of the United Australia Party led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin despite losing the overall popular vote. The Coalition won 36 seats, two short of a majority, but formed a government on 28 October 1940 with the support of both independent crossbenchers, Alexander Wilson and Arthur Coles. The four MPs elected to Lang Labor's successor, the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), officially re-joined the ALP just months after the election in February 1941, bringing the ALP to 36 seats. The UAP–Country minority government lasted only until October 1941, when the two independents crossed the floor and allowed the ALP to form a minority government with Curtin as pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1937 Australian Federal Election
The 1937 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent UAP–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin. The election is notable in that the Country Party achieved its highest-ever primary vote in the lower house, thereby winning nearly a quarter of all lower-house seats. At the 1934 election nine seats in New South Wales had been won by Lang Labor. Following the reunion of the two Labor parties in February 1936, these were held by their members as ALP seats at the 1937 election. With the party's wins in Ballaarat and Gwydir (initially at a by-election on 8 March 1937), the ALP had a net gain of 11 seats compared with the previous election. This was the first federal election that future Prime Ministers Harold Holt and Arthur Fadden contested as members of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1934 Australian Federal Election
The 1934 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 15 September 1934. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons formed a minority government, with 33 out of 74 seats in the House. The opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) led by James Scullin saw its share of the primary vote fall to an even lower number than in the 1931 election, due to the Lang Labor split. However, it was able to pick up an extra four seats on preferences and therefore improve on its position. Almost two months after the election, the UAP entered into a coalition with the Country Party, led by Earle Page. Future Prime Ministers Robert Menzies and John McEwen both entered parliament at this election. Results House of Representatives The member for Northern Territory, Adair Blain (independent), had voting rights only for issues affecting the Ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1931 Australian Federal Election
The 1931 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 19 December 1931. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent first-term Australian Labor Party (ALP) government led by Prime Minister James Scullin was defeated in a landslide by the United Australia Party (UAP) led by Joseph Lyons. To date, this is the last time that a sitting government at federal level has been defeated after a single term. The election was held at a time of great social and political upheaval, coming at the peak of the Great Depression in Australia. The UAP had only been formed a few months before the election, when Lyons and a few ALP dissidents joined forces with the Nationalist Party and the Australian Party. Although it was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons became the merged party's leader, with Nationalist leader John Latham as his deputy. Scullin's position eroded further when five left-wing Labor MPs from New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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