This is a list of appointments to the Australian Senate, which is the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

of the

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 ...

, filling casual vacancies, from the Senate's creation in 1901 until the present day. There is a second list of invalid elections and appointments to the Senate.

Appointment procedures

States

Section 15 of the Australian Constitution requires the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

of the relevant state to choose a replacement. This is done in a joint sitting of the upper and lower house (except for

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, which has a unicameral parliament). In the event that the state parliament is not in session, the Governor of the state (acting on the advice of the state's executive council) may appoint a replacement senator, but such an appointment lapses if it is not confirmed by a joint sitting of the parliament within 14 days. Prior to 29 July 1977, the filing of casual vacancies was complex. While senators were elected for a six-year term, people appointed to a casual vacancy only held office until the earlier of the next election for the House of Representatives or the Senate, at which the vacancy would be filled by the electors of the relevant state. It was also an established convention that the state parliament choose (or the governor appoint) a replacement from the same

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

as their predecessor, however this convention was not always followed. As a result of the 1977 referendum:''Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies)'' Act 1977 (Cth)
*a state legislature must replace a senator with a member of the same political party, and *the new senator's term continues until the end of the original senator's term.

Territories

Replacement senators for the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

(ACT) or the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

(NT) are chosen by the relevant territory legislature, under s.44 of the ''

Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 The ''Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918'' is an Act of the Australian Parliament which continues to be the core legislation governing the conduct of elections in Australia, having been amended on numerous occasions since 1918. The Act was introd ...

''. Where the legislature is not in session, the choice is made by the Administrator of the NT (acting on the advice of the territory's executive council) or the Chief Minister of the ACT. The procedure has been in use in the ACT since 1989 and in NT since 1980. Between 1980 and 1989, replacement senators in the ACT were chosen by a joint sitting of both houses of the Federal Parliament, under s.9 of the ''Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973''. Prior to 1980, replacement senators in both the ACT or NT were to be elected in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, though this never occurred.

List of appointments to the Senate

__NOTOC__

List of invalid elections and appointments to the Senate

This is a list of people who have been declared to have been elected or appointed to the Australian Senate that the High Court, sitting as the

Court of Disputed Returns The Court of Disputed Returns is a court, tribunal, or some other body that determines disputes about elections in some common law countries. The court may be known by another name such as the Court of Disputed Elections. In countries that derive ...

, has subsequently declared to be ineligible. Some of these have actually sat in the Senate and participated in proceedings; however, the High Court has held that their presence did not invalidate the proceedings of the Senate.

References