This is a list of members of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

from 1983 to 1985. It consisted of ten senators for each of the six

states of Australia State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and two senators representing each of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and 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. ...

. All members were elected at the 1983 election following a

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution ...

of both houses of parliament, rather than the normal case of only half of the state senators facing election. In accordance with section 13 of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, following a double dissolution of Parliament, the terms for senators commence on 1 July preceding the election – i.e., on 1 July 1982. The first five senators elected in each state were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 1988 while the other half were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 1985. Senators took their seats immediately following the election on 5 March 1983. The four territory senators were elected in March 1983 and their terms ended at the dissolution of the House of Representatives, which was December 1984.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Members of the Australian Senate, 1983-1985 Members of Australian parliaments by term 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Senate lists