This article lists candidates for the 2016 Australian federal election. There were 1,625 candidates in total (994 for the House of Representatives and 631 for the Senate).
Retiring members
Labor
* Anna Burke MP ( Chisholm, Vic) – announced retirement 16 December 2015
*
Laurie Ferguson
Laurie Donald Thomas Ferguson (born 7 July 1952) is a former Australian politician who was an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from March 1990, representing Reid until 2010 and Werriwa until May 2016, both in New ...
MP (
Werriwa
The Division of Werriwa is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The name Werriwa derives from a local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which was located in the division when it was established in 1900. The division ...
, NSW) – announced retirement 12 August 2014
* Gary Gray MP (
Brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
, WA) – announced retirement 16 February 2016
* Alan Griffin MP (
Bruce
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
, Vic) – announced retirement 10 February 2015
*
Jill Hall
Jill Griffiths Hall (born 16 November 1949) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives, from 1998 until 2016, representing the seat of Shortland, New South Wales for the Labor Party. S ...
MP ( Shortland, NSW) announced retirement 28 February 2016
*
Alannah MacTiernan
Alannah Joan Geraldine Cecilia MacTiernan (born 10 January 1953) is an Australian politician. Since 1988, she has served in politics at a federal, state, and local level, including as a minister in the Western Australian state governments of Ge ...
MP (
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, WA) – announced retirement 12 February 2016
*
Melissa Parke
Melissa Parke (born 11 August 1966) is a former Australian Labor Party politician and UN human rights lawyer, who served as Member for the federal electoral Division of Fremantle in the Australian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2016. In ...
MP ( Fremantle, WA) – announced retirement 22 January 2016
*
Bernie Ripoll
Bernard Fernand Ripoll (born 6 January 1966) is a former Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1998 to 2016, representing the Division of Oxley, Queensland. In 2013, Ripoll was made Shadow M ...
MP (
Oxley Oxley may refer to:
Places
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
* Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia
Queensland
*Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia
** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...
, Qld) – announced retirement 14 April 2015
*
Kelvin Thomson
Kelvin John Thomson (born 1 May 1955) is a former Australian politician. From March 1996 to May 2016, Thomson was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Wills in Victoria. In Fe ...
MP (
Wills Wills may refer to:
* Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the pr ...
, Vic) – announced retirement 10 November 2015
* Senator
Joe Ludwig
Joseph William Ludwig (born 21 July 1959) is an Australian barrister and retired politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate for the state of Queensland from July 1999 to May 2016, representing the Australian Labor Party. Ludwig serve ...
(Qld) – announced retirement 9 March 2015
* Senator
Jan McLucas
Jan Elizabeth McLucas (born 27 March 1958) is a former Australian politician. McLucas was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland from 1999 to 2016. McLucas was the Minister for Human Services in the Ru ...
(Qld) – announced retirement 5 April 2015
* Senator
Nova Peris
Nova Maree Peris (born 25 February 1971) is an Aboriginal Australian athlete and former politician. As part of the Australian women's field hockey ( Hockeyroos) team at the 1996 Olympic Games, she was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an ...
Bruce Billson
Bruce Frederick Billson (born 26 January 1966) is a former politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Dunkley in Victoria from 1996 to 2016.Dunkley, Vic) – announced retirement 24 November 2015
* Bronwyn Bishop MP ( Mackellar, NSW) – lost preselection 16 April 2016, delivered valedictory speech 4 May 2016
* Andrew Robb MP ( Goldstein, Vic) – announced retirement 10 February 2016
*
Philip Ruddock
Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943 in Canberra) is an Australian politician and the current mayor of Hornsby Shire.
Ruddock is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and currently the state president of the party's New South W ...
MP ( Berowra, NSW) – announced retirement 8 February 2016
*
Andrew Southcott
Andrew John Southcott (born 15 October 1967) is an Australian politician and medical practitioner. He was the Liberal member for the House of Representatives seat of Boothby from the 1996 election until he stood down at the 2016 election.
...
MP ( Boothby, SA) – announced retirement 4 September 2015
*
Sharman Stone
Sharman Nancy Stone (née Bawden; born 23 April 1951) is a former Australian politician who represented Murray in the Australian House of Representatives between March 1996 and July 2016 as a member of the Liberal Party. She currently serves a ...
MP (
Murray
Murray may refer to:
Businesses
* Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles
* Murrays, an Australian bus company
* Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust
* D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...
, Vic) – announced retirement 26 March 2016
* Senator
Bill Heffernan
William Daniel Heffernan (born 3 March 1943), is an Australian former politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Senate representing the state of New South Wales from September 1996 to May 2016.
Early life and background
Heffernan was bo ...
(NSW) – announced retirement 19 February 2016
National
* John Cobb MP ( Calare, NSW) – announced retirement 27 February 2016
Liberal National
*
Mal Brough
Malcolm Thomas Brough ( ; born 29 December 1961) is a former Australian politician. He represented the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives (1996–2007, 2013–2016) and held ministerial office in the Howard and Turnbull Governments. ...
MP (
Fisher
Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral.
Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to:
Places
Australia
*Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland
*Elect ...
, Qld) – announced retirement 26 February 2016
* Teresa Gambaro MP (
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
, Qld) – announced retirement 9 March 2016
* Ian Macfarlane MP ( Groom, Qld) – announced retirement 15 February 2016
* Bruce Scott MP ( Maranoa, Qld) – announced retirement 3 August 2015
*
Warren Truss
Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Governm ...
MP ( Wide Bay, Qld) – announced retirement 11 February 2016
Palmer United
*
Clive Palmer
Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, the Palmer C ...
MP ( Fairfax, Qld) – announced retirement 4 May 2016, ruled out Senate candidacy 23 May 2016
House of Representatives
Sitting members are listed in bold text. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk (*) is also used.
Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia
Senate
Sitting senators are listed in bold. Since this was a double dissolution election, each state elected twelve senators. Typically, the first six successful candidates from each state are elected to six-year terms, the remaining six to three-year terms, although this can create distorted results in the
single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...
system. Section 282 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act provides for a fairer method of allocation, involving a re-count of the Senate votes cast as if the election had been a half-Senate election for six seats. The long term seats are allocated to those elected in the re-count, and the short-term positions allocated to the remaining elected candidates.
Ultimately, the power to determine terms is given under the Constitution to the Senate. Following the 1987 double dissolution, the Senate chose to ignore the alternative count and instead use the traditional method based on order of election.
Tickets that elected at least one Senator are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are identified by an asterisk (*).
Australian Capital Territory
Two seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending one seat. The
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
was defending one seat.
New South Wales
Twelve seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending four seats. The
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
/
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
Two seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending one seat. The
Country Liberal Party
The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...
Palmer United Party
The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...
was defending one seat, although Senator
Glenn Lazarus
Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and a former Australian Senator. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Lazarus won premie ...
Twelve seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
was defending five seats. The Australian Greens were defending two seats. The
Family First Party
The Family First Party was a conservative political party in Australia which existed from 2002 to 2017. It was founded in South Australia where it enjoyed its greatest electoral support. Since the demise of the Australian Conservatives into wh ...
was defending one seat. The
Nick Xenophon Team
Centre Alliance, formerly known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), is a centrist political party in Australia based in the state of South Australia. It currently has one representative in the Parliament, Rebekha Sharkie in the House of Represe ...
was defending one seat.
Tasmania
Twelve seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending five seats. The
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
was defending four seats. The Australian Greens were defending two seats. The
Palmer United Party
The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...
was defending one seat, although Senator
Jacqui Lambie
Jacquiline Louise Lambie (born 26 February 1971) is an Australian politician who is the leader and founder of the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN). She is a Senator for Tasmania since 2019, and was previously a Senator from 2014 to 2017.
Lambie, an ...
had left the party and contested for her
Jacqui Lambie Network
The Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) is a political party in Australia, formed in May 2015. Bearing the name of its founder, Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, it has served as the political vehicle for the former independent.
The JLN was formed to al ...
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
/
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
Twelve seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
was defending six seats. The Australian Greens were defending two seats. The
Palmer United Party
The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...
was defending one seat.
Summary by party
Beside each party is the number of seats contested by that party in the House of Representatives for each state, as well as an indication of whether the party contested the Senate election in the respective state.
Candidates
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* t ...