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 Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

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

states of Australia The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereign, administrative divisions that are self-governing polities, having ceded some sovereign rights to the f ...

and two senators representing each of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

. 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 dissolutio ...

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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, 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