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 1987 to 1990. It consisted of twelve 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 1987 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, Rotation of senators. following a double dissolution of Parliament, the terms for senators commence on 1 July preceding the election – i.e., on 1 July 1987. The Senate decides which senators were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 1993 and which senators were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 1990. In 1983 the ''Commonwealth Electoral Act'' 1918 had been amended to include provision for a recount of ballot papers to determine the senators to get the long term vacancies. This was the result of a unanimous recommendation from the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform. Despite the unanimous recommendation for reform, and the maintained the previous system where the first six senators elected in each state were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 1993 while the other half were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 1990. The effect of this system was that Democrat Senators Paul McLean and

Janet Powell Janet Frances Powell (née McDonald, 29 September 194230 September 2013) was an Australian politician. Early life and career A native of Nhill, Victoria, Powell was educated at Ballarat Grammar School and Nhill High School. She graduated ...

got a long term instead of National Senators David Brownhill and

Julian McGauran Julian John James McGauran (born 5 March 1957) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the Australian Senate, representing the state of Victoria. Elected as a member of the National Party, he resigned from the Nationals an ...

. There was no net effect on Labor and Liberal in that in South Australia, Labor Senator

Graham Maguire Graham Ross Maguire (born 21 April 1945) is a former Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he was educated at the University of Adelaide and then the Australian National University in Canberra, becoming an economist. He was a ...

got a long term instead of Liberal Senator Robert Hill, while in Queensland, Liberal Senator

Warwick Parer Warwick Raymond Parer, AM (6 April 193614 March 2014) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1984 to 2000. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served as Minister for Resources and Energy in the Howard gov ...

got a long term instead of Labor Senator Gerry Jones. Senators took their seats immediately following the election on 11 July 1987. The four territory senators were elected in July 1987 and their terms ended at the next federal election, which was March 1990.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Members of the Australian Senate, 1987-1990 Members of Australian parliaments by term 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Senate lists