As leader of the opposition before the 2007 election, and now as prime minister, Kevin Rudd promised that a constitutional referendum to introduce fixed House terms would be held on the same day as the next Commonwealth election. The fact that Australian prime ministers have...

The first Australian candidates to contest an election on a clearly espoused environmental policy were members of the United Tasmania Group in the 1972 Tasmanian election. Concerns for the environment saw the emergence in the 1980s of a number of environmental groups, some contested elections...

This paper details House of Representatives by-elections held from 14 September 1901 (Darling Downs) to 6 September 2008 (Lyne and Mayo), a period during which there were 144 by-elections, an average of 3.5 per parliament. The number of nominations has grown over the years from...

This research paper is in two parts. Part one is a narrative discussion of the election campaign and the election outcome. Part two comprises a comprehensive set of statistics, including vote summaries, electoral division details, two-party preferred figures and the party strengths in the new...

A feature of Australia’s federal system is that power over spending and policy-making is becoming increasingly concentrated in the Commonwealth. One major way this power is exercised through specific purpose payments by the Commonwealth to the states in areas such as health and education.Specific purpose...