2016 Australian federal election
A double dissolution election was held on 2 July 2016 to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissolution election since the 1987 election and the first under a new voting system for the Senate that replaced group voting tickets with optional preferential voting.
In the 150-seat House of Representatives, the one-term incumbent Coalition government was reelected with a reduced 76 seats, marking the first time since 2004 that a government had been reelected with an absolute majority. Labor picked up a significant number of previously government-held seats for a total of 69 seats, recovering much of what it had lost in its severe defeat of 2013. On the crossbench, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, Katter's Australian Party, and independents Wilkie and McGowan won a seat each. For the first time since federation, a party managed to form government without winning a plurality of seats in the two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria. One re-count was held by the Australian Electoral Commission for the Division of Herbert, confirming that Labor won the seat by 37 votes.
The final outcome in the 76-seat Senate took over four weeks to complete. Announced on 4 August, the results revealed a reduced plurality of 30 seats for the Coalition, 26 for Labor, and a record 20 for crossbenchers including 9 Greens, 4 from One Nation and 3 from the Xenophon Team. Former broadcaster and Justice Party founder Derryn Hinch won a seat, while Jacqui Lambie, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm and Family First's Bob Day retained theirs. The Coalition will require nine additional votes for a Senate majority, an increase of three. Both major parties agreed to allocate six-year terms to the first six senators elected in each state, while the last six would serve three-year terms. Labor and the Coalition each gained a six-year Senator at the expense of Hinch and the Greens, who criticised the major parties for rejecting the "recount" method despite supporting it in two bipartisan senate resolutions in 1998 and 2010.
A number of initially elected senators were declared ineligible a result of the 2017–18 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis, and replaced after recounts.
As of 2025 this is the most recent federal election for both of the major parties to have new leaders when Shorten replaced Kevin Rudd after the 2013 Australian federal election, loss for the latter, as Labor leader after beating Anthony Albanese in the October 2013 Australian Labor Party leadership election a month later, and Turnbull replaced Tony Abbott as Liberal leader and prime minister on 14 September 2015 after a leadership challenge win in the September 2015 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill ten months prior.
Electoral system
use a full-preferential system in one vote, one value single-member seats for the 150-member House of Representatives and in time for this election changed from full-preferential group voting tickets to an optional-preferential single transferable vote system of proportional representation in the 76-member Senate. Voting is compulsory but subject to constitutional constraints. The decision as to the type of election and its date is for the Prime Minister, who advises the Governor-General to set the process in motion by dissolving the lower or both houses and issuing writs for election.Election date
Section 13 of the constitution requires that in half-Senate elections the election of state senators must take place within one year before the places become vacant. Since the normal terms of half the senators would have ended on 30 June 2017, the writs for a half-Senate election could not be issued earlier than 1 July 2016, and the earliest possible date for a simultaneous House/half-Senate election would have been 6 August 2016. There is no constitutional requirement for simultaneous elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives, and there are precedents for separate elections; however, governments and the electorate have long preferred that elections for the two Houses take place simultaneously.A House-only election can be called at any time during a parliamentary term. Whether held simultaneously with a Senate election or separately, an election for the House of Representatives was required to have been held on or before 14 January 2017, which is calculated under provisions of the constitution and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. Section 28 of the Constitution of Australia provides that the term of a House expires three years from the first sitting of the House, unless it is dissolved earlier. The previous federal election was held on 7 September 2013. The 44th Parliament of Australia opened on 12 November 2013 and its term would have expired on 11 November 2016. Writs for an election can be issued up to ten days after a dissolution or expiry of the House. Up to 27 days can be allowed for nominations, and the actual election can be set for a maximum of 31 days after close of nominations, resulting in the latest possible House of Representatives election date of Saturday, 14 January 2017.
A double dissolution cannot take place within six months before the date of the expiry of the House of Representatives. That meant that a double dissolution could not be granted after 11 May 2016. Allowing for the same stages indicated above, the last possible date for a double dissolution election was 16 July 2016.
On 2 November 2015, Prime Minister Turnbull stated: "I would say around September–October is when you should expect the next election to be." However, in December 2015, ABC News reported that some "senior Liberal MPs" had been seeking an election as early as March 2016. An election held at this time would have required a separate half-Senate election to be held in late 2016 or early 2017.
On 21 March 2016, Turnbull announced that the parliament would be recalled for both houses to sit on 18 April to consider for a third time the bills to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Turnbull also said that if the Senate failed to pass the bill, then there would be a double dissolution of parliament and an election would be held on 2 July. The delivery of the federal budget was also brought forward from 10 May to 3 May. On 18 April, the Senate once again rejected the bills to reinstate the ABCC. On 8 May Malcolm Turnbull attended Government House to advise the Governor-General to issue the writs for a double dissolution on 9 May. This confirmed the date of the election; 2 July 2016. In the weeks after 8 May, there were 132,000 additions to the electoral roll, and a total of 687,000 enrolment transactions, and it was estimated that 95% of eligible Australians were enrolled for the election, with a participation rate of those under 24 of 86.7%.
Double dissolution triggers
By 18 April 2016 there were four bills that met the requirements of Section 57 of the constitution for a double dissolution.| Second rejection by the Senate | Bill |
| 18 June 2014 | Clean Energy Finance Corporation|Clean Energy Finance Corporation Bill 2013 |
| 17 August 2015 | Fair Work Act 2009|Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014 |
| 18 April 2016 | Building and Construction Industry Bill 2013 |
| 18 April 2016 | Building and Construction Industry Bill 2013 |
On 19 April the Prime Minister confirmed that, following the 2016 federal budget set for 3 May, he would advise the Governor-General to call a double dissolution election on Saturday 2 July. Any or all of these four bills could have been cited in his advice. On Sunday 8 May 2016, Turnbull visited Government House and formally advised Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove to dissolve both Houses of Parliament and issue the writs for a double dissolution election to be held on 2 July 2016. The advice was based on Parliament's inability to pass the following three bills:
- Building and Construction Industry Bill 2013
- Building and Construction Industry Bill 2013
- Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014.
Constitutional and legal provisions
The constitutional and legal provisions which impacted on the choice of election dates include:- Section 12 of the Constitution provides that: "The Governor of any State may cause writs to be issued for the election of Senators for the State".
- Section 13 of the Constitution provides that the election of Senators shall be held in the period of twelve months before the places become vacant.
- Section 28 of the Constitution provides that: "Every House of Representatives shall continue for three years from the first sitting of the House, and no longer, but may be sooner dissolved by the Governor-General." Since the 44th Parliament opened on 12 November 2013, it would have expired on 11 November 2016.
- Section 32 of the Constitution provides that: "The writs shall be issued within ten days from the expiry of a House of Representatives or from the proclamation of a dissolution thereof." Ten days after 11 November 2016 is 21 November 2016.
- Section 156 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 provides that: "The date fixed for the nomination of the candidates shall not be less than 10 days nor more than 27 days after the date of the writ". Twenty-seven days after 21 November 2016 is 18 December 2016.
- Section 157 of the CEA provides that: "The date fixed for the polling shall not be less than 23 days nor more than 31 days after the date of nomination". Thirty-one days after 18 December 2016 is 18 January 2017, a Wednesday.
- Section 158 of the CEA provides that: "The day fixed for the polling shall be a Saturday". The Saturday before 18 January 2017 is 14 January 2017. This was therefore the latest possible date for the election. However, it was unlikely that an election would have been called for this date, as schools would be closed for summer holidays at this time. Governments tend to avoid holding elections during school holidays, since schools are often used as polling places.