Hi. Someone will have to explain how the Senate elections work in Australia. It seems they are for 6 year terms with half each up every 3 years. But it seems that every-time there is a general election for the House half the Senate is up for re-election as well. I get this time it is a double dissolution where everyone in the Senate is up for election. But traditionally how do they square the fact that it it not clear that every House election occurs every 3 years but the Senate term is 6 years. I think that the way it works is that every other House election half the Senators are up for re-election. Did I get that right ?
I imagine that if they were to get out of sync, than the Senate elections would still happen separately.
Yes. That would make sense and match how they doing things in Japan where there is an Upper House election every 3 years no matter what. The problem is I cannot find an example of an Australian Senate election being held by itself without involving the House.
There were three between 1964 and 1970.
There are some complications. A Senate term is supposed to start on 1 July. A half Senate election has to be held no more than one year before the 1 July when the term starts. This can lead to long delays before newly elected Senators take office. Australian Prime Ministers usually have House and half Senate elections on the same day, but the two can get out of sequence so separate elections have to be held.
A double dissolution causes more complications. The notional 3 and 6 year terms resulting from the whole Senate election are calculated from the last 1 July before the election, so the actual terms served are shorter than the notional ones. An extract from Section 13 of the Constitution explains what happens.
