In the Parliament of Australia, a casual vacancy arises when a member of either the Senate or the House of Representatives:
In Australia, referendums are public votes held on important issues where the electorate may approve or reject a certain proposal. The term is commonly used in reference to a constitutional referendum which is legally required to make a change to the Constitution of Australia.
The Constitution Alteration (Aviation) Bill 1936, was an unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to extend the Commonwealth legislative power in respect to air navigation and aircraft. It was put to voters for approval in a referendum held on 6 March 1937.
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council who served in the 47th Parliament were elected at the 1978 and 1981 elections. One third of the council faced re-election at each general election, however as a result of the 1981 referendum the maximum terms were extended from a maximum of nine to twelve years. The 14 members who had been indirectly elected in 1976 served an eight-year term and did not face re-election until 1984, the 15 members elected in 1978 did not face re-election until 1988, while the 15 members elected in 1981 did not face re-election until 1992. The President was Johno Johnson.
Referendums concerning the independence of judges and four-year parliamentary terms were put to New South Wales voters on 25 March 1995. The referendums coincided with that year's New South Wales general election. Both changes had the support of the major political parties and were approved by large majorities.
A referendum concerning reform of the New South Wales Legislative Council was put to New South Wales voters on 25 May 1991. The referendum coincided with that year's New South Wales general election. The change passed comfortably. The text of the question was:
Do you approve of the Bill entitled 'A Bill for an Act:
(a) to reduce the number of politicians in the Legislative Council and to reduce their maximum term of office; and
(b) to apply to the Legislative Council the same method of filling casual vacancies as applies to the Senate ?
Bourke was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1880 to 1904, including the towns of Bourke and Cobar. It elected two members simultaneously between 1882 and 1889 increasing to three members until 1894, with each elector being able to vote for as many candidates as there were vacancies.
The United pastoral districts of Moreton, Wide Bay, Burnett and Maranoa, and from 1857 Moreton, Wide Bay, Burnett, Maranoa, Leichhardt and Port Curtis, was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales created in 1856 and consisted of the pastoral districts around the early settlements of Moreton Bay; Wide Bay, near Maryborough; the Burnett River, near Bundaberg; and the Maranoa region of South-western Queensland. In September 1856 the pastoral districts around the Leichhardt River in the Gulf of Carpentaria region and Port Curtis (Gladstone) were added to the electorate. The district was abolished for the 1859 election and replaced by the separate districts of East Moreton, West Moreton, Burnett and Leichhardt, while Maranoa became part of Darling Downs. All of these districts became part of Queensland when it was established as a separate colony in late 1859.
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly who served in the 12th parliament of New South Wales held their seats between from 1885 to 1887. Elections for the twelfth Legislative Assembly were held between 16 and 31 October 1885 with parliament first meeting on 17 November 1985. The Assembly was expanded from 113 to 122 members elected in 37 single member electorates, 24 two member electorates, 7 three member electorate and 4 four member electorates. The parliament had a maximum term of 3 years but was dissolved on 26 January 1886 after 14 months. The Premiers during this parliament were George Dibbs until 22 December 1885, Sir John Robertson until 26 February 1886, Sir Patrick Jennings until 20 January 1887 and Sir Henry Parkes.
A referendum concerning the abolition of the New South Wales Legislative Council was put to New South Wales voters on 29 April 1961. The abolition was specifically rejected by voters. The text of the question was:
Do you approve of the Bill entitled "A Bill for an Act to Abolish the Legislative Council to provide that another Legislative Council shall not be created, constituted or established nor shall any Chamber, Assembly or House, other than the Legislative Assembly, designed to form part of the Legislative Parliament of New South Wales, be created, constituted or established until a bill for the purpose has been approved by the electors in a referendum to amend the Constitution Act, 1902 and certain other Acts; and for purposes connected therewith."
The Electoral district of County of Durham was an electorate of the New South Wales Legislative Council at a time when some of its members were elected and the balance were appointed by the Governor. It was named after Durham County, which lies on the north side of the Hunter River.
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Bankstown on 31 January 1987 following the resignation of sitting Labor party member, Ric Mochalski who was facing charges over the collapse of a property trust. Mochalski gave the reason for his resignation as ill health, however the NSW Parliamentary Superannuation Fund rejected a claim based on ill health following a report from the NSW Chief Medical Officer.
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Goulburn on 13 June 1861 because of the resignation of Charles Walsh. Walsh stated that he had been elected to support the Land Bills, which would open up the free selection of Crown land, and the Legislative Council Bill which would replace the nominated council with an elected body. These bills had not been passed by the Legislative Council and the Premier Charles Cowper had arranged for 21 new members to be appointed to the council. Walsh stated that as the bills "will be carried through both branches of the legislature, and become the law of the land" he therefore resigned as the tasks had been achieved.
A referendum concerning the reduction of the members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly was put to voters on 16 December 1903, in conjunction with the 1903 federal election. The referendum was conducted on the basis of optional preferential voting. However, preferences were not counted, as an overwhelming majority voted to reduce the number of members to 90.
In October 1870 the Committee of Elections and Qualifications conducted a re-count of the 1870 The Hastings by-election, in which Horace Dean had been declared elected over Robert Smith. The Committee declared that Horace Dean was not qualified to be a member and that Robert Smith had been elected.
The 1978 New South Wales referendum was held on 17 June 1978 and contained a single question:
Do you approve of the Bill entitled 'A Bill for an Act to provide for the election of members of the Legislative Council directly by the people'.
A referendum concerning the reform of the New South Wales Legislative Council was put to New South Wales voters on 13 May 1933 and was passed by the voters with a margin of 2.94%. The text of the question was:
Do you approve of the Bill entitled "A Bill to reform the constitution and alter the Powers of the Legislative Council; to reduce and limit the number of Members of the Legislative Council; to reconstitute the Legislative Council in accordance with the reformed constitution; to amend the Constitution Act, 1902, and certain other Acts; and for purposes connected therewith."
There have been 18 referendums in New South Wales, 8 of which concerned proposals to amend the New South Wales Constitution, half of which concerned the Legislative Council. While the Constitution of Australia was adopted after the 1898 and 1899 referendums in all of the proposed states, the constitution of New South Wales, promulgated in 1902, was an Act of the Parliament of New South Wales which could be amended by parliament. Since 1927 the constitution has included provisions that can only be amended following approval in a referendum. 8 of the referendums, including 5 on the sale of alcohol, did not involve any proposed amendment to the constitution. While these have traditionally been called referendums, they could also be described as plebiscites.
The 1843 New South Wales colonial election was held between 15 June and 3 July 1843. This election was for 24 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council and it was conducted in 15 single-member constituencies, two 2-member constituencies and one 5-member constituency, all with a first past the post system. This included 6 members in what became the Colony of Victoria and a single member for the coast north of Newcastle. The Legislative Council was a hybrid system with 36 members, 24 elected, 6 appointed by virtue of their office and 6 nominated. The appointments and elections were for five year terms.
The 1851 New South Wales colonial election was held between 12 and 25 September. This election was for 36 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Council. The 1848 election had been for 5 year terms however the parliament had been reconstituted following the separation of Victoria. At the same time the council was expanded from 36 to 54 members. The Legislative Council was a hybrid system with 18 appointed members and 36 elected. The Port Philip districts had 6 elected members, which meant there were an additional 18 seats. There were 3 new districts for the northern regions of what would later become Queensland, Stanley, Stanley Boroughs and the pastoral districts of Moreton, Wide Bay, Burnett, and Maranoa and 7 new pastoral districts in western New South Wales. The other 8 additional seats were distributed among the nineteen counties of New South Wales.
