The Australian electoral system comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Australian Parliament. The system presently has a number of distinctive features including compulsory enrolment, compulsory voting, majority-preferential instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the House of Representatives, and the use of the single transferable vote proportional representation system to elect the upper house, the Senate.
Electoral systems for the legislatures of the individual Australian states and territories are broadly similar to the electoral system used in federal elections in Australia.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
The Sun-Ripened Warm Tomato Party is a joke party that stood candidates in the first Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly election in 1989. It received 1.17 percent of the vote and its preferences went to elect Residents Rally candidates to the Assembly. Party registration laws that allowed this party and other similar parties to stand candidates in the Australian Capital Territory were changed to provide that parties must have 100 members and a constitution before being eligible to register.
The Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party is an Australian political party, they have a number of policies that centre around the re-legalisation of cannabis for personal, medicinal and industrial uses in Australia.
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 4 March 1989. This was the first direct election by voters in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for their own legislative body.
The Liberal Democratic Party is an Australian political party founded in Canberra in 2001. The party espouses smaller government and supports policies that are based on classical liberal and right-libertarian principles, such as lower taxes, opposing restrictions on gun ownership, supporting privatising water utilities, increasing the mining and export of uranium and the relaxation of smoking laws. The LDP is a registered party in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia and is also registered for federal elections with the Australian Electoral Commission. It also has a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, Aaron Stonehouse, two representatives in the Victorian Legislative Council, Tim Quilty and David Limbrick, and elected representatives in some local governments.
The Secular Party of Australia is a minor Australian political party, founded in January 2006 and registered as a federal political party in 2010. It aims to promote secular humanist ethical principles and the separation of church and state in Australia.
The Sustainable Australia Party, formerly the Sustainable Population Party, is an Australian political party. Formed in 2010, it describes itself as being "from the political centre".
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly occurred on Saturday, 20 October 2012. The 11-year incumbent Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, won a fourth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader Zed Seselja.
Australia's First Nations Political Party (AFNPP) was an Australian political party federally registered with the Australian Electoral Commission from 6 January 2011 until 15 August 2015 when it failed to demonstrate evidence of the required 500 party members. The party is also no longer registered at a territory level.
Animal Justice Party (AJP) is a political party in Australia founded in 2009. The party was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 3 May 2011. The party is also registered in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. The AJP is the first political party in Australia formed solely to advance animal welfare issues.
A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 October 2016.
The Voluntary Euthanasia Party was a minor political party in Australia, founded in early 2013 by Corey McCann to advocate for legislative change to allow voluntary euthanasia in Australia. The party's inception was strongly supported by Dr Philip Nitschke, director of Exit International and Richard Mills, then President of Dying with Dignity NSW.
Drug Law Reform Australia is a deregistered political party in Australia. The aims of the party are to create a new regulatory system for illegal drugs in Australia, and influence the political debate around drug use towards decriminalisation and harm minimisation. The party is the outshoot of community groups lobbying elected politicians about the social effects of criminal drug prohibition, such as the community group Family and Friends of Drug Law Reform.
Centre Alliance, formerly known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), is a centrist political party in Australia based in the state of South Australia. It currently has two representatives in the Parliament, one each in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Flux, is a political movement which aims to replace the world's elected legislatures with a new system known as issue-based direct democracy (IBDD). Flux originated in and is most active in Australia, but it is also active internationally, with groups existing in the United States and Brazil.
The 2020 Australian Capital Territory general election was held between 28 September and 17 October 2020 to elect all 25 members of the unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly.
The Australian Sex Party was an Australian political party founded in 2009 in response to concerns over the purported increasing influence of religion in Australian politics. The party was born out of an adult-industry lobby group, the Eros Association. Its leader, Fiona Patten, was formerly the association's CEO.
The Australian Federation Party (AFP), formerly known as the Country Alliance and the Australian Country Party, is an Australian political party. Founded in 2004 by four rural Victorians, the party lodged its initial registration with the Victorian Electoral Commission on 15 August 2005.
