Federal parliament
The Ballot Papers and the Two Voting Systems
The voting system in Australia is split into two separate systems. One is used for the House of Representatives and the other for the Senate. They each have specialised ballot papers to give each contestant a fair and equal chance. The process in the House of Representatives is much easier and simpler than the senate. This system is called Preferential voting. This is where the voters elect their candidates in order of preference. The ballot papers are designed so they support this. The person with the majority of votes over 51% wins. However, when no one person has the majority; the person with the lowest gets taken out of the running, and their votes distributed according to second preference. This continues until one candidate has over 51% of total votes. This person is then elected. The process in the senate is very different. For the senate, you can vote two ways. The ballot paper includes this and has a black line separating the two. One way is
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They can be present in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. As they do not belong to a party, they are free to decide their own opinion whether to oppose or support a bill. As well as this, the independents can introduce their own bills; a private bill. The independent suggests this bill because they might believe that Parliament is overlooking an issue that they believe is significant. However, these bills do not usually pass as they require the support of the majority. An example of an independent is Andrew Wilke.
The Elected Representatives in my Region The House of Representatives
Ms. Julie Owens- Labour Backbencher representing the Parramatta electorate.
The Senate members
Senator the Hon Dong Camron.
2. Senator Sam Dastyari
3. Senator Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
4. Senator Hon Bill Heffernan
5. Senator David