Chapter 4 - Elections
for the Senate
The
constitutional framework
The Constitution
provides that “The Senate shall be composed of senators for each State,
directly chosen by the people of the State, voting, until the Parliament
otherwise provides, as one electorate” (s. 7). Each Original State had initially six
members of the Senate and now has twelve. The Parliament is authorised to
increase the number of senators elected by each state subject to the
qualification that “equal representation of the several Original States shall
be maintained and that no Original State shall have less than six senators” (s. 7). Senators
representing the states are elected for terms of six years, half the Senate
retiring at three yearly intervals except in cases of or following simultaneous
dissolution of both Houses (ss 7 and 13; see further below). A state may
not be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate by any alteration of
the Constitution without the consent of the electors of the state (s. 128).
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