Antony Green is the ABC's election analyst. His expert views on the nation's 150 electorates will be heard throughout the election campaign on ABC radio and television news, current affairs [..]

Voters who are outside their own electorate on election day but within the same state or Territory can cast an Absent Vote at any polling place. An Absent Vote is a type of Declaration vote

An absolute majority is one where the winning candidate achieves more than half of the vote in the count. An absolute majority is required for victory under preferential voting

An election in a single electorate in between general elections. Between 1901 and 2007, there were 141 by-elections. Of these, 67 were caused by the death of an MP, 68 as a result of resignation, five [..]

One of the conventions of Australian politics is that once an election is called, the government goes into 'caretaker' mode. Ministers continue to administer the Commonwealth, but are not ab [..]

A vacancy in the Senate caused by death or resignation. By-elections are not held for Senate vacancies. Instead, the relevant state or territory appoints a new Senator to fill the vacancy. Usually thi [..]

Formally, any political agreement between two or more parties. In Australia, the term Coalition tends to be used as a proper noun to describe the semi-permanent relationship between the two non-Labor [..]

It is normal shorthand to say that Australia has a system of compulsory voting, but the term is not technically correct. Australians face two compulsions, compulsory enrolment and compulsory attendanc [..]

An amount of money deposited with a returning officer with the lodgement of a nomination to contest election. The deposit is $350 in the House of Representatives and $700 for each candidate in the Sen [..]

The technical term for when a house of the parliament is dissolved for an election. This occurs to the House of Representatives at every election, and for the Senate at a double dissolution. Calling a [..]