OK everyone.

Now I will continue our presentation with

1 Election for the Australian Parliament.

Overview:
An election

2 is the process by which people vote to choose representatives in parliament. 3 Elections for the 2 Houses 4 Every Australian aged 18

of Parliament: the House of Representatives and the Senate are held at least every 3 years. and over is required by law to enroll and vote. If a person

5 doesnt vote, he/she must give a valid and sufficient reason,

6 or a penalty will be imposed.

7 the Election for the House of Representatives.

Overview:
- Election -

8 for the House of Representatives is held every 3 years to elect 150 members.

9 Each state or territory is divided into different electoral divisions. Each electoral division 10 contains about the same 11
1 representative for each electoral division.

number of voters. The voters in each electoral division select 1 person to represent them in the House of Representatives, which means - However,

12

each state has different number of voters, so

13 different number of electoral divisions, different

number of representatives. Look at

14 the screen, as you can see, the state 15 Victoria is divided into 37 electoral 16
Tasmania only has 5.

divisions, so it has 37 representatives, while the state

How to vote:
Now, well take a look at

17 how to vote for the candidates. Here is the ballot paper. Its green in color and it has all

names of candidates. Beside each name is a box to write a number. 1 for the first preference. 2 for the second preference. 3 for the third preference, and so on, until every box is numbered.

Counting the votes:

- Whats about formal votes. - First,

18 counting the votes? A candidate is elected if they gain an absolute majority more than 50% of the
st

19 all the 1

preference votes are counted for each candidate.

20 If a candidate gets more than half of the total

first preference votes, he/she will be elected. I will take

21 an example. There are 100 total votes and 3 candidates. 22 candidate A gets more than 50% of total 24
move to the 2nd

Candidate A has 55 votes. Candidate B has 10 and C has 35. We can see that votes, so A is elected. - However,

23

if no candidate has more than half of the votes, what will we do? We will

preference votes. For example

25 , now we have 3 candidates: A, B and C. The total votes of all is 100. Among which,

26 candidate A has 25 votes, 27 B has 30 and 28 C has 45. As can be seen clearly, 29 no candidate gets more than
half of total votes. So

30 , the candidate with the fewest first votes is excluded. We exclude 31 candidate A. And then
st

32 , among 25 votes for candidate A as the 1

preference, there are

33 15 votes for candidate B and 34 10 votes for 35 36

candidate C as the 2nd preference. Now, we add these votes to those that candidate B and C has got already in the 1st preference voting. So now

37 , candidate B has 45 votes and C has 55 votes. We see that 38 candidate C has

more than 50% of total votes, so C is elected. - If there are more candidates to be elected, this process may continue until every seat is filled.

Election for the Senate

39 Election for the Senate.

40 Candidates for the Senate stand for a state or territory. Each state may have different sizes and populations but is 41 Australia has 6 states and 2 territories. 42 Each state has 12 senators

represented by the same number of Senators. and

43 each territory has 2 senators. So 44 there are totally 76 senators. 45 their terms of office. Senators from states 46 have 6 year terms. 47Half of senators from 48 , half senate election is held every 3 years. As to the 4 senators from territories, 49

- Now, we will look at

each state retire every 3 years. So

they have only 3 year term so Representatives. How to vote: - Now, I will show you

50 they are elected every 3 years, together with elections for half senate and the House of

51

how to vote for the Senate candidates. Here is the ballot paper. It is white in color and its

divided into 2 sections. Voters have a choice between 2 ways of voting: above the line or +

52

below the line.

53 A voter may vote for a party above the line by putting the number 1 in only one box, then leave the rest of the paper 54 Or a voter can choose to fill in every box below the line in the order of their preference by writing number 1 beside

blank. By voting this way, voters allow the order of their preference to be determined by the party they vote for. +

their first choice, then number 2, 3, 4 and so on until all the boxes have been numbered. Counting the votes: - To be elected to the Senate, a candidate must needs to be elected. +

55 gain the quota- which is the smallest number of votes a candidate 57 the quota is of

56

In a 1-seat constituency, to be elected, a candidate needs more than half of total votes, so

total votes plus 1.

58 Similarly, in a 2-seat constituency, the quota is 1/3 of total votes plus 1. In a 3 seats constituency, 59 the more seats to be filled, 60 the more chance to be elected, so

the quota is of total votes plus 1. Its clear that

61 the less the quota.

62

you simply divide the total votes by one more than the number of seats to be

filled, and add one vote to the result. + In a general election held every 3 years, 1/7 of votes plus one. - Any candidate - If a candidate

63 each state elects 6 senators, so state senators must win a quota that equal

64 Each territory elects 2 senators, so territory senators need 1/3 of votes plus one.

65 whose first preference votes equal or exceed the quota is elected immediately.
is elected with a surplus votes, which means that the number of his or her first preference votes are

66

higher than the quote),

67

that surplus is transferred to the candidates who are the 2nd choice of voters,

68 to see if any

other candidate would be elected.

- Now I will take an example

69 that give the whole view of counting the votes for the Senate election. 70
but only 2 seats. That means

There are 4 candidates. Here is their 1st preference votes. Tun Anh gets 100 votes. Nga gets 40 votes. Nht gets 20 and the last one, L gains only 17 votes. The total of all is 177 votes. We have 4 candidates, only 2 of them will be elected. Now, to know who are these 2 lucky persons among them, can you guess what to do in the next step? () Yes, thank you. Thats right. Its time for

71 the Quota. But, do you remember how to count the quota? () 72

You have a very good memory. To count the Quota, seats, 74 then adding 1 to the result. The Quota

73

by 1 more than the number of

75

is 60.

Looking back to the first preference votes of 4 candidates. We see that Anh is elected.

76

only Tun Anh gains the quota, so

77 Tun

78 The votes of Tun Anh is even higher than the Quota. We can easily count that his surplus votes is 40. 79 The transfer value is calculated by

This surplus will be transferred to other candidates based on the Transfer value.

dividing the surplus by the total votes. We divide 40 by 100 and we have the transfer value which is 0.4. Now

80 , among 100 votes for Tuan Anh as 1

st

preference, there are 50 votes for Nga, 10 votes for Nhat and 40 for Ly

as 2nd preference. Now these votes votes for each candidate. got. Now

81 are multiplied with the transfer value. 82 The result will be the additional

83 These additional votes then 84 will be added to the existing votes that they have already

85 the new total votes of Nga, Nhat and Ly are 60, 24, and 33 respectively. We can see that 86 Nga has 60

new total votes, equal to the quota, so Nga is another candidate to be elected. Now both the 2 seats have been filled and the process of counting the votes stops here. Do you find the election procedure for the Senate a little bit complicate, long and hard to remember? As to me, when I was preparing for my talk with you today, I met a lot of difficulties in understanding, and then remembering all the steps and terms and how to work on them. Therefore, Ive prepared a short nice clip showing you again the process of voting and counting the votes for the Senate. Its very clear in content and easy to listen to.

87 (video)