Nominations figures

At the close of nominations at 12 noon on Thursday 10 September 1998 a total of 1435 people had nominated as candidates in the 1998 federal election. This figure includes 329 candidates for the Senate and 1106 candidates for the House of Representatives.

The tables on pages 2 and 3 of this Newsfile outline the number of nominations by State and Territory. The tables also detail the number of candidates from each registered political party and the number of male and female candidates.

Full lists of nominations showing candidates’ names and contact details are available from any AEC office and on the AEC’s internet home page www.aec.gov.au.

Who can nominate?

A person cannot be elected unless they have been nominated as a candidate for election.

To qualify as a candidate for the Senate or the House of Representatives, a person must be:

• at least 18 years old;
• an Australian citizen; and
• an elector or qualified to be an elector.

Nominations can only be accepted after the writ for an election has been issued and must be received by noon on the closing day for nominations. Nominations cannot be withdrawn after the closing date.

Senate candidates must pay a $700 nomination deposit and House of Representatives candidates must pay $350. These deposits are returned if a candidate gains four percent or more of the total formal first preference vote, or if they are in a group of Senate candidates which poll four per cent or more.

Further information on nominating is in the Candidates’ Handbook available from any AEC office and on the AEC homepage at www.aec.gov.au.

Nominations by state/territory

SENATE State/Territory
	Seats 1998 1996	1998	1996	1993
NSW	6	69	63	66
VIC	6	63	44	51
QLD	6	57	48	42
WA	6	45	29	33
SA	6	35	31	36
TAS	6	32	19	20
ACT	2	17	14	14
NT	2	11	7	4
TOTAL 40	40	329	255	266

..

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES State/Territory
	Seats 1998 1996	1998	1996	1993
NSW	50	389	319	309
VIC	37	289	214	213
QLD	27	192	180	206
WA	14	109	80	85
SA	12	78	74	90
TAS	5	27	23	23
ACT	2	15	13	15
NT	1	7	5	2
TOTAL 148		1106	908	943

*The 1993, 1996 and 1998 polls are all half Senate and full House of Representative elections. Redistributions of electoral boundaries were held in 1992, 1994 and 1997.

SENATE NOMINATIONS

Party	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F T
ABR	- -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 - 2
ACS	2 -	1 -	2 -	2 -	- -	2 -	2 -	- -	11 - 11
ALP	3 1	2 2	1 2	3 3	3 -	2 1	1 1	1 1	16 11 27
ARP	- -	2 -	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 1 4
ASP	- -	4 -	- -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	6 - 6
AWP	- -	- 2	- 2	- -	- -	- 2	- 2	- -	- 8 8
CEC	2 1	2 -	2 -	1 1	2 -	- -	- -	- -	9 2 11
CLP	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 1	1 1 2
CTA	4 1	2 -	2 1	2 -	2 -	1 1	1 -	- -	14 3 17
DEM	3 1	3 1	2 1	2 1	2 2	2 1	2 -	2 -	18 7 25
DLP	- -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 - 2
DSL	1 1	- 2	1 1	1 1	- 2	1 1	- -	- -	4 8 12
FLR	- -	1 -	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 1 3
FST	2 -	2 -	2 -	- -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	8 - 8
GRN	1 3	1 2	2 1	- -	1 1	1 1	- 2	2 -	8 10 18
GWA	- -	- -	- -	- 3	- -	- -	- -	- -	- 3 3
HAN	3 -	1 1	3 2	3 -	2 1	3 -	1 1	1 1	17 6 23
HAR	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 -	- -	- -	1 - 1
IND	8 -	4 -	4 1	1 -	2 -	2 1	2 -	1 -	24 2 26
LP	2 1	2 3	3 1	3 1	2 2	4 -	- 2	- -	16 10 26
NAN	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 1 2
NDP	1 1	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 1 4
NLP	1 1	2 1	1 1	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	5 4 9
NP	1 -	1 -	2 1	1 1	2 -	- -	- -	- -	7 2 9
OAP	- -	- -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 - 2
QF	- -	- -	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 1 2
RARI	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 - 2
RPA	- -	- -	- -	2 -	- -	- 2	- -	- -	2 2 4
SEP	1 1	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 2 4
TFP	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 1	- -	- -	2 1 3
TPS	- -	- -	- -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 - 2
UNI	4 1	5 3	2 -	2 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	13 5 18
OTHER*	11 2	3 -	5 1	2 2	3 4	- -	- -	- -	24 9 33
Total	69	63	57	45	35	32	17	11	228 101 329
Males	53	45	39	30	23	21	9	8
Females	16	18	18	15	12	11	8	3
Candidates	69	63	57	45	35	32	17	11

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOMINATIONS

Party	NSW	VIC	QLD	WA	SA	TAS	ACT	NT	Total
	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F	M F T
ACH	- 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	0 1 1
ACS	4 -	3 1	1 -	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	10 1 11
ALP	31 19	25 12	18 9	10 4	7 5	4 1	1 1	1 -	97 51 148
ARP	- -	3 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 - 3
ASP	- -	3 2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 2 5
AWP	- -	- -	- 2	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	0 2 2
CEC	5 2	5 1	4 2	6 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	20 5 25
CLP	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 -	1 0 1
CTA	21 6	3 1	7 2	7 1	2 -	- -	- -	- -	40 10 50
DEM	37 13	29 8	16 11	10 4	8 4	4 1	1 1	1 -	106 42 148
DSL	4 3	1 -	1 -	1 -	- -	- -	- 2	- 1	7 6 13
EFF	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 -	- -	- -	- -	1 - 1
FLR	- -	- -	3 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 - 3
FST	2 -	4 2	1 -	3 2	1 1	- -	- -	- -	11 5 16
GRN	23 22	15 12	14 13	- -	1 1	2 3	1 1	- 1	56 53 109
GWA	- -	- -	- -	10 4	- -	- -	- -	- -	10 4 14
HAN	45 5	29 1	20 7	12 2	9 3	3 -	2 -	1 -	121 18 139
IND	33 5	25 3	22 7	6 1	8 3	- -	- 1	1 -	95 20 115
LP	35 9	30 5	13 9	11 3	8 4	4 1	2 -	- -	103 31 134
NAN	2 2	- -	- -	- -		- -	- -	- -	2 2 4
NLP	10 7	19 8	- -	- 4	6 2	1 -	1 1	- -	37 22 59
NP	10 2	3 -	9 1	2 2	3 -	- -	- -	- -	27 5 32
PLP	- -	1 1	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	1 1 2
RPA	2 -	1 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 - 3
SEP	2 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	2 - 2
TFP	- -	- -	- -	- -	- -	3 -	- -	- -	3 - 3
UNI	17 8	21 10	- -	1 -	- -	- -	- -	- -	39 18 57
OTHER*	2 -	2 -	- -	1 -	1 -	- -	- -	- -	6 - 6
Total	389	289	192	109	78	27	15	7	807 299 1106
Males	285	222	129	82	55	21	8	5
Females	104	67	63	27	23	6	7	2
Candidates	389	289	192	109	78	27	15	7

*OTHER represents candidates who are non-affiliated and have chosen not to have ‘Independent’ printed beside their name on the ballot paper.

PARTY ABBREVIATIONS

Abolish Child Support/Family Court Party	ACS
Australia First Party	FST
Australian Bill of Rights Group	ABR
Australian Democrats	DEM
Australian Greens	GRN
Australian Labor Party (ALP)	ALP
Australian Reform Party	ARP
Australian Shooters Party	ASP
Australian Women’s Party	AWP
Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)	CTA
Citizens Electoral Council of Australia	CEC
Common Cause - No Aircraft Noise	NAN
CTA Child Protection (Elaine Nile) Party	ACH
Democratic Labor Party (DLP) of Australia	DLP
Democratic Socialist Electoral League	DSL
Family Law Reform Party	FLR
Independent EFF	EFF
Independent	IND
Liberal Party of Australia	LP
National Party of Australia	NP
Natural Law Party	NLP
Northern Territory Country Liberal Party	CLP
Nuclear Disarmament Party of Australia	NDP
One Australia Party	OAP
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation	HAN
Progressive Labor Party	PLP
Queensland First	QF
Reclaim Australia: Reduce Immigration	RARI
Republican Party of Australia	RPA
Socialist Equality Party	SEP
Tasmania First Party	TFP
Tasmanian Independent Senator	HAR
Brian Harradine Group
Taxi Operators Political Service (Oceania)	TPS
The Greens (WA) Inc	GWA
Unity - Say No To Hanson	UNI

Draw for positions on the ballot paper

The order in which candidates’ names appear on the ballot paper is determined by a random draw, which takes place immediately following the declaration of nominations.

The declaration of nominations takes place 24 hours after the close of nominations.

A system of double randomisation is used for determining the order of groups and ungrouped candidates on Senate ballot papers and the order of candidates on House of Representatives ballot papers.

A separate draw is conducted for the Senate in each State and Territory and for every House of Representatives Division.

All candidates, media and the public are welcome to attend the draws conducted to determine the order of names on the relevant ballot paper.

Senate draw

The Australian Electoral Officer (AEO) declares the nominations received for the Senate in their State or Territory at 12 noon on the day after the nominations for the election close. Following the declaration, the AEO conducts the draw for positions on the ballot paper. This is usually conducted in the AEC Head Office in the relevant State or Territory.

In Senate elections, the names of candidates included in groups are placed on the ballot paper before the names of ungrouped candidates.

For the purposes of the Senate draw and ballot paper printing, incumbent Senators who have given written notice of an intention to lodge a voting ticket are treated as a group.

The AEO determines the order of groups and ungrouped candidates on the ballot paper by conducting a public draw for positions. This draw is conducted in two parts, with each part consisting of two draws.

In the first part, the first draw allocates a number to each group and the second draw determines the order in which each group appears on the ballot.

This is followed by two draws for ungrouped candidates, with the first draw allocating a number to each ungrouped candidate and the second draw determines the order in which each ungrouped candidate appears on the ballot paper.

The Senate draws are conducted in this order because groups appear before ungrouped candidates on the ballot paper.

House of Representatives draw

The Divisional Returning Officer (DRO) declares the House of Representatives nominations received for their Division at 12 noon on the day after the nominations for the election close. Following the declaration, the DRO conducts the double randomisation draw in the Divisional Office.

The first draw assigns a number to each candidate and the second draw determines the order in which each candidate appears on the ballot paper.

How is the draw done?

A number of small wooden balls equal to the number of candidates (or in the case of the Senate, groups), are marked with different numbers and placed in a container large enough for all the balls to move freely when it is rotated.

The container is rotated by the AEC officer in charge who then invites any other person present to rotate the container.

A person is blindfolded and selects the balls one by one and passes them to another person who reads out the number. As the numbers are called, they are allocated to the candidates or groups. That is, the first number called is written against the first candidate or group on the list and so the order of numbers in the list is the order in which they are called out.

The balls are then replaced in the container. Again, the container is rotated and any person present may rotate it.

The blindfolded person once again selects the balls one by one and passes them to another person who reads out the number. The order that these numbers are drawn determines the order of names on the ballot paper.

What happens after the draw?

After the draw the AEC immediately begins printing ballot papers for the Senate and House of Representatives.

Once the ballot papers are printed, voters who will be away on polling day are able to begin voting in the election by casting a pre-poll or postal vote.

AEC contacts

Central Office

Electoral Commissioner:
Bill Gray (02) 6271 4400

Deputy Electoral Commissioner:
Andy Becker (02) 6271 4410

Director, Information:
Brien Hallett (02) 6271 4415

Assistant Directors, Information:
Bernadette O’Meara (02) 6271 4548
Silvana Puizina(02) 6271 4431

Editor, Newsfile:
Margaret Meneghel (02) 6271 4505

Nominations Overview

•	A total of 1435 candiates have nominated for the 1998 federal election.
•	272 more candidates have nominated than for the last election.
•	At this election 400 female candidates and 1035 males have nominated. At the 1996 election 342 female candidates and 821 male candidates nominated.
•	34 parties are fielding candidates at this election. This compares with 31 parties at the last election.

STATE /TERRITORIES HEAD OFFICES

The administration of federal elections in each State and Territory is under the control of the Australian Electoral Officer (AEO) for that State or Territory. An AEO for the ACT is temporarily appointed for each election.

AEOs may be contacted on the following numbers.

New South Wales	Frances Howat Ph. (02) 9375 6333 Fx. (02) 9281 9384
Victoria	David Muffet Ph. (03) 9285 7171 Fx. (03) 9285 7178
Queensland	Bob Longland Ph. (07) 3834 3400 Fx. (07) 3831 7223
Western Australia	Andrew Moyes Ph. (08) 9470 7299 Fx. (08) 9472 3551
South Australia	Geoff Halsey Ph. (08) 8237 6555 Fx. (08) 8231 2664
Tasmania	Nick Tall Ph. (03) 6235 0500 Fx. (03) 6234 4268
Northern Territory	Kerry Heisner Ph. (08) 8981 1477 Fx. (08) 8981 7964
Australian Capital Territory	William Hogan Ph. (02) 6271 497 Fx. (02) 6271 560

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