Progressive Atheists Australian Federal Election Campaign – 2016
Campaign Ends: Saturday, 2nd July 2016
Federal Election Candidate Survey 2016 – see results
Posted: 16th May 2016
Writs Issued
The writs have been issued today (Monday, 16th May 2016) for the election by the Governor General and state governors.
Nominations are now open for the 2016 Australian federal election.
The House of Representatives (lower house) has 150 electoral divisions.
They are not exactly the same 150 electoral divisions as the 2013 election.
The Senate (upper house) has 76 senators to elect
* Half (38) will be elected for 6 years (1/7/2016 – 30/6/2022) and
* Half (38) will be elected for 3 years (1/7/2016 – 30/6/2019)
At least 25 sitting members of parliament are not re nominating.
A couple more may be nominating for different seats.
The previous published election timings have been confirmed.
The processing of registration of parties, etcetera, has been halted.
Eighty-one parties were registered in time.
Some registered parties are state branch variations for the same party therefore the number is effectively 57 parties.
The processing of the registration of the new ballot paper logos of parties has also been stopped resulting in some minor parties missing out on logo registration.
Posted: 13th May 2016
High Court: Senate Voting Reform Challenge
The High Court has thrown out a challenge to the new senate voting law targeting preference deals which helped micro parties and independents win senate seats.
Senator Bob Day had challenged the law.
abc.net.au/news/2016-05-13/senate-voting-reform-challenge-thrown-out-by-high-court/7410986
Posted: 8th May 2016
Double Dissolution Called
Today (8th May 2016), the Australian Prime Minister requested, and was granted, a double dissolution for the House and the whole Senate as of 9am, Monday, 9th May 2016; with elections to be held on on 2nd July 2016.
This timing means that a longer than normal campaign will be held.
To achieve this, the government has chosen to wait a week after the dissolution before issuing writs on Monday, 16th May, and has allowed an extra week between the close of the electoral rolls and the close of nominations.
The timetable for the election is –
9 May – both houses of parliament dissolved
16 May – election writs issued
23 May – close of electoral rolls
9 June – close of nominations
14 June – early voting commences
2 July – polling day
8 August – date set for return of writs
http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2016/05/2016-federal-election-called.html
Posted: 21st March 2016
Australian Federal Election 2016
An Australian Federal Election was due later in 2016 but today (21st March 2016) the prime Minister gave the strongest indication so far that he will go to the polls early with a double dissolution.
Although the date of the election is said to be Saturday, 2nd July 2016, that is not the only date that it could be.
However a date that is fixed is the latest date by which both houses of parliament can be disolved (a double dissolution), that is Tuesday, 10th May 2016.
abc.net.au/news/2016-03-21/malcolm-turnbull-brings-budget-forward-threatens-election/7262898
The Progressive Atheists’ Campaign
Progressive Atheists Inc. will be again be running a campaign to:
* To promote and ensure Atheist and secular issues are part of the election debating.
* To assess candidates willingness to achieve Atheist and secular outcomes.
* To assist Atheist candidates that have progressive Atheist ideals.
Candidate Survey
Part of our Election Campaigning is to survey all candidates.
Contact Progressive Atheists to contribute to the selection of survey questions.
Please email your suggestions to <elections@progressiveatheists.org>.
Once we have surveyed the candidates, we will publish:
* Survey Results – Raw Data
* Survey Results – Candidate Comments
You can make a difference.
To support a campaign in your electorate please email our Campaign Team at <elections@progressiveatheists.org> with the name of your electorate.
If you are unable to contribute time then your donation to the expenses of the Campaign will be of great value.
Electoral Authorisation:
Election Campaign Material on this webpage is authorised by Andrew Rawlings on behalf of Progressive Atheists Inc., 25 Banksia Street, Blackburn, Victoria 3130
Disclaimer:
we have links on our website that we think will be of interest to our members but we do not necessarily endorse the views and opinions expressed on those linked web-pages.
