who gets to vote at elections in australia
Electoral system of Australia Australian citizens over 18 years of age are required to enroll if they have lived at their current address for at least one month. Special rules apply to citizens going or living outside the country,[3] to military personnel and to prisoners, all of which do not reside at their normal residential address for electoral purposes. Homeless people or those otherwise with no fixed address have a particular problem with registration, not having a current address to give. Enrolment has been compulsory for federal elections since 1912. Enrolment is optional for 16 or 17 year olds but they cannot vote until they turn 18.[4] Enrolment is voluntary for residents of Norfolk Island. Residents in Australia who had been enrolled as British subjects in 1984 (ie., are non-citizens) can continue to be enrolled. (These comprise about 9% of the electoral roll.)
Australian Senate The Australian Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I, Part II of the Australian Constitution. There are a total of 76 senators: 12 senators are elected from each of the six states (regardless of population) and two from each of the two autonomous internal territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.