1996 Federal Election Funding

Nov 07, 1996

The Australian Electoral Commission has released figures showing the election funding of parties and candidates in the 1996 Federal Election.

Election funding and financial disclosure was first introduced for the 1984 elections. The scheme has two main parts:

  • public funding of election campaigns
  • disclosure of certain financial details by candidates, registered political parties and other persons and groups. Disclosure is by way of returns which must be submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission and which then become public documents

To be eligible for election funding a candidate or Senate group must win at least 4% of the formal first preference votes in the division contested (House of Representatives) or the State (Senate). The amount to be paid is calculated by multiplying the number of votes won by the current election funding rate. The rates are indexed every six months to increases in the Consumer Price Index. The funding rate for the 1996 federal election was 157.594 cents per House of Representatives and Senate vote. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 1996 Federal Election, Election Funding Tagged With: ,

1996 Federal Election Costs

Nov 07, 1996

The table shows the costs of the 1996 Federal Election.

The figures appear in the Australian Electoral Commission’s 1996 Electoral Pocket Book.

Costs of the 1996 Federal Election
Item/Project Amount – $
Payment of Polling Officials + hire of premises 30,749,000
Advertising 7,193,000
Computer support services 2,782,000
Ballot paper production and associated printing 2,740,000
Forms and equipment 2,544,000
Cardboard polling equipment production 1,732,000
Elector leaflet 1,474,000
Corporate services administration 1,271,000
Certified Lists 1,057,000
Operational administration 919,000
Public information materials and support 889,000
Storage and distribution 761,000
Training of polling officials 717,000
Senate scutiny 578,000
National Tally Room 537,000
Election allowances 364,000
Overseas postal voting 260,000
Scanning centres 256,000
Election statistics and results 144,000
Payment system 118,000
Resources monitoring 91,000
Funding and disclosure 23,000
Prosecutions 3,000
Total 57,202,000



Based on the number of electors at the close of rolls (11,655,190), the estimated expenditure per elector to 30 June 1996 was $4-91.

A final expenditure figure was not available in late 1996, as not all post-election tasks which will be costed to the election (such as non-voter action) had been completed.

Source: Australian Electoral Commission, Electoral Pocket Book 1996

Filed Under: 1996 Federal Election, Election Costs Tagged With: , ,

1996 Federal Election: Two-Party-Preferred Statistics

May 01, 1996

The 1996 election produced the third largest majority ever for a government in the House of Representatives.

The new coalition government led by John Howard won 94 seats in the 148-seat lower house. The ALP won 49 seats, a loss of 31. There were 5 independents elected: 3 ex-Liberal members, 1 ex-Labor member and Pauline Hanson. Hanson won Oxley as a disendorsed Liberal candidate.

The overall swing against the ALP was 5.06%, with every part of the country swinging to the coalition. The largest swing was 8.65% in Queensland. The smallest swing was 1.50% in Victoria.

There were swings against the ALP in 140 electorates. The biggest swing was 12.68% in the Queensland electorate of Fadden. The smallest swing to the coalition was 0.10% in the Victorian electorate of La Trobe.

The ALP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote only in Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

The election reduced the ALP to a “south-east triangle” of seats in Victoria, and New South Wales, the party winning 36 of its 49 seats in those two States, and most of those in Sydney and Melbourne.

The ALP won only 2 seats in Queensland and South Australia, 3 in Western Australia, 3 in Tasmania (the only State where it won a majority of seats) and all 3 seats in the ACT.

Two-Party-Preferred Statistics 1996
House of Representatives – Summary
State ALP Votes ALP % L/NP Votes L/NP % % Swing To ALP
New South Wales 1,734,777
47.44
 1,922,165
52.56
-6.95
Victoria 1,388,142
50.30
 1,371,480
49.70
-1.50
Queensland 765,019
39.78
 1,158,122
60.22
-8.65
Western Australia 437,694
44.00
 557,055
56.00
-2.02
South Australia 391,516
42.74
 524,445
57.26
-4.59
Tasmania 159,853
51.58
 150,057
48.42
-3.07
Australian Capital Territory 105,323
55.46
 84,592
44.54
-5.73
Northern Territory 42,003
49.63
 42,630
50.37
-5.68
Total 5,024,327
46.37
 5,810,546
53.63
-5.06

 

Source: Australian Electoral Commission publications

 

Filed Under: 1996 Federal Election, Election Statistics, Howard, Two-Party-Preferred Tagged With: ,

Electoral Margins Following The 1996 Federal Election

May 01, 1996

The state-by-state tables on this page show the margins in every House of Representatives electorate following the 1996 federal election.

All results tabulated below are March 2, 1996 general election results. The swing required for the incumbent member to lose is based on Australian Electoral Commission figures. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 1996 Federal Election, Election Statistics Tagged With: ,
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