Members of the Australian Senate, 2016–2019
This is a list of members of the Australian Senate following the 2016 double dissolution election on 2 July 2016. All 76 senators were elected due to the election being the result of a double dissolution, and not an ordinary half-senate election. The terms of half of the senators representing each of the six states of Australia were allocated six-year terms ending on 30 June 2022 with the remainder allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 2019. The terms of senators from the states can only be truncated if another double dissolution election is called. The terms of senators from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory end on the next dissolution of the House of Representatives.
Members of the Australian Senate, 2016–2019
In accordance with section 13 of the Constitution, it was left to the Senate to decide which Senators were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 2022 and which Senators were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 2019. The senate resolved that the first elected six of twelve Senators in each state would serve six-year terms, while the last six elected in each state would serve three-year terms. This was the Senate practice on the seven previous occasions that have required allocation of long and short terms. In 1983 the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform had unanimously recommended an alternative "recount" method to reflect proportional representation, and section 282 of the "Commonwealth Electoral Act" was inserted to provide for a recount on that basis. This alternative method had been supported by both Labor and the Coalition in bipartisan senate resolutions passed in 1998 and 2010.