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.
Federalism in Australia
However, the Constitution makes almost no provisions as to the role of the territories within the federation. For example, the Senate was to be composed of equal numbers of Senators from each state. A particularly troublesome matter was whether this excluded territories from participation in the Senate. The issue has now been settled by allocating two seats to each of the mainland territories, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, while each of the states has twelve. Two of the three inhabited external territories, namely Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, are represented by the senators and representatives of the Northern Territory. Norfolk Island, however, has no representatives in the Senate or the House of Representatives, as it has a higher degree of autonomy than any other part of Australia.