Lyla Lindsey
Australia's House of Representatives is comprised of 150 electorates, also known as seats. The number of seats representing each state in the House of Representatives must be as nearly as practicable, twice the number of senators. The Constitution of Australia guarantees each state a minimum of five seats, with Tasmania having more seats than it would otherwise be entitled to. At the 2022 Australian federal election, there were 151 divisions: 47 in New South Wales, 39 in Victoria, 30 in Queensland, 15 in Western Australia, 10 in South Australia, 5 in Tasmania, 3 in the Australian Capital Territory, and 2 in the Northern Territory.
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What You'll Learn
New South Wales: 47 seats
New South Wales holds 47 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, making it the state with the highest number of seats. The number of seats in the House of Representatives, or electorates, is not fixed and can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions, which are required regularly. Each state is guaranteed a minimum of five seats, and electorates are apportioned among the states in proportion to their respective populations.
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. The predominant colour of the furnishings in the House of Representatives is green, a reflection of the United Kingdom's House of Commons, though the colour is lightened to reflect the colour of eucalyptus tree leaves. The seating arrangement of the crossbench is also unique, with a horse-shoe shape, a hybrid of the oppositional arrangements of the House of Commons and the hemicycle arrangements preferred in Europe and the United States.
The House of Representatives in Australia was established by the Constitution of Australia in 1900. The total number of seats representing states in the House of Representatives, according to the Constitution, should be "as nearly as practicable, twice the number of the senators". This requirement was included to maintain the power of the Senate relative to the House of Representatives and to ensure the influence of the Senate in the case of a joint sitting after a double dissolution.
The system for electing senators has changed several times since Federation. The original arrangement involved a first-past-the-post and block voting system, which was replaced by preferential block voting in 1919. In 1948, single transferable votes with proportional representation on a state-by-state basis became the method for electing senators.
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Victoria: 39 seats
Victoria is a state in Australia with a population of around 6.5 million people. The state is represented in the Australian Parliament by 39 members of the House of Representatives, also known as Members of Parliament (MPs).
Victoria's 39 seats in the House of Representatives are determined by the number of enrolled voters in the state, with each division or electorate representing a geographic district. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is responsible for determining the number of members of the House of Representatives that each state is entitled to, based on the number of enrolled voters. The boundaries of electorates are redrawn from time to time, usually at least once every seven years, to ensure that the number of enrolled voters in each division does not vary by more than 10% from the state average.
The House of Representatives, also known as the lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Australian Parliament, the other being the Senate. The total number of seats in the House of Representatives is determined by the Constitution, which specifies that it should be "as nearly as practicable, twice the number of senators". At present, there are 76 senators, making the total number of seats in the House of Representatives 150. However, at the 2022 Australian federal election, there were 151 divisions due to changes in electoral redistributions.
Victoria's 39 seats in the House of Representatives are held by MPs from different political parties, including the Australian Labor Party, the Coalition parties, and potentially independent or minor party members. The members are elected by the voters of their electorate, and they represent the interests and concerns of their constituents in Parliament.
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Queensland: 30 seats
In Australia, the House of Representatives is made up of 150 electorates, also known as seats. These are distributed among the states in proportion to their respective populations. In 2022, there were 151 divisions, with Queensland holding 30 of these seats.
The number of seats in the House of Representatives is not fixed and can vary with boundary changes. These changes are made by a Redistribution Committee and are required on a regular basis, at least once every seven years, or when a state's entitlement to the number of members changes. The electorates are single-member districts, with each division electing one member using full-preferential voting.
Queensland's 30 seats in the House of Representatives are represented by members elected by the voters of their respective electorates. The names of the divisions are often derived from prominent historical figures, such as former politicians, explorers, artists, and engineers.
It's worth noting that the Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Australia, operates alongside the House of Representatives. The Senate has 76 senators, with 12 senators representing each of the six states and two senators representing each of the two territories.
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Western Australia: 15 seats
Western Australia held 15 seats in the Australian House of Representatives as of the 2022 federal election. The number of seats in the House of Representatives is not fixed and can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions, which are required regularly. The Constitution of Australia specifies that the total number of members of the Australian House of Representatives should be "as nearly as practicable" twice as many as the number of members of the Australian Senate. This requirement is known as the "nexus provision" and was included in the Constitution to maintain the power of the Senate relative to the House of Representatives.
Each state is guaranteed a minimum of five seats in the Constitution, which has resulted in Tasmania having more seats than it would otherwise be entitled to based on its population. The number of enrolled voters in each division cannot vary by more than 10% from the average across a state or territory, and the number of voters cannot vary by more than 3.5% from the projected average enrolment 3.5 years into the future. However, larger seats like Cowper in New South Wales contain 80% more electors than smaller seats like Solomon in the Northern Territory.
The House of Representatives chamber is designed to seat up to 172 members, with a provision for an ultimate total of 240 to be accommodated. The members of the House of Representatives are elected from single-member electorates (geographic districts, commonly referred to as "seats"), and each division elects one member using full-preferential voting. This voting system was implemented after the 1918 Swan by-election, which Labor unexpectedly won when two conservative parties split the conservative vote.
The system for electing senators has changed several times since Federation. The original arrangement involved a first-past-the-post and block voting system, which was replaced in 1919 by preferential block voting. In 1948, single transferable vote with proportional representation on a state-by-state basis became the method for electing senators, and the number of senators was expanded from 36 to 60. The latest expansion in Senate numbers took place in 1984, resulting in a total of 76 senators.
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Tasmania: 5 seats
Tasmania holds five seats in the Australian House of Representatives. This is the minimum number of seats guaranteed to each state by the Australian Constitution. The Constitution also requires that the number of members of the House of Representatives be “as nearly as practicable, twice the number of senators”. This is known as the "nexus provision". The requirement was included in the Constitution to maintain the power of the Senate relative to the House of Representatives.
Tasmania's five seats represent single-member electorates, or geographic districts, which are officially referred to as "divisions of the Australian House of Representatives". The boundaries of these electorates are redrawn from time to time, at least once every seven years, or when the state's entitlement to the number of members of the House of Representatives changes. Redistributions within a state are based on the number of enrolled voters, rather than the total population.
The House of Representatives chamber is designed to seat up to 172 members, with provision for an ultimate total of 240 to be accommodated. The number of members is not fixed and can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions, which are required regularly. For example, the number of members increased from 125 to 148 prior to the 1984 election, and stood at 151 for the 2022 Australian federal election.
The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the voters of their electorate. In Australia, the two main candidates in the election are usually from the Coalition parties and the Australian Labor Party.
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Frequently asked questions
At the 2022 Australian federal election, there were 47 divisions or seats in New South Wales, 39 in Victoria, 30 in Queensland, 15 in Western Australia, 10 in South Australia, 5 in Tasmania, 3 in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and 2 in the Northern Territory.
The divisions or seats of the House of Representatives are unusual in that they are not numbered or named after geographical features. Instead, they are named after prominent historical figures, such as former politicians, explorers, artists, and engineers.
There are 76 senators and 150 members of the House of Representatives, making a total of 226 seats in the Australian Parliament.
The number of seats in the House of Representatives can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions, which are required regularly. Redistributions within a state are based on the number of enrolled voters rather than the total population.
The Australian Senate originally had 36 seats, which was later expanded to 60 in 1948 to even up the balance between the two major parties in the chamber. The latest expansion took place in 1984, increasing the number of senators from each state from 10 to 12, resulting in a total of 76 senators.
