Formed 21 February 1984 Founded 21 February 1984 | Number of employees 2,166 | |
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Jurisdiction Commonwealth of Australia Agency executives Mr Tom Rogers, Electoral CommissionerThe Hon. Peter Heerey QC, ChairpersonMr Brian Pink, Non-judicial member Profiles | ||
Australian electoral commission the power of a piece of paper brand tv
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the federal independent agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal elections and referendums. State and local government elections are overseen by separate Electoral Commissions in each state and territory: New South Wales elections are conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission, in Queensland it is the Electoral Commission of Queensland; in Victoria it is the Victorian Electoral Commission; in South Australia it is the Electoral Commission of South Australia; in Tasmania it is the Tasmanian Electoral Commission; in Western Australia it is the Western Australian Electoral Commission; in the Northern Territory it is the Northern Territory Electoral Commission and in the Australian Capital Territory it is the Australian Capital Territory Electoral Commission.
Contents
- Australian electoral commission the power of a piece of paper brand tv
- Responsibilities
- History and structure
- List of Australian Electoral Commissioners
- References
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to conduct federal elections, by-elections and referendums. The AEC is also responsible for seat boundaries and redistributions, and the maintenance of an up-to-date electoral roll. Under the Joint Roll Arrangements, the AEC maintains the electoral roll for the whole of Australia, which is used by the state and territory Electoral Commissions to conduct their elections. The AEC publishes detailed election results and follows up electors who fail to vote.
The AEC is also responsible for monitoring the activities of registered political parties, including receiving returns from parties of donations and expenditures, and the publication of the information. It also disburses public funding of political parties.
The AEC also plays an electoral education role, aiming to educate citizens about the electoral process by which representatives are elected, and by which the Australian Constitution is changed (referendums). It also plays a role in industrial voting (eg., votes on industrial action).
History and structure
The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1902 set up the framework for the Commonwealth electoral system, which was administered as a branch of the Department of Home Affairs. In 1973, the Australian Electoral Office was created, a name it retained until 21 February 1984 when it became the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), a Commonwealth statutory authority. The AEC is answerable to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters of the Parliament of Australia, and must report on how elections were carried out and the success of elections in general.
The AEC was created by and operates under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. It consists of a chairman (a Judge or a retired Judge of the Federal Court), the Electoral Commissioner and a non-judicial member (usually the Australian Statistician). The Electoral Commissioner has the powers of a Secretary of a Department under the Public Service Act 1999 and the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1998. The Chairperson and the third, non-judicial member both hold their offices on a part-time basis.
AEC has a National Office in Canberra and an office in each State and Territory: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Each House of Representatives electorate has a Divisional Returning Officer responsible for administration of elections within the division. Each State also has an Australian Electoral Officer responsible for administration of Senate elections.
Since the loss of 1,400 ballots during the recount for the 2013 Western Australia Senate election and the subsequent 2014 special election the AEC has been under significant scrutiny.
List of Australian Electoral Commissioners
On 21 February 2014, Ed Killesteyn announced his resignation as Australian Electoral Commissioner, with effect on 4 July 2014. He took personal leave until that date, and Deputy Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers acted in his place, before being appointed to the position.