2016 Australian federal election
The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It was the first double dissolution election since the 1987 election and the first under a new voting system for the Senate that replaced group voting tickets with optional preferential voting.
Image: Malcolm Turnbull PEO (cropped)
Image: Bill Shorten crop
Image: 2009 07 24 Nick Xenophon speaking cropped
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in March 2016
A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives and the Senate. A double dissolution is the only circumstance in which the entire Senate can be dissolved.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visits Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove on 8 May 2016 to request a double dissolution