ACT and Northern Territory would get more senators
Senator David Pocock wants the two mainland territories to get half as many senators as a state. It would change how hundreds of thousands of voters in the territories are heard in Parliament in Canberra.
Official name: Electoral Legislation Amendment (Fair Territory Representation) Bill 2024
- The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory each have two senators now.
- This bill would lift that to half the number a state gets.
- Three senators from each territory would be elected at each federal election.
- Territory senators would serve six-year terms, the same as state senators.
- It is a private bill from Senator David Pocock, meaning the government did not bring it. It has not been voted on.
Who it affects
- Voters in the Australian Capital Territory: They would elect more senators to speak for them in the Senate.
- Voters in the Northern Territory: They would also elect more senators, three at each federal election.
- Territory senators: They would sit for six years, so they would no longer face voters at every federal election.
- Voters in other territories: Nothing changes for them under this bill.
Territories stuck at two senators
The Senate is one of the two houses of federal Parliament. It was set up as the states' house. Each of the original six states gets the same number of senators. So small states are heard as loudly as big ones.
The Australian Capital Territory, around Canberra, and the Northern Territory are not states. Each has two senators. That number was set in 1975.
Senator David Pocock brought this bill. His notes on it say the number two came from a political deal. He says it had no real basis. He says it gave each of the two big parties an extra senator, one from each territory.
He argues two senators are too few to speak for the people properly. More seats would make room for a wider mix of people and views.
More territory senators
The bill rewrites part of the main federal election law, from 1918. That part sets the number of territory senators.
The new rule says each of the two territories gets half the number of senators a state has. If that half is not a whole number, it gets rounded. A number ending in .5 is rounded up.
Because the rule is tied to the states, it would move with them. If the number of state senators ever changed, the territory number would change too.
Under the bill, three senators from each territory are elected at each election, for six-year terms. That adds up to six senators per territory.
Six-year terms and elections
Today a territory senator's term ends just before voting day at the next federal election. So territory senators face the voters every time the country votes.
State senators work in a different way. Section 13 of the Constitution gives them six-year terms. The Constitution is the top law that sets up how Australia is run. Half of a state's senators come up for election at a time.
The bill makes the two territories' senators follow the same rule as state senators. Their elections would be timed the same way as state Senate elections.
Say you live in Darwin. At each federal election you would vote for three senators. Each one would then hold the job for six years.
Other territories
The bill keeps the current rules for any other territory that might get senators in future. Those senators would still serve until the next federal election.
Waiting in the Senate
The law would start on the day the Governor-General, the King's representative, signs it. The new numbers would apply from the first Senate election after that.
Senator Pocock brought the bill to the Senate on 20 November 2024. It ran out of time when Parliament ended on 21 July 2025, with no vote. It was put back on the Senate's to-do list on 23 July 2025.
The bill is still before the Senate. Senators would need to debate it and pass it. Then the House of Representatives, where the government is formed, would have to pass it too.
Its journey through Parliament
| 20 Nov 2024 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 20 Nov 2024 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 21 Jul 2025 | Senate: Lapsed at end of Parliament |
| 23 Jul 2025 | Senate: Restored to Notice Paper |