Commonwealth Parliament, House of Representatives election

* Party did not contest previous election or did not meet criteria for listing, or contested previous election under a different party name.

Notes

Prime minister in office at election: There had been a change of prime minister since the previous House of Representatives Election in 2013. The Rudd Australian Labor Party minority government had been defeated by a coalition of the Liberal and National parties headed by Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party. By early September 2015, there had been a loss of public support for both the coalition government and Abbott as Prime Minister. Disagreements within the Liberal Party caucus over government policy and some decisions made by the Prime Minister prompted a meeting of the Parliamentary Liberal Party on 14 September 2015. At this meeting, Abbott was defeated as leader of the Liberal Party by Turnbull by a vote of 54 to 44. Turnbull was commissioned to form a Liberal Party and National Party coalition government on Tuesday 15 September 2015.

Government in office after election: The Turnbull Liberal Party and National Party coalition government was returned at this election (2016) but its majority was reduced to a single seat. At least two of the Independent and minor party members indicated that they would have supported the government in a vote of confidence if the government had fallen short of a working majority. A new Turnbull ministry was commissioned on 19 July 2016.

Australian Greens: Adam Bandt won the seat seat of Melbourne for the Australian Greens at the general elections in 2010 and 2013, and was the first candidate for the party to win representation in the House of Representatives at a general election. He retained the seat for the Australian Greens at this election (2016).

Independents and non-affiliated: The vote shown for Independents at this election is the sum of votes cast for the 108 candidates registered as Independents and those 2 candidates who ran for office without any registered party name. Two Independents were elected at this election; Andrew Wilkie was re-elected to the seat of Denison in Tasmania, and Cathy McGowan was re-elected to the seat of Indi in Victoria.

Nick Xenophon Group: Nick Xenophon had been an Independent member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1997 to 2007. At the 2007 Senate election, Xenophon ran in South Australia as one of two candidates in a group without a party name (group S on the 2007 South Australian Senate ballot paper) and was elected as an Independent senator. At the 2013 Senate election, he formed a registered party called the Nick Xenophon Group, and won a Senate seat with the second highest share of primary votes for any party in South Australia. At this federal election (2016) he registered the party name Nick Xenophon Team but the name Nick Xenophon Group has been retained in this database to permit comparison between chambers, over time and between states.

While the principal focus of the Nick Xenophon Group was gaining Senate representation, the party ran candidates in House of Representatives seats in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia at this election (2016), and its candidate Rebekha Sharkie won the seat of Mayo in South Australia.

Family First: The Family First party was founded in 2002 in South Australia and had policies which support traditional family values. It ran candidates in all states at the 2004 federal election and was successful in winning a Senate seat in Victoria (Steve Fielding). It contested the Senate elections of 2007 and 2010 without success but gained representation in 2013 from South Australia with the election of its candidate, Bob Day, who was reelected to the Senate at this election (2016).

The party contested 65 House of Representatives seats at this election (2016) in all states except Tasmania and Western Australia but none of its candidates was elected.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party: Since cofounding the original Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party in 1997, Pauline Hanson had contested elections in Queensland under various party names, and a number of parties using Pauline Hanson's name or One Nation have contested state and federal elections in all states and territories at various times since 1998. The Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party gained enough votes to elect a senator from Queensland in 1998 (Len Harris) and to qualify as a listed party in this database at federal elections from 1998 to 2004. The election of Pauline Hanson and three other members of her party to the Senate in 2016 marked the first time that the party had won representation in the Senate from a states other than Queensland (New South Wales and Western Australia).

While the principal focus of the Party was gaining Senate representation, the Party ran candidates in 15 House of Representatives seats in New South Wales and Queensland at this election (2016) but no candidate was elected.

Katter's Australian Party: Bob Katter, a former National Party member of the Queensland Assembly (1974-1992), and a member of the House of Representatives since 1993, applied in 2011 to register the party name 'Katter's Australian Party' for both federal and state elections. Although originally elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the National Party for the electoral district of Kennedy in 1993, he resigned from the Party and successfully contested the four federal elections for the seat from 2001 to 2010 as an Independent. He won the electoral district of Kennedy in 2013 as a member of the party he founded and contested the 2016 election under the same party label together with 12 other candidates in Queensland; he was the only successful candidate and was returned in the seat of Kennedy.

Liberal Democratic Party: After some difficulty with registering its party name over objections from the Liberal Party, the party was registered for Senate elections from 2010. The party believed in small government and traditional libertarian principles. The party was successful in electing a senator (David Leyonhjelm) from New South Wales in 2013 who was returned at the 2016 Senate election.

The Party contested 33 House of Representatives seats at this election (2016) in all states except Tasmania but none of its candidates was elected.

Palmer United Party: The Palmer United Party was formed in 2013 by mining businessman Clive Palmer, who had been previously associated with the Queensland National Party and its successor, the Liberal National Party. At the 2013 election, the Party won Senate seats in Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia and Palmer himself won the Queensland House of Representatives seat of Fairfax, but disagreements within the Party and financial controversies surrounding Palmer led to the Party's collapse. Only one candidate contested the 2016 House of Representatives election as a member of the Palmer United Party (in the Queensland seat of Herbert).

Other parties: The Australian Electoral Commission listed 40 party groupings for this House of Representatives election whose votes are not separately listed in the table above. None of these parties gained 1 percent of the first preference votes at this election, had a candidate elected or met any of the other criteria for listing in this database for a national summary for this House of Representatives election (see listed party). For details of the votes won by these parties, see the reference in 'Sources', below. Note that some of these parties did qualify for listing in state summaries for this election.

Sources

Voting figures were taken from the Australian Electoral Commission website 'First preference votes by party', online: here [accessed 10 June 2017]

Figures for seats won were taken from the Australian Electoral Commission website 'Party Representation', online; here [accessed 10 June 2017]