The 1968 Federal redistribution

During 1968 a massive reshuffling of electoral boundaries took place, the first for thirteen years. The redistribution reflects the changes in population that have occurred in those years: in the New Parliament to be elected in 1969 New South Wales has one seat less and South Australia and Victoria each one more; new seats have been created and old ones abolished; only five constituencies remain unchanged. Past electoral figures are thus unreliable, a deficiency this work overcomes by adjusting previous election figures to the new boundaries for all seats, as well as summarizing the extent of alterations, creations, and abolitions. It also contains twelve useful electoral maps, and a most instructive index of representativeness. It is an essential guide for the 1969 federal election

Compulsory Voting, Party Stability and Electoral Advantage in Australia

Australia has the oldest and probably the most efficient system of compulsory voting among the established democracies. The main reason for its introduction in the 1920s was to increase turnout, a goal it has achieved without difficulty. Compulsory voting has also made a major contribution to the long-term stability of the party system. However, the compulsory voting system has had two disadvantages. As in other countries which have introduced compulsory voting, historically there has been a very high level of invalid votes, although the levels are now less than they were prior to 1984, as a result of various electoral reforms. Second, the system disadvantages rightwing parties and advantages leftwing and minor parties. Survey evidence from the 1996 federal election suggests compulsory voting reduced the Liberal-National coalition's first preference vote by some 5 per cent, compared to the coalition's expected vote under a voluntary system. If the system is ever removed, it is likely to be for this reason, rather than because of any difficulties in administering it, or because of any philosophical objection to compulsion among voters or politicians

Designing electoral institutions : STV systems and their consequences. by David M. Farrell, Malcolm Mackerras and Ian McAllister

Although championed by advocates of proportional representation, the single transferable vote form of PR has been used consistently in only a small number of countries - principally Australia, Ireland and Malta