AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING - THE BASICS

The Australian Federal Parliament is bicameral, as it has two chambers: the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House). Members of each house are determined by a compulsory secret ballot of all Australians from across six states and two territories. These votes are then tallied using a preferential system (see below).

A system of Cabinet or "responsible" government based on the British Westminster tradition is practised. The party or coalition of parties commanding a majority in the House of Representatives becomes the government and provides the ministers (including the Prime Minister), all of whom must be members of the Parliament. Elections for the House of Representatives are held at least every three years.

The Constitution requires membership of the Australian House of Representatives to be, as nearly as practicable, twice that of the Senate. The House has 150 members: 50 from New South Wales; 37 from Victoria; 27 from Queensland; 12 from South Australia; 15 from Western Australia; five from Tasmania; two from the Australian Capital Territory; and two from the Northern Territory.

A Government need not command a majority in the Senate which has an equal number of members (12) from each State. The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory were not represented in the Federal Parliament until 1975 when they each gained two Senators.

Normally, Senators serve a six-year term with half the Senate retiring every three years. Senators elected to represent the Territories, however, serve a maximum of three years and their terms coincide with those of the members of the House of Representatives. In Senate elections, the people of each State and Territory vote as single electorates.

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING - PREFERENTIAL VOTING

The essence of preferential voting is that voters number candidates on the ballot paper in a rank order of choice. You put the number 1 next to your first choice candidate, 2 next to your second choice, and so on. If your first choice candidate is not elected and no candidate receives half of the vote, your vote may be re-examined for its next preference. The point of the system is to elect the most preferred candidate, to choose the candidate that can build an absolute majority of support in the electorate rather than the simple majority required for first past the post voting.

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING - BET TYPES

Centrebet offer Australian Federal Election odds for the winner of the overall election (Coalition or Labor) as well as betting odds for individual seats of Parliament.

Centrebet can also accept bets on when the Federal Election will be held and the Election outcome; eg - Howard (Liberal coalition) or Rudd (Labor). All up, just under $1.9 million was bet on the 2004 Australian federal election; a staggering amount of money.

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING - THE LAST TIME AUSTRALIA VOTED

In October 2004, John Howard was re-elected for a fourth term as Australian Prime Minister, and once again, the Centrebet 'punter's poll' proved to be the best barometer when looking for the winner.

The news polls had the big race neck and neck right up until the morning of the vote, but a look at the betting fluctuations suggested that it was all over much earlier than that. The closing prices were $1.10 for the Coalition, and $6.00 for Labor, and when you consider that exactly one week before it was $1.45 and $2.55, it is easy to see that punters were on the mark more so than the polls.

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING - THE NEXT ELECTION

Until the election gets closer there are two things worth noting when assessing the outcome of Australia's next federal vote. The first is the reaction of the Australian public to new Labor leader Kevin Rudd. Recent polls have placed Rudd above Prime Minister Howard in popularity which can be largely attributed to the PM's stance on key issues such as Work Choices. Secondly, the Coalition’s own leadership battle between John Howard and Peter Costello will also affect the betting.

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING – PAST PRIME MINISTERS AND RULING PARTIES 1966 – 2006

AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION BETTING - PART OF A BIGGER RANGE

Centrebet is the world's leading entertainment betting specialist and takes bets on a wide range of competitions, including reality television shows, beauty pageants, and song contests. As well as offering a vast array of online sports betting propositions, Centrebet are renowned for offering prices on many novelty betting events including Idol betting, Big Brother betting and odds on the Eurovision Song Contest. One of our favourite novelty betting events is the Finnish Wife Carrying Championships - a far cry from the various elections from all over the world we offer prices on. Past and current election coverage includes offering American Presidential Election odds, as well as books on the British General Election and the Canadian Federal Election.

Books for many of these events are now open for Centrebet customers. In order to bet on these sporting events, you first need to register to bet with Centrebet on our secure bet site. In order to register to bet with Centrebet, you must be 18 years of age or over. For a full list on upcoming events that Centrebet will provide odds on,you can check our online sports betting calendar.

Last modified 22 March 2007