Industrial and Commercial Elections
In addition to its role in conducting federal elections and referendums, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) conducts elections and amalgamation ballots for trade unions and employer organisations registered under the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
Role of the AEC in industrial elections
To conduct each election the Australian Electoral Officer for the State or Territory appoints a returning officer who, in accordance with the rules of each organisation:
- sets dates for receipt of nominations;
- calls for nominations from eligible members;
- receives and determines the validity of nominations;
- prepares a roll comprising the names and addresses of members eligible to vote;
- prepares and issues ballot papers;
- if required, distributes statements prepared by candidates in support of their nominations;
- conducts the scrutiny of ballot papers; and
- declares the results.
Elections for office
Legislative provisions permitting registered organisations to have their elections conducted by the Commonwealth were first introduced in 1949. The purpose of the legislation was to minimise the incidence of irregularities occurring in connection with the conduct of these elections.
Initially, the number of organisations for which the Commonwealth conducted elections was relatively small - for example, 16 elections were conducted in 1955-56. However, the number continued to increase, reaching a peak in the early 1990s.
Since 1988, all elections for office in registered organisations must be conducted by the AEC unless an exemption has been granted by the Industrial Registrar. This contrasts with the situation under the original legislation, the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904, where the AEC conducted elections only at the request of either the organisation concerned or a prescribed number of its members.
In addition, the AEC conducts amalgamation ballots, withdrawal from amalgamation ballots, and elections ordered by the Federal Court following inquiries into alleged irregularities in earlier ballots. Court ordered elections are held very rarely, and the AEC has conducted only one of these since 1997.
Amalgamation ballots
All amalgamation ballots for organisations registered under the WRA must be conducted by the AEC. Amalgamation ballots were not required by legislation until 1972 and the AEC was not required to conduct any amalgamation ballots until 1975. Amendments to the WRA aimed at encouraging organisations to amalgamate came into effect on 1 February 1991 and there was a major upturn in amalgamations after these changes. This has since slowed with only five since March 1995.
Withdrawal from amalgamation ballots were introduced by legislation in 1996. Since then, the AEC has conducted only two such ballots.
Commercial Elections
The AEC conducts non-statutory elections and ballots for public and private sector organisations on a cost recovery basis (conditional on the fulfilling of our statutory requirements), such as elections for a Board of Management, certified agreement ballots, elections of club officials. For example, the AEC conducted NRMA elections in 1999, which were the second biggest postal ballot in Australian history.
For further information see Fee For Service Elections
Other elections and ballots
The AEC may be ordered by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) to conduct ballots to ascertain the attitude of union members involved in actual or possible industrial action or concerning a certified agreement. AIRC ordered ballots are however, relatively uncommon. Procedures for these elections and ballots vary considerably and are determined on an individual basis in consultation with the relevant statutory authority or the AIRC respectively.
