Electoral reform and party system volatility: The consequences of the group vote ticket on Australian senate elections

This article explores the relationship between the reform of Australia’s Senate voting system that included the introduction in 1984 of the Group Vote Ticket (GVT) (also known as ‘above the line voting’) and the diversification of party representation in the upper house that has occurred since. It argues that the GVT has made a major contribution to this change by re-enfranchising large numbers of voters, by providing the basis upon which cross-preference arrangements between minor parties can be entered in to, and by providing an incentive for the formation of parties ahead of elections. It further finds that the reform was brought in by the Labor party and the Australian Democrats party in the pursuit of partisan advantage, but that the consequences of the change in voting system has actually been to the cost of these parties, at least in terms of representational outcomes.