Your questions about four-year terms, answered
Australia elects its federal government for three years at most, on a date the Prime Minister chooses. 4 Year Terms Australia wants a fixed election date and a four-year term. Here is what that means and how to get there.
Why switch to four-year terms?
Governments get time to govern
Australia's federal term is three years at most, and the Prime Minister can call an election before it runs out. Since Federation, governments have gone to an election every two years and eight months on average.
Three budgets fit inside a term. The first pays for election promises and the third is spent winning the next election. That leaves one for reform.
Australia is an outlier
Only 3 of 87 democracies have a lower-house term of three years or less. Australia is the only country that combines a three-year maximum term with short notice of the election date.
The states already made the switch
Every state and territory has four-year terms, and all except Tasmania hold them on a fixed date. The Commonwealth is the outlier, which means federal elections keep landing on top of state ones.
It is worth $81 to $93 billion
Mandala Partners values the shift to fixed, four-year terms at $81 to $93 billion over 20 years. The benefit comes from better policy, business investment that is no longer held back by an unknown election date, and running fewer elections. Read the modelling in the report.
How long is a federal term in Australia?
Three years at most
Members of the House of Representatives are elected for up to three years. Section 28 of the Constitution says the House runs for three years from its first sitting, unless it is dissolved sooner.
Senators serve six-year terms, with half the Senate elected at each normal election. Senators for the territories serve the same term as the House.
In practice, less
Most terms end early. Since Federation the average has been two years and eight months, and a full three-year term has been reached fewer than ten times.
How often are federal elections held?
The May 2025 election was Australia's 48th federal election since 1901. On average, Australians have voted every two years and eight months.
Every state and territory now votes every four years, and all except Tasmania vote on a fixed date. Because federal elections come around faster and on no set timetable, they keep landing near state ones.
When is the next federal election?
Between August 2027 and May 2028
The last federal election was held on 3 May 2025. The next is due between August 2027 and May 2028, and the Prime Minister chooses the exact date.
The House itself does not expire until 21 July 2028, which would allow an election as late as 23 September 2028. But the new senators’ terms begin on 1 July 2028 and the count takes weeks, so holding both elections together, as is usual, means polling day by 20 May 2028 at the latest (Parliamentary Library).
With a fixed election date, everyone would already know.
The next federal election page has every date and how it is worked out.
Why doesn't Australia have a fixed election date?
The Constitution sets a maximum, not a date
Section 28 caps the term at three years, and section 5 lets the Governor-General dissolve the House earlier. By convention, the Governor-General acts on the Prime Minister's advice. So the Prime Minister decides when Australians vote.
The states fixed their dates in their own laws. Every state and territory except Tasmania now votes on a set day. The Commonwealth could do the same with ordinary legislation, without a referendum.
How do we switch to four-year terms?
A fixed date first
A fixed election date can be set by ordinary legislation. It does not need a referendum.
Then a referendum
Changing the length of the House term means changing the Constitution, which needs a referendum. Parliament must first pass a bill proposing the change. Voters then have to say yes by a double majority: a majority of voters nationally, and a majority in at least four of the six states.
Putting the fixed date in place first makes the referendum easier to win, because Australians are asked to keep something that already works.
It will only happen with public support
Both major parties back four-year terms. They are not convinced the public cares enough to make it a priority. That is why your voice matters: the more Australians speak up, the harder it is to leave on the shelf.
Has there ever been a referendum on four-year terms?
Yes, in 1988, and it failed
Four-year terms were put to voters in 1988 as one of four constitutional questions, alongside fair elections, local government recognition, and rights and freedoms. The terms proposal would also have changed Senate terms. All four questions failed in every state.
Bundling several complicated proposals together made it easy to vote no to everything. A simple, standalone question on four-year terms gives voters one clear choice.
What happens to the Senate?
Senators serve six-year terms, and half the Senate is elected at each general election. If the House moves to four years, that pattern breaks. There are three options.
The whole Senate is elected every four years, alongside the House. Every federal politician faces voters on the same predictable cycle.
Half the Senate is elected every four years, keeping today's half-Senate pattern with longer individual terms. New South Wales and South Australia already run their upper houses this way.
Senate elections would drift out of step with House elections and often be held on their own, which defeats the purpose of fewer elections.
Appendix B of the report sets out the case for each. McKinnon's discussion paper covers the options too.
Why does Australia have three-year terms?
A colonial holdover
Three years dates from Federation in the 1890s. It matched how most of the colonies were run at the time, and the framers wanted frequent elections as a check on a new national government.
Some framers argued it was too short. At the Federation conventions, Western Australia's John Forrest said there was "a general feeling throughout Australia, that the triennial system is rather short".
The Royal Commission on the Constitution, appointed in 1927, recommended a House term of at least four years. Almost a century later, it is still three.
How do our terms compare with other countries?
Most democracies have four or five years
Of 87 democracies, 46 have a four-year lower-house term and 37 have five. The average is 4.4 years.
Four-year terms: Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Chile and Israel. Five-year terms: the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Italy and South Africa.
Three years is rare
Among democracies, only Australia and New Zealand have a three-year term, and the United States elects its House every two years. Mexico, El Salvador and the Philippines also have three-year terms, but on fixed dates, and V-Dem no longer classifies them as democracies.
New Zealand introduced legislation in 2025 to move to four-year terms, following its 2023 Independent Electoral Review. The government has since postponed the referendum.
Would four-year terms make politicians less accountable?
Voters still decide
Every government still faces voters at the end of its term. Parliament keeps the same checks: Question Time, an elected Senate, the courts and a free press. What changes is how much of the term is spent governing rather than campaigning.
A failing government can still be removed
A government that loses the confidence of the House can be replaced at any time. A four-year term gives a good government time to deliver. It does not protect a bad one.
Ministers get time to do the job
Longer terms give ministers time to learn their portfolios, make informed decisions and see policies through.
What do critics of four-year terms say?
The case against deserves a hearing. The strongest published version is Scott Prasser's The case against four-year terms for the Commonwealth Parliament (Australasian Parliamentary Review, 2024). Four arguments come up most.
Accountability
Critics say a longer term gives governments more time to get away with broken promises. Every government still faces voters at the end of its term, and one that loses the confidence of the House can still be replaced. Every state and territory moved to four-year terms and kept its accountability. Letting the Prime Minister time the election to suit the polls helps the government more than the voter.
Evidence
Critics argue there is little proof that longer terms produce better government. The evidence has grown. Mandala Partners values the shift to fixed, four-year terms at $81 to $93 billion over 20 years, and governments are 25 per cent more likely to deliver meaningful reform in a non-election year. The report sets out the sources.
Fixed-term laws and the Senate
The United Kingdom fixed its election dates in 2011 and repealed the law in 2022, and four-year House terms on the old pattern would mean eight-year Senate terms. A fixed date can still allow an early election when a government loses the confidence of the House, as the states' laws do. And our preferred option is a four-year Senate elected alongside the House, with no eight-year terms.
A fixed three-year term instead
Some, including ANU political scientist Jill Sheppard, back a fixed date but would keep the three-year term. A fixed date is the first step we propose too. Four years is the step after it.