Our appearance at Parliamentary Inquiry into term lengths

4 Year Terms Australia has urged the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to progress fixed terms and a move to 4-year terms as part of its inquiry into parliamentary term lengths.

“Australia’s three-year, unfixed election cycle leaves governments with very little time to actually govern.” said Marty Gray, founder of 4 Year Terms Australia.

“Australia is one of only eight countries in the world with parliamentary terms of three years or less. Federal elections occur on average every two years and eight months, while the Prime Minister retains discretion to call an early election. This significantly reduces the productivity of both our government and private sector”

The Committee is conducting an Inquiry into the 2025 federal election which is looking at a range of issues including the prospect of longer parliamentary terms and fixed election dates. The hearing included questions from Jerome Laxale MP, Matt Burnell MP, Julie-Ann Campbell MP, Senator Steph Hodgins-May, and Senator Corinne Mulholland.

4 Year Terms Australia told the Committee that the combination of short and unfixed terms fuels constant campaigning, discourages long-term policy, and costs the economy billions through delayed investment and uncertainty. Modelling indicates that switching to four-year fixed terms could deliver up to $60 billion in benefits over the coming decades.

“Every state, territory and local government in Australia now operates on four-year terms, and all except Tasmania have fixed election dates. 4 Year Terms Australia is calling for the immediate priority to be legislating a fixed election date for our current three-year term. This forms the foundation for a later referendum.”

Footage from the hearing can be found here (2hr 15m onwards) and submission to the inquiry can be found here.