Chamber:
	Senate
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	10 November 2001
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for one-half of the Senators on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	The Governor-General prorogued the Parliament and dissolved the House of Representatives on 8 October 2001 in the run-up to the general elections, to be held on 10 November 2001. At stake were 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 in the Senate. The number of seats in the House of Representatives increased to 150 in this election as a result of provincial redistribution. Although six main parties competed for votes, during the electoral campaign, the focus was on two men: Prime Minister John Howard, leader of the Liberal Party, and the opposition leader, Kim Beazley from the Labour Party. Mr Howard centred his campaign on the war on terrorism, on immigration and economic stability, while Mr Beazley concentrated on social security, border controls and family welfare. Mr Howard's popularity rose strongly (some 2%) after trailing in opinion polls, when he adopted stringent laws to enable the Navy to head off vessels carrying asylum-seekers. In the elections, the ruling Liberal Party won 17 of the 40 seats at stake in the Senate, while the Labour Party won 13. Mr Kim Beazley resigned as the Labour Party leader after conceding defeat at the polls and the former trade union chief, Mr Simon Crean, was elected as the new party leader. Prime Minister John Howard announced his new cabinet on 23 November 2001, and was sworn in three days later for his third term in office.

STATISTICS

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Seats 2001
Liberal Party	31	17
Australian Labor Party (ALP)	28	13
Australian Democrats	8	4
National Party	3	2
Greens	2	2
Others	4	2