{"id":"C1973A00087","name":"Australian Electoral Office Act 1973","slug":"australian-electoral-office-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"87 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2553,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00087-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Australian Electoral Office Act 1973","content":"Australian Electoral Office Act 1973\n\nNo. 87 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nRelating to the Administration of Electoral Laws.\n\n\\[Assented to 19 June 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Australian Electoral Office Act 1973.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n\nDefinition.\n\n3. In this Act, “Officer” means an Officer referred to in section 4.\n\nEstablishment of Office and offices.\n\n4. (1) There is hereby established an Office to be known as the Australian Electoral Office, which shall consist of the Officers referred to in this section and the staff referred to in section 15.\n\n(2) There shall be—\n\n(a) a Chief Australian Electoral Officer;\n\n(b) a Deputy Chief Australian Electoral Officer; and\n\n(c) an Australian Electoral Officer for each State.\n\n  \n\n(3) The Chief Australian Electoral Officer shall, under the Minister, control the Australian Electoral Office.\n\nFunctions and duties of Officers.\n\n5. (1) An Officer shall have such functions, powers and duties as are conferred or imposed on him. by or under any law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory and, for that and every other purpose—\n\n(a) a reference in any such law, or in any order or instrument under any such law, to the Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth shall, in relation to anything done or to be done after the commencement of this Act, be read as a reference to the Chief Australian Electoral Officer appointed under this Act; and\n\n(b) a reference in any such law, or in any order or instrument under any such law, to a Commonwealth Electoral Officer or to the Commonwealth Electoral Officer for a State shall, in relation to anything done or to be done after the commencement of this Act, be read as a reference to an Australian Electoral Officer or to the Australian Electoral Officer for that State appointed under this Act.\n\n(2) In addition to his other functions, the Chief Australian Electora Officer shall, as required by the Minister, advise the Minister on matters relevant to electoral policy, legislation and procedures.\n\n(3) The Deputy Chief Australian Electoral Officer shall assist the Chief Australian Electoral Officer as directed by him.\n\n(4) Where—\n\n(a) immediately before the commencement of this Act, a person, being an officer within the meaning of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918–1973, held office as a Distribution Commissioner appointed under section 16 of that Act; and\n\n(b) that person becomes, on the date of commencement of this Act, an Officer referred to in section 4 of this Act,\n\nhis appointment as a Distribution Commissioner continues to have effect.\n\n(5) Where, before the commencement of this Act, an arrangement had been made under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904–1972 for the taking of any steps in or in connexion with an election, or for the conduct of an election or ballot, by a person holding an office of Commonwealth Electoral Officer, those steps may be taken or completed, or that election or ballot may be conducted or completed, by the person holding the corresponding office under this Act.\n\nAppointment of Officers and tenure of Office.\n\n6. (1) An Officer shall be appointed by the Governor-General and, subject to this Act, holds office for seven years, but is eligible for reappointment.\n\n  \n\n(2) An Officer who is appointed or re-appointed within seven years before the day on which he will attain the age of sixty-five years ceases to hold office on that day, and a person who has attained the age of sixty-five years shall not be appointed or re-appointed as an Officer.\n\n(3) An Officer holds office on such terms and conditions, not inconsistent with this Act, as the Governor-General determines.\n\nRemuneration and allowances.\n\n7. (1) The Chief Australian Electoral Officer shall be paid remuneration at such rate, and an annual allowance at such rate (if any), as the Parliament fixes, but, until 1st January, 1974, the rate of that remuneration and the rate (if any) of that allowance shall be as prescribed.\n\n(2) The Deputy Chief Australian Electoral Officer and an Australian Electoral Officer for a State shall be paid remuneration at such respective rates as the Parliament fixes, but, until 1st January, 1974, those rates shall be as prescribed.\n\n(3) An Officer shall be paid such allowances (not including an annual allowance) as are prescribed.\n\nLeave of absence.\n\n8. The Minister may grant leave of absence to an Officer upon such terms and conditions as to remuneration or otherwise as the Minister determines.\n\nResignation.\n\n9. An Officer may resign his office by writing under his hand delivered to the Governor-General.\n\nTermination of appointment.\n\n10. The Governor-General may, with the consent of the Officer, retire an Officer on the ground of invalidity.\n\nSuspension and removal of Officer,\n\n11. (1) The Governor-General may suspend an Officer from office for misbehaviour or physical or mental incapacity.\n\n(2) The Minister shall cause a statement of the ground of the suspension to be laid before each House of the Parliament within seven sitting days of the House after the suspension.\n\n(3) Where such a statement has been laid before a House of the Parliament, that House may, within fifteen sitting days of that House after the day on which the statement has been laid before it, by resolution, declare that the Officer ought to be restored to office and, if each House so passes such a resolution, the Governor-General shall terminate the suspension.\n\n(4) If, at the expiration of fifteen sitting days of a House of the Parliament after the day on which the statement has been laid before that House, that House has not passed such a resolution, the Governor-General may remove the Officer from office.\n\n  \n\n(5) If an Officer becomes bankrupt, applies to take the benefit of any law for the relief of bankrupt or insolvent debtors, compounds with his creditors or makes an assignment of his remuneration for their benefit, the Governor-General shall remove him from office.\n\n(6) An Officer shall not be removed from office except as provided by this section.\n\nRights of public servant appointed as an Officer.\n\n12. If a person appointed as an Officer was, immediately before his appointment, an officer of the Public Service of the Commonwealth (including an unattached officer)—\n\n(a) he retains his existing and accruing rights;\n\n(b) for the purpose of determining those rights, his service as an Officer shall be taken into account as if it were service in the Public Service of the Commonwealth: and\n\n(c) the Officers’ Rights Declaration Act 1928–1969 applies as if this Act and this section had been specified in the Schedule to that Act.\n\nApplication of Superannuation Act.\n\n13. For the purposes of sub-sections 4(3a) and (4) of the Superannuation Act 1922–1973, an Officer shall be deemed to be required, by the terms of his appointment, to give the whole of his time to the duties of his office.\n\nActing appointments.\n\n14. (1) The Governor-General may appoint a person to act in the office of an Officer during any period, or during all periods, when the person holding the office is absent from duty or from Australia or is performing the duties of another office or during a vacancy in that office, but a person so appointed to act during a vacancy in an office shall not continue so to act for more than twelve months.\n\n(2) The Governor-General may—\n\n(a) determine the terms and conditions of appointment of a person appointed under this section; and\n\n(b) at any time terminate such an appointment.\n\n(3) Where a person is acting in an office in pursuance of an appointment under this section otherwise than during a vacancy in that office and the office becomes vacant while that person is so acting, that person may continue to act in the office until the Governor-General otherwise directs, the vacancy is filled or a period of twelve months from the date on which the vacancy occurred expires, whichever first happens.\n\n(4) Sections 8 and 9 apply in relation to a person appointed under this section in like manner as they apply in relation to an Officer.\n\n(5) While a person is acting in an office in pursuance of an appointment under this section, he has, and may exercise, all the powers and shall perform all the functions of the holder of that office under this Act or any other law.\n\n  \n\n(6) The validity of anything done by a person appointed under this section shall not be called in question on the ground that the occasion for his appointment had not arisen or that the appointment had ceased to have effect.\n\nStaff.\n\n15\\. (1) The staff required to assist the Officers in the performance of their functions shall be persons appointed or employed under, or whose services are made available in accordance with arrangements made under, the Public Service Act 1922–1973.\n\n(2) The Chief Australian Electoral Officer has all the powers of, or exercisable by, a Permanent Head under the Public Service Act 1922–1973 so far as those powers relate to the branch of the Public Service of the Commonwealth comprising the staff referred to in sub-section (1) as if that branch were a separate Department of the Public Service of the Commonwealth.\n\n(3) For the purposes of sub-sections 25(5) and (6) of the Public Service Act 1922–1973, the Chief Australian Electoral Officer shall be deemed to be a Permanent Head.\n\nRegulations.\n\n16. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"circular_definition","section":"3","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 3 purports to be the definition provision for 'Officer', but it provides no substantive content — it merely cross-references section 4. Section 4 in turn says the Office 'shall consist of the Officers referred to in this section' and then lists titles (Chief Australian Electoral Officer, Deputy, State Officers). Neither section actually defines what makes someone an 'Officer'; the definition is a loop. A reader trying to understand the term is sent in a circle between sections 3 and 4.","confidence":0.85,"description":"The definition of 'Officer' is entirely circular: it defines 'Officer' as 'an Officer referred to in section 4', and section 4 simply lists the offices without itself defining who an 'Officer' is."},{"type":"other","section":"2","severity":"low","reasoning":"This is a common legislative drafting technique, but it creates a genuine logical quirk: section 4 purports to 'hereby establish' the Australian Electoral Office, yet section 2 defers that establishment to an unspecified future date. If no Proclamation is ever made, the Office is never established, and all obligations, appointments, and functions in the Act are in permanent suspension. While legally standard, it creates a situation where the operative word 'hereby' in section 4 is a misnomer — nothing is established 'hereby' at the time of enactment.","confidence":0.72,"description":"The Act's commencement date is contingent on a Proclamation that may never be made, meaning the Act — including the establishment of the Electoral Office itself — could theoretically never come into operation."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"6(2)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 6(1) grants a 7-year term and explicitly states Officers are 'eligible for reappointment'. Section 6(2) prohibits appointment or reappointment of anyone who has attained 65. An Officer appointed at, say, age 63 would serve only 2 years of their 7-year term, then be forced out, and could never be reappointed. The blanket eligibility for reappointment in s.6(1) is negated for a substantial cohort of Officers by s.6(2), creating an internal contradiction within the same section group.","confidence":0.8,"description":"The mandatory retirement-at-65 provision combined with the 7-year term creates an impossible compliance scenario: an Officer appointed at age 64 holds a 7-year term but must cease office at 65 — after only one year — yet is also declared 'eligible for reappointment' under s.6(1), which s.6(2) simultaneously prohibits once they have attained 65."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"11(3) and 11(4)","severity":"high","reasoning":"Section 11(3) requires *each* House to pass a restoration resolution within 15 of *its own* sitting days for the Governor-General to be obliged to restore the Officer. Section 11(4) allows removal if *a* House has not passed the resolution by the expiry of its 15 sitting days. If the Senate passes the resolution in time but the House of Representatives does not (or vice versa), the conditions in ss.(3) and (4) are simultaneously engaged: the Governor-General is not obliged to restore (because not both Houses resolved) but *is* empowered to remove. However, the Governor-General is also bound by s.11(6) that an Officer 'shall not be removed from office except as provided by this section'. The interplay creates genuine ambiguity about whether partial resolution by one House has any legal effect, and whether removal is mandatory, discretionary, or blocked.","confidence":0.78,"description":"The suspension/removal mechanism creates a procedural impossibility if the two Houses of Parliament have different numbers of sitting days — the 15-sitting-day clocks run independently per House, meaning one House could pass a restoration resolution while the other's window has already closed, leaving the Governor-General simultaneously obliged to terminate the suspension (if both pass resolutions) and empowered to remove the Officer (because one House's window expired without resolution)."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"5(4)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 4(2) exhaustively lists three types of Officers: Chief, Deputy Chief, and State Officers. A Distribution Commissioner is not one of these. Section 5(4) requires that the person simultaneously hold a Distribution Commissioner appointment AND 'become an Officer referred to in section 4' on commencement. Since the Act creates no mechanism by which a Distribution Commissioner automatically becomes one of the three listed Officers, the conjunctive condition in s.5(4) cannot logically be met — the savings provision is a dead letter.","confidence":0.7,"description":"The provision preserving Distribution Commissioner appointments is retroactively self-defeating: it applies only where a person 'becomes, on the date of commencement of this Act, an Officer referred to in section 4' — but section 4 does not include Distribution Commissioners as a category of Officer. Distribution Commissioners are a separate appointment under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, so the condition in s.5(4)(b) can never be satisfied."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"6(1)","section_b":"6(2)","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 6(1) states that every Officer 'is eligible for reappointment' without qualification. Section 6(2) categorically prohibits the appointment or reappointment of any person who has attained 65 years of age. These provisions directly contradict each other for any Officer who reaches 65 during or after their term — s.6(1) says they may be reappointed; s.6(2) says they may not."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"11(3)","section_b":"11(4)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 11(3) obliges the Governor-General to terminate a suspension if each House passes a restoration resolution within 15 of its own sitting days. Section 11(4) empowers the Governor-General to remove the Officer if a House does not pass such a resolution within that window. Because each House runs its own independent sitting-day clock, there is a real scenario where one House passes the resolution in time and the other does not, triggering both the obligation in s.11(3) (partially satisfied) and the power in s.11(4) simultaneously, with no provision to resolve which prevails."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"4(1)","section_b":"2","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 4(1) declares that the Australian Electoral Office 'is hereby established', using the present-tense 'hereby' to denote immediate establishment upon enactment. Section 2 provides that the entire Act only comes into operation on a date fixed by Proclamation — meaning nothing in the Act, including s.4(1)'s establishment, takes effect at enactment. The word 'hereby' contradicts the deferred commencement mechanism."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"11(5)","section_b":"11(6)","confidence":0.65,"description":"Section 11(5) mandates that the Governor-General *shall* remove an Officer who becomes bankrupt, without any parliamentary process. Section 11(6) states an Officer 'shall not be removed from office except as provided by this section'. Read together, s.11(5) removal is 'provided by this section' so there is no direct conflict — however, s.11(5) removal bypasses the parliamentary oversight mechanism in ss.11(2)-(4) entirely, creating an internal inconsistency in the protective regime: an Officer can be removed for bankruptcy without Parliament having any say, but cannot be removed for misbehaviour without parliamentary notification. This inverts the intuitive hierarchy of severity."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act is internally consistent with its stated purpose: establishing and governing the Australian Electoral Office and its Officers. All 16 sections directly relate to the creation, staffing, employment conditions, and functions of the Office. There is no evidence of scope creep or expansion beyond the original administrative and institutional purpose. The transitional provisions simply bridge the gap from the prior regime to the new one, which is consistent with the Act's intent."},"complexity_factors":["Only 1 defined term ('Officer') in the interpretation section — very minimal definitional load","Moderate cross-referencing to other Acts (Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918–1973, Public Service Act 1922–1973, Superannuation Act 1922–1973, Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904–1972, Officers' Rights Declaration Act 1928–1969)","Transitional provisions in section 5(4) and 5(5) add some conditional logic but are narrow in scope","Suspension and removal mechanism in section 11 involves sequential conditional steps (parliamentary sitting days, resolutions by each House) adding moderate procedural complexity","Short Act with only 16 sections — limited length keeps overall complexity low","No nested exceptions or deeply layered conditional logic","Remuneration provisions in section 7 include a temporary transitional arrangement (until 1 January 1974) adding minor complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"## What This Law Does\n\nThe **Australian Electoral Office Act 1973** creates a formal government body — the **Australian Electoral Office** — to manage and administer Australia's electoral (voting) laws. Before this Act, electoral administration existed under different titles and structures. This law consolidates and formalises it.\n\n---\n\n### Who Is Involved?\n\nThe Act establishes a small leadership team called **\"Officers\"** (a defined term in the Act):\n\n- **Chief Australian Electoral Officer** — the head of the Office, who controls it under the direction of the Minister (a Cabinet minister responsible for electoral matters)\n- **Deputy Chief Australian Electoral Officer** — assists the Chief Officer\n- **An Australian Electoral Officer for each State** — one per State, handling State-level electoral administration\n\nAll are appointed by the **Governor-General** (Australia's head of state, acting on the advice of the government).\n\n---\n\n### What Does the Office Actually Do?\n\n- It carries out all the functions, powers and duties given to it by **any Commonwealth or Territory law** relating to elections\n- The Chief Officer advises the Minister on **electoral policy, legislation and procedures**\n- Importantly, the Act updates old references in other laws — anywhere a law previously referred to \"Chief Electoral Officer for the Commonwealth\" or \"Commonwealth Electoral Officer for a State,\" those references now automatically point to the new Officers under this Act\n\n---\n\n### Key Conditions of Employment for Officers\n\n- **Appointed for 7 years**, and can be reappointed, but must retire at **age 65**\n- Can **resign** in writing to the Governor-General\n- Can be **suspended** (temporarily stood aside) for misbehaviour or physical/mental incapacity — but Parliament gets oversight: both Houses can vote to restore a suspended Officer to their role\n- Can only be **removed** from office through the specific process set out in the Act (providing protection from arbitrary dismissal)\n- If an Officer **goes bankrupt** or makes arrangements with creditors, they must be removed from office\n- If an Officer was previously a **Commonwealth public servant**, their prior service counts toward entitlements like leave and superannuation (retirement savings)\n\n---\n\n### Supporting Staff\n\nThe Office's staff are ordinary **public servants** appointed under the Public Service Act. The Chief Officer has the same management powers over this staff as a departmental head would.\n\n---\n\n### Why Does It Matter?\n\nThis Act matters because it gives Australia's electoral administration a **clear, independent institutional structure** with defined roles, employment protections, and parliamentary oversight. It ensures the people running elections have security of tenure (meaning they can't easily be dismissed for political reasons), which helps protect the integrity of Australia's democratic process."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/australian-electoral-office-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/australian-electoral-office-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/australian-electoral-office-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/australian-electoral-office-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/australian-electoral-office-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/australian-electoral-office-act-1973/documents"}}