"Polling commissioned from JWS Research found just one in five Australians supported the current system of three-year terms and the prime minister choosing the election date."
Well, from that it may sound like Australians would strongly support "fixed" four year terms, right? In fact the polling cited tells a rather different story.
I've decided to write one article on this subject dealing mainly with the polling, to be probably (subject to time) followed by another in the near future dealing with the (de)merits of the issue. That said there will be few surprises on the latter front to anyone who's seen my article re fixed terms in Tasmania or my 2025 JSCEM submission. To summarise my views, I'm totally against "fixed" federal terms, whether by legislation or referendum. I think that fixed term laws either fail to genuinely secure fixed dates or else prevent Prime Ministers from calling elections in circumstances where they should be able to. I'm also against four year federal terms if it means eight year Senators.
