# Federal electorate journey rules

Version 1.0. Updated 17 October 2026, Australia/Brisbane. Read with the [shared core](local-place-pattern.md), [acceptance gates](council-build-acceptance.md) and [report template](council-expansion-report-template.md). Federal work stays separate from state and council implementation and elections.

## Audit and establish scope

Inspect existing federal portals, national map, reviewed results and connected local context. A Bowman map/result link inside Redlands is contextual coverage, not proof that a complete federal atlas or per-division civic journey exists. Reuse evidenced material and record gaps; do not mark a national scaffold complete from a list of seats.

Use original AEC boundary/redistribution/results/election sources, Parliament of Australia membership, divisions, Hansard and public registers, original Commonwealth legislation and attributable candidate websites. Source-check the actual current arrangement and dates; this guide is an implementation contract, not a current-election timetable.

## Distinguish House and Senate

House of Representatives divisions and Senate state/territory electoral areas are different kinds of representation. Show the chosen chamber clearly. Do not invent small Senate electorates inside House divisions, one local senator for a House seat, or a Senate district hierarchy. A House division can link to the applicable Senate state/territory context without treating it as the same electorate or a council subdivision.

Record stable AEC identity and boundary edition/effective election separately from ABS geography codes. Redistributions, names, member counts and result measures require source checks. Do not treat the latest geometry as the boundary used in every historical election. Keep ordinary, territorial or exceptional arrangements accurately labelled from original sources.

## Required journey

Federal/state context -> House division or Senate state/territory map/search -> select/inspect -> its reviewed civic journey. Preserve exact source geometry, geographic raster registration, quiet colours, optional road detail, one overview map and no SVG maps. Provide a full directory and honest unbuilt status. There may be no smaller federal electoral child layer: offer meaningful human-content paths instead of fictional subdivisions.

Connect everyday questions to real Commonwealth powers, responsible portfolios/agencies and parliamentary processes. Link state/council/provider dependencies explicitly. A member's advocacy, parliamentary vote and executive delivery are separate. Retain issues/Twinkles, systems, people, evidence, participation and outcomes with the cost/free-contribution/change accounts. Do not assert all linked macro systems are adopted federal policy or deployed locally.

Use division-compatible ABS observations and editions; council or postcode statistics remain labelled as their own geographies. For overlap measures state method/denominator/date compatibility. Distinguish House primary/2CP/2PP and Senate multi-member results, preference stages and final status as relevant. A federal seat result is not a council-wide poll or proof of individual residents' views.

## People, records and event branches

Separate current members/senators from announced, preselected, nominated, withdrawn and elected candidates. Source exact chamber/motion/stage and division records, including absences/recusals/unrecorded positions. Link dated stated reasons or label interpretation/reason not found; do not infer motive. Public experience, chosen/official websites and disclosures follow the same evidence structure for every person.

Source the applicable House/Senate general-election, by-election or vacancy-replacement process independently. Do not copy a local/state fixed election date or assume a Senate vacancy creates a House-style by-election. If no exact future polling date is officially supported, do not invent an active exact-date clock. Explain verified status and date basis. Early/postal windows and local polling hours need their own official records and timezone handling; test before/on/after and multiple relevant timezones where the page spans Australia.

## Adapter and acceptance

Configure chamber/place kind, single/multi-member representation, stable IDs, edition/history, actual route relationships, AEC/Parliament sources, candidate stages, event logic and timezone strategy. Do not reuse council division numbers or state chamber assumptions. One shared interaction contract can use distinct authoritative loaders and datasets.

MUST pass shared gates plus House/Senate separation, current/historical boundary compatibility, correct result measures, original parliamentary vote/reason evidence, accurate vacancy/event branches and honest coverage status. Missing geometry or deep local content means partial coverage. No nationwide build, nomination, upload or deployment is implied by this guide.