Senate composition at 14 September 1987 Government (32) Labor (32) – (7 seat minority)
In 1983 the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 had been amended to include provision for a recount of ballot papers to determine the senators to get the long term vacancies.
[3] This was the result of a unanimous recommendation from the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform.
[4] Despite the unanimous recommendation for reform, Labor and the Democrats maintained the previous system where the first six senators elected in each state were allocated the full six-year terms ending on 30 June 1993 while the other half were allocated three-year terms ending on 30 June 1990.
The effect of this system was that Democrat Senators Paul McLean and Janet Powell got a long term instead of National Senators David Brownhill and Julian McGauran.