CONSTITUENCY ACTIVITY AND REPRESENTATIONAL ROLES AMONG AUSTRALIAN LEGISLATORS

The link between elected representatives' views of their role and the type and extent of their constituency activity is central to political representation, yet it has remained largely unexplored. This article partially fills this gap by examining the link between Australian legi slators' views of their representative role and their constituency wor k, and by evaluating the conjoint influence of these two factors on th e vote. The data come from a national survey of Australian federal leg islators conducted in 1993. The results show that legislators have cle arly distinguishable representative foci resembling the triad of imper ative mandate/free mandate/party, and that these views are significant in determining how legislators relate to their constituency and the v ote they attract. Contrary to findings in other polities, dealing with constituents' grievances reduces a legislator's vote, mainly because such activity displaces other, more electorally advantageous, party-fo cused activities.