Complaints about the brevity of three-year parliamentary terms are common in Australia.

Amy Remeikis and Bill Browne discuss the federal election campaign so far, the performance of the media, and how preferential voting actually works.

Sky News says community independent MP Allegra Spender supports more Coalition motions than Greens motions. But They Vote for You says Spender votes with Greens MPs more often than Coalition MPs. That both those claims are made about the same person is proof that voting comparisons are fraught. It is just as confusing when it

Today the AEC promised “bingo cages, blindfolds and balls” – in other words, they finalised the candidates for the upcoming federal election, and randomly decided which order they will be displayed on the ballot paper.

Have you received a postal vote application form in the mail? 

Did you wonder why it was bundled with material promoting a political party? 

Or why the return address was a political party HQ, not the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC)?

Media analysis shows that the decade from 2007 was the bellwether era, but that era has now passed

Labor says it will push to double the number of senators for the ACT if re-elected. Finance Minister Katy Gallagher told ABC Canberra: “it’s certainly something we all support”.

Full preferential voting is a proud Coalition reform – one that benefits every political persuasion Compulsory voting and full preferential voting make up the backbone of Australian democracy, and protect us from voter suppression and disengagement seen in other countries. We owe both to the parties of the centre-right, what would become the Liberal–National Coalition.

At the National Press Club today, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor was asked about how few women the Liberal Party is nominating as candidates.

Last night, Liberal Senator Jane Hume announced they’d done a deal with the Albanese Labor Government on electoral laws – and some twelve hours later, it became law, having been rushed through both houses of Parliament. Labor’s compromises with the Coalition have worsened the bill even further: Instead of a disclosure threshold of $1,000, which

Australia needs an electoral system that’s genuinely fair, not a two-tiered system that favours the major parties.

The Albanese government’s attempt to rush through major changes to Australian elections has been delayed in the Senate – at least until February, perhaps forever. As Australia Institute research identified serious flaws, risks and loopholes in the legislation, delay is welcome – but bittersweet, because electoral reform is needed to increase confidence in politics and democracy. Good

‘Tis the season for poor process, rushed law-making and railroaded parliaments. With the end of the year rapidly approaching, governments have lost patience for democratic niceties like consultation, parliamentary reviews and public hearings.

And eight ideas to improve it

As dramatic changes to South Australian electoral law pass the house of review (Legislative Council), voters could be forgiven for wondering “what just happened?”

A week ago, no one had seen the government’s revised Electoral (Accountability and Integrity) Amendment Bill 2024. Now, it’s set to become law.

Amy Remeikis and the Director of The Australia Institute’s Democracy and Accountability Program, Bill Browne, unpack how we got here … and what should happen next.

While voters in the United States of America await the results of the 2024 Presidential election race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, researchers from The Australia Institute will appear before a parliamentary committee to recommend improvements to Tasmania’s electoral system.

Since the 2022 election, commentators and reporters have debated whether the wave of new independents was part of a broader movement or just the reflection of a moment.

Excessive secrecy in government decision-making makes Australia less safe, not more.

Next month, the Albanese government is due to announce its proposed changes to Australian electoral laws. It has been a long road. The minister responsible, Senator Don Farrell, had planned to introduce the laws by the end of last year.

Replacing political donations may sound good in theory, but in practice what matters is who gets the money – and how much they get.

Australia was never exclusively a “two-party system”, a reality that is getting harder to ignore as minor party and independent representation grows, according to new research from the Australia Institute. While power sharing has always been a feature of Australian parliaments, the declining major party vote demands a more mature and nuanced analysis of electoral

Careless political finance reforms could shift the balance in Australian democracy in favour of special interests.

Today, the name of Niccolò Machiavelli is a byword for cynicism and hunger for power, but there was one profession so parasitic and selfish even he could not stomach it.

In 2019 the Australia Institute identified ambitious, progressive policies from the Australian Capital Territory, most of which are overwhelmingly popular among all Australians. Five years on, we have an update on how these policies have progressed in Canberra and around Australia.

New research from the Australia Institute has identified 16 key reforms that are required to strengthen and safeguard democracy in Tasmania, which now lags behind many mainland jurisdictions in accountability and transparency.

Research from the Australia Institute demonstrates that the NSW electoral system’s donation caps, spending caps and public funding benefit established parties and incumbent MPs at the expense of new parties and independent candidates.