Knee-jerk anti-Chinese redbaiting in Australian elections
In the final days of the campaign, independent MP Monique Ryan and Labor’s housing minister Clare O’Neil faced questions about the support of the Hubei Association for their respective campaigns.
More senators for the ACT: Unity ticket, bar one
A four-way debate on ABC Radio Canberra on 1 May produced a rare moment of unity between election candidates. The main candidates for the ACT’s two senate seats agreed that Canberra needs more senators.
University is expensive, especially so for humanities students
The PM and the education minister have made big noises about easing cost of living pressures for Australians with large HECS/HELP debts. But they’ve been very slow to do anything about the high cost of getting a degree in the first place.
Nearly 40 years of efficiency dividends, and what have we got to show for it?
The size of the public service has been one of the sharper issues in this election campaign. But so far, the debate has been about “cuts” or “no cuts”, “working from home” or “back to the office you go”.
Election entrée: Dark money and your money pay for most of the political ads you’re seeing
At this stage of the election, you have no doubt seen plenty of political ads.
April 2025
Election entrée: Feel the election campaign has dragged on? It could have been longer
Election campaigns come and go, but some go faster than others.
Election entrée: think three-year terms are too short? Spare a thought for generations past.
Complaints about the brevity of three-year parliamentary terms are common in Australia.
Election entrée: Things that are only milestones in the post-war era
For many journalists, the past – specifically the past before 1945 – is a foreign country. Election coverage is replete with references to “firsts” or “milestones” that assume that Australian history began in the post-war period. But a longer view would help us better understand the political processes around us. Journalists described the 2010 federal
Never mind Liberal v Labor – right now, it’s Big Gas v the rest
Australia is one of the world’s largest gas exporters. We send around 80% of our gas overseas. More than half of the gas we export doesn’t even earn royalties or resources rent tax. We are literally giving away our gas resources.
Election entrée: Australia is a world leader in electing Independent MPs
Independent MPs are not new to Australian politics.
Leaders’ debates can be useful, but no debate is better than a scrappy one
Robust debate is better than mealy-mouthed bipartisanship. Televised leaders’ debates can be a good thing if they illustrate the choices facing voters.
Uni Canberra is spending big on things not needed, while cutting staff to save money
Australia’s beleaguered university sector is never far from the headlines these days. Former Labor leader and current University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Bill Shorten probably doesn’t envy his former ministerial colleagues who are currently on the campaign trail, but nonetheless, he’s in the news today. The Canberra Times reports that Shorten is announcing a new voluntary
Election entrée: Not all party candidates make it to election day
Sometimes parties part ways with their candidates.
Now that there are no safe seats – the ‘bellwether seat’ is no more.
Media analysis shows that the decade from 2007 was the bellwether era, but that era has now passed
Labor repeats support for territory Senator increase – revisits missed opportunity from last term
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 means you can’t waste your vote
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.
March 2025
The Liberal Party defies its own history on tax
For decades, the Liberal Party has prided itself on being the “party of lower taxes”.
ANU’s latest scandal shows us why transparency is so important, and where to start
Governance at Australia’s universities is in a dire state.
February 2025
The major parties, not the independents are the big spenders at election time
The government says the electoral laws changes are about limiting big spending by independents, but community independents spent less per seat than the major parties at the 2022 federal election.
December 2024
In worrying about productivity growth, the RBA has strayed beyond its remit
It’s official: the Reserve Bank of Australia will have its board split in two, and two new appointees will join the reconfigured monetary policy board, whose job it is to make decisions on interest rates. The move was recommended by an independent review panel in 2023. The new members of the monetary policy board, one
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