The 2023 state election served to highlight some of the fundamental issues with the electoral system in New South Wales. The Australia Institute welcomes the inquiry into the election, and our submission to the inquiry builds on existing research to examine several of these issues in detail:

• The enormous advantages enjoyed by incumbent MPs and established political parties;
• The way in which donation and spending caps favour major parties;
• The lack of transparency and effective regulation around political finance;
• NSW’s failure to implement measures used successfully elsewhere in Australia, including the state’s continued use of optional preferential voting, and its lack of truth in political advertising laws.