Australia’s federal parliamentarians have never been so thinly spread. Whereas at Federation there were 51,000 Australians per House of Representatives MP, there are now 170,000 Australians per MP. That leaves MPs stretched and voters disengaged. It is bad enough that there are 170,000 Australians per MP, but it is even worse that rounding the NT’s

In the last week of March 2020, both the Tasmanian State Parliament and New Zealand’s Parliament voted to suspend sittings. New Zealand adjourned for about five weeks (till the 28th of April) and the Tasmanian parliament for about five months, until August. Before the Tasmanian Parliament adjourned, it granted extraordinary powers to the government through

The Australia Institute made a submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy. The submission outlines how the Australia Institute’s existing research applies to each of the committee’s terms of reference.

Truth in political advertising laws are supported by 84% of Australians. Successful models include industry self-regulation in New Zealand and making misleading advertising an offence in South Australia. Decisions about what constitutes “the truth” may be fraught, but they are routinely made by companies and regulators under consumer law. Australia can choose from a variety of models, but some form of truth in

New research from The Australia Institute has found that young voters and their strong interest in tackling global warming could be a significant factor at the next election in South Australia, across both the Lower House and the Senate.

New research from The Australia Institute dispels stereotypes around what Australians drink and their political leanings finding that café latte drinkers vote Liberal/National more than any other party.

The Australian public supports stronger gun control and stricter restrictions and laws on firearms. Despite this, there is a real danger of our firearm laws being watered down. Successive inquiries have found that no state or territory has ever fully complied with the National Firearms Agreement. The public will on firearms is being circumvented because

Voter turnout is at record lows in federal elections. A review of non-voting penalties should be undertaken and consideration given to Scandinavian-style progressive penalties. “Members of the Committee also regard compulsory voting as a corner-stone of Australia’s democratic system.” Joint Standing Committee into Electoral Matters (2018) Report on the conduct of the 2016 federal election

In this report series, we present and analyse the results of Senate voting intention polls to project the potential makeup of the Senate following one or more elections. On current polling, future elections are likely to return a crossbench that is about as large and divided as the current one. Future governments – whether Coalition