Australia’s growing habit of Independents
One to the key interests in Saturday’s Australian national elections is the sharply rising prospects of independent candidates, running without endorsement from any political party. This situation requires some explanation, … Continue reading
Australia unchanged
Australia has gone to a national election, and the result is a Parliament virtually identical to the outgoing one. The incumbent Liberal-National government will continue in office. And key political … Continue reading
Australia goes to the polls
Australians head to the polls today to elect their 46th national House of Representatives and half their Senate, both using preferential (ranked choice) voting. It will be a poignant event … Continue reading
Independent reviews of Australian electoral boundaries announced
Electoral boundaries for Australia’s national elections are being changed, and by a process entirely free of the gerrymandering that is afflicting elections in the United States, Malaysia and elsewhere. Australia … Continue reading
Unusual Australian elections will highlight role of preferential voting
Two elections in Australia today – a by-election for a vacant seat in the national Parliament and the election of the state Parliament of South Australia – will highlight peculiarities … Continue reading
Australian parliament’s dual citizenship fiasco to roll into 2018
The constitutional high farce that has already seen 8 Australian MPS and Senators removed from Parliament now sees around a dozen more MPs under threat of removal. From July this … Continue reading
Australian seat redistribution shifts future parliamentary balance of power
A looming redistribution of parliamentary seats between the Australian states has demonstrated that small changes have large consequences, with the national Opposition Labor Party set to yield a net four-seat … Continue reading
Dual citizenship crisis roils Australian Parliament
Australia’s constitutional rules relating to eligibility for parliamentary election are wreaking havoc across the current Parliament. Two senators have already resigned, and three more parliamentarians have been referred to the … Continue reading
Australian Government’s uneasy club of marginal House backbenchers
As if the Turnbull government’s upcoming troubles with the newly elected Australian Senate were not enough to worry about, their own House of Representatives backbench will present even more anxieties … Continue reading
On Elections 