NT redistribution commences

The AEC last week officially commenced a redistribution of the Northern Territory's two federal electorates. I'll keep this blog post short and sweet. I won't bother with a map, since there are only two seats, making the equation simple. Antony Green's blog post from early February...

Podcast #113: Let’s go back to Tasmania

Ben was joined by Stewart Jackson from the University of Sydney and Tasmanian political scientist Mike Lester to preview next month's Tasmanian state election. We discuss the widening field of independent candidates, political events in the last term and the issues around the 25-member House...

Tas 2024 – surge in independent numbers point to larger ballots

Nominations will close next Thursday for the Tasmanian state election, and we've seen a surge in candidate announcements in the last few days. I've just finished updating my candidate lists, and they show that there is a real increase in independent candidates compared to...

Victorian ward boundaries published

The Victorian state government last week announced the final ward boundaries for 39 councils for this October's council elections. I've been compiling those ward boundaries as a shapefile and that's now finished. The VEC published KML files for every proposed set of ward boundaries. Unfortunately these...

Podcast #112: Prabowo wins in Indonesia

Ben was joined by this week by Marcus Mietzner from the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the ANU, and the author of The Coalitions Presidents Make, to discuss Prabowo Subianto's clear victory in the first round of the Indonesian presidential election. We discuss...

Victoria implements single-member wards in local councils

We've known it's coming for about four years, but the Victorian government has finally implemented the final stage of legislation first passed in 2020, imposing single-member wards on all but one council across Melbourne along with many regional councils. Legislation sponsored by then-local government minister...

Moreton Bay voters deprived of choice in the council election

I have focused my analysis of the upcoming Queensland council elections on the City of Brisbane for a number of reasons. It is the most populous council in Australia, but it also has elections that are strongly partisan, with Labor, the LNP and the...

Nominations close in Brisbane City, and across Queensland

Nominations closed on Tuesday for the two Queensland state by-elections and the Queensland council elections, all to be held on March 16. I have now updated my candidate lists for my Brisbane City, Inala and Ipswich West guides. For this post I'm most interested in...

Tasmanian election called, likely for March 23

It has been looking more and more likely that Tasmania would be going to an election in recent weeks, with the premier, Jeremy Rockliff, demanding new assurances from two ex-Liberal independents and threatening to go to an election if those demands weren't met. Those two...

Podcast #111: Indonesia goes to the polls

Ben is joined by Erin Cook from Dari Mulut ke Mulut to discuss next week's national election in Indonesia. We discuss the three candidates, the role of the outgoing president Jokowi in the race, the electoral system and the role of parties in Indonesia's...