Book Review: Winning for Women

Iola Mathews, Winning for Women: A Personal Story Monash University Publishing, 2019. Have you ever wondered about the gender transformation of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)? Once the bulwark of the male… Continue reading →

Public servants are private citizens too: Why public servants in Australia should participate anonymously

While online communication comes with an optimism in easing access to public deliberation, this access is not universal. Barriers to online political participation and communication is commonly attributed to the digital divide –… Continue reading →

When did recent campaigns against tax dodging companies peak in the UK and Australia?

  How has civil society advocacy around international tax justice issues, such as multinational corporate tax avoidance, waxed and waned after the 2008 financial crisis? Which is more mobilising: austerity policies from national… Continue reading →

Australians like vaccination, and overwhelmingly think it should be mandatory

Mass childhood vaccination is one of the most important public health measures ever devised. As well as protecting vaccinated individuals, high levels of overall vaccination also protect those who can’t be vaccinated themselves.… Continue reading →

Evidence from Australia: women are under-represented in senior political appointments, and this affects the representation of women in parliament

Political advisers can help shape public policy. They are also often the politicians of the future, so it matters who they are. Using Australian Ministerial directories,  Marija Taflaga and Matthew Kerby tracked men… Continue reading →

Making the personal political

ALP Election Leaflet 1974 Reproduced by kind permission of Bruce Petty   Michelle Arrow, The Seventies: The personal, the political and the making of modern Australia, NewSouth Publishing, 2019. How should we characterise… Continue reading →

Campaign finance in Australia: What are the issues and how are they perceived by citizens?

Australians increasingly feel estranged from their representatives. According to the Australian Election Study, record numbers of Australians are concerned that the government is run not for them but for ‘a few big interests’?… Continue reading →

Post-democracy: does populism have a place in Britain?

For democracy to be flourishing, movements emerging from the population must, from time to time, be able to give the system a shock, writes Colin Crouch. Yet that raises questions about xenophobic populism: can… Continue reading →

Economic voting and party positions: when and how wealth matters for the vote

  Does the ownership of economic assets matter for how people vote? Drawing on new research, Timothy Hellwig and Ian McAllister find the answer is yes. They argue that by changing their policy positions, parties can shape the… Continue reading →

Political consumerism: buying better to free slaves?

  Modern slavery is hard to define and quantify, with public understandings of the problem often built through stories presented in news, government reports, awareness campaigns, and entertainment media. The political narrative of… Continue reading →