Senate casual vacancies are not rare occurrences in Australia. Since 1901, there have been some 140 such events. The first senate casual vacancy arose within less than 18 months of the establishment of… Continue reading
Immediately after John Kerr had sacked the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam returned to the Lodge, set the table and sat down to eat steaks. As they ate, he and his closest colleagues thrashed… Continue reading
One thing that struck me recently when I was re-reading Fred Daly’s memoirs From Curtin to Kerr (1977) was his view that the Senate was essentially irrelevant to day to day Australian politics. … Continue reading
In 2006, four women senators from different parties made history when they worked together across party lines to overturn the ministerial veto on medical abortion drug RU486. What led these women to collaborate… Continue reading
The current inquiry by the federal parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JCSEM) into the conduct of the 2016 federal election should be an opportunity for real debate over party regulation. Despite… Continue reading
Young people are increasingly becoming disinterested and disengaged with mainstream electoral politics. While this trend cannot yet be classified as long term, it raises an interesting point of why young people are turning… Continue reading
The Senate has always constituted something of a challenge to Federal governments wanting to implement their legislative programmes. However, that is how it should be, surely – the Senate is supposed to operate… Continue reading
Prior to the 2016 federal election held on 2 July, the Coalition demonstrated a rare degree of collaboration with the Greens and passed changes to reform the electoral process for the Senate. This… Continue reading
