67 Results

So it’s down to three. Probably. The seats of Brisbane, Corangamite and Hasluck remain in doubt, with counting likely to continue for another week.

As has now been pointed out many times, conducting a redistribution while an election campaign is under way is sheer madness.

Whenever the federal election is held up to 1.4 million of us will not be entitled to cast a ballot because we are not on the roll. But there is a solution, even if the Coalition doesn’t support it, writes political science academic Brian Costar.

Kellie Tranter pens a letter to the Australian Electoral Commissioner on why the ALP should lose its political party registration, since its recent actions don’t align with Labor’s history and constitution.

Political junkies, as well as those who just appreciate dodgy geography, can now amuse themselves by checking out the submissions received on the current redistribution of federal electoral boundaries for Victoria, now available at the AEC website, writes Charles Richardson.

Whoever wins the marginal seats in this year’s Victorian election, such as McEwen and Deakin, could find that the boundary commissioners will have a big influence on their tenure.

NSW is moving into the 21st century with automated electoral rolls, while the federal system may be left languishing in the early 20th century, writes Graeme Orr.

Are we witnessing the drying up of political donations? Total political donations of $93.7 million fell 60% last year. Plus some of the more interesting donors uncovered by Crikey readers.

Despite a big drop in political donations in 2008-09, the AEC figures released yesterday still show how influence works — and fails to work — in Canberra. Even if the data isn’t that surprising.

Stock up on the ammo and canned food! Bernard Keane’s conspiracy theories on electoral reforms are flat out wrong, says Peter Brent.

Here are the headline grabbers from the government’s electoral reform paper, says William Bowe: serious discussion of voluntary voting for 16-year-olds. And could resigning MPs suffer financial penalties?

The Government’s proclivity for spin and half-smart political strategy is re-emerging, with its signs-in-front-of-schools plan and attempts to sell award modernisation.

In tips & rumours today: the best indicator of an imminent election has been the Electoral Commission checking if post offices have sufficient enrolment forms. They just checked.

Staff at the Australia Council are striking, angry over reduced conditions and wages, writes Nicholas Pickard.

Political parties have made NSW electoral redistribution submissions that propose a statewide redrawing of boundaries that subtly (or not so subtly) favour their own party’s interests, writes Ben Raue.

Over the 11 years of the previous government, more and more Australians have been losing their most basic democratic right — their vote at a federal election, writes Michael Danby.

‘I assumed it would be a pretty minor affair but I could not have been proved more wrong,’ writes Malcolm Mackerras.

Was there something other than altruism behind Manildra Group ‘s Dick Honan’s support for the democratic process? One of our website users suggests there just might be, writes Richard Farmer.

Meaty snippets from the home of government plus the daily reality check and the pick of other people’s political coverage. Richard Farmer writes.

If the federal government is committed to reforming freedom of information laws, will it run into a culture of secrecy within the public service? My experience over the past year suggests that, culturally, there’s a long way to go – within the Australian Electoral Commission at least, writes Peter Browne.

The bizarre affair of Labor candidate George Newhouse’s candidacy in Malcolm Turnbull’s Sydney seat of Wentworth at the November Federal Election is still bubbling away very nicely, writes Alex Mitchell.

There is no evidence of widespread, let alone systematic, electoral fraud in Australia. Try telling that to the H S Chapman Society, a stalwart band of conspiracy theorists, writes Christian Kerr.

They think it’s all over? Well it isn’t … yet. The Australian Electoral Commission still has nine electorates on its Close Seats list., writes Christian Kerr.