Auspol Explained

Local government is one of the three tiers of government in Australia, but what does it do? There are over 500 local governments in Australia and each can vary in its size, scope and responsibilities. They manage things like rubbish collection, local parks and libraries - but also way more! In this episode I provide a general overview of the various things local councils can be in charge of managi...

Typing! I'm doing it now. I'm recording words. But while the sands of time will one day erase them and no one will read this sentence in a few decades, the Hansard Record will endure for centuries. What is Hansard? It's the official record of parliamentary debates of course! Hansard reporters are a key part of how parliament works because they write down all the speeches, questions and...

There are two chambers to the Australian Parliament where bills are debated: the Senate and the House of Representatives. But there's also only so much time in the day to get business done so how does Parliament make sure it can give opportunities to as many members as possible to give speeches and examine reports? Well in comes a THIRD room for this to happen: the Federation Chamber! In this...

Amendments! What are they? Well, basically they're changes to a bill or law and are pretty regularly done to improve legislation and make sure it's up to date. In this episode I go over the process of how amendments are introduced, negotiated and passed as well as the limitations and requirements. Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Blue...

Parliaments around Australia make laws - be that for the entire country or for their respective state or territory. Here's an explainer about how bills pass through the federal Parliament to give you an understanding of the general idea, with a few of the important differences for state/territory parliaments mentioned at the end. Enjoy! Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon....

The future of Auspol Explained.... is coming. Because that's how linear time works. But let me fill you in on THREE things that I plan on doing going forward. Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explain...

17th December 1967 the Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a swim and never came back. This is his story. You can watch the memorial service for Harold Holt on the NSFA YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/-cSMQGXICWk?si=LmSXkZL_xC6E0Vha Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me...

50 years ago the nation was rocked by the dismissal of the Gough Whitlam Labor government by the Governor-General John Kerr because the Coalition in the Senate had prevented the passage of supply. Malcolm Fraser was appointed prime minister, supply was passed, and a double dissolution was called. This remains one of two times the reserve powers have been explicitly used to dismiss a government in...

November 1975: Australia was in a crisis. The Whitlam Government had passed a supply bill in the House of Representatives but the Coalition, led by Malcolm Fraser, was blocking its passage in the Senate. The Senate had never impeded the Government like this before and by the end of November the money the Government could spend would run out. Public servants would not be paid unless the impasse was...

Prime Ministers! Australia has had 31 of them. 23 are dead (as of recording) which means there's a bunch of ways they've been memorialised - plaques, statues, suburbs in Canberra and of course the good old classic tombstone. but not all graves are equally as interesting. So, as a post-election treat, I decided to rank the graves of former Australian prime ministers based off how interestin...

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) runs federal elections and referendums. But what else? Every election there are complaints to the AEC about candidates saying un-truths and misleading things but it actually has no power to regulate what candidates say and for a good reason - it's there to independently and apolitically run elections. But that doesn't mean the commission has no rol...

What's the BIGGEST election victory in Australian history? It's not for the federal Parliament - it's for a state or territory. So here's a list of the largest government majorities for each Australian state and territory parliament going all the way back to federation! Listen to my previous episode on biggest federal election victories here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3hOoyJ...

Recently Labor under Anthony Albanese won a whopping 94 out of 150 seats in the House of Representatives - but is that the biggest federal election victory in Australian history? How about the historic loss for the Liberal/National Coalition? How does that compare to other election losses? Well, here's TWO top 10 lists of the biggest government margins and smallest opposition victories in Aust...

Election misinformation! I saw my fair share of it while making episodes about the 2025 federal election and oh boy, there are some classic repeat claims as well as some new and bizarre ones that are making the rounds. Here's a handy explainer of some of the false, misleading and outdated claims I saw and how they're wrong. The myths/episode chapters are:0:00 Intro2:04 Voting machines swit...

It's time for parties to choose new leaders! Especially because some of them got voted out of Parliament. So how does that process work? Well, here's a brief overview of how there isn't a one-size fits all approach to party leadership rules in Australia but there is a general vibe to how it works. In this I'll cover how Labor, Liberals, Greens and Nationals decide who their leader...

Every election there'll be someone unhappy with the results and someone claiming it was rigged. But in Australia that kind of claim just doesn't stack up. There is a LOT of scrutiny on Australian elections! They're also run by independent electoral commissions. So, if you doubt their validity or if you're just curious about all the levels of details, security, scrutiny and transpar...

The 2025 Australian election was called after about 2.5 hours - yet days afterwards they're still counting votes so how is it that we know the election result without it being officially declared? Well, in this episode I explain the basics of how the news uses statistical trends to make predictions even though it'll still be weeks before the official declaration of results from the AEC.Sup...

How does preference counting work for the Australian Senate? How do they figure out who wins the Senate seats? To win, a candidate needs a quota - but a quota is different depending on how many seats there are and how many votes there are overall. Once candidates achieve a quota they're elected but then if they have surplus votes those are transferred at a reduced rate to the next preferences...

Does your Member or Senator own any investment properties or stocks? What banks are they with? Do they have any bonds or trusts? What assets and gifts do they have? And what about their spouse? Well, the register of interests places on the public record Members' interests which may conflict, or may be seen to conflict, with their public duty - so you can look all that information up yourself a...

What happens when a party disendorses one of their candidates? Are they removed from the ballot? Are they kicked out of Parliament? In this episode I explain how there's basically nothing that can be done after the close of nominations except let the voters decide if they want to back the person with or without party endorsement. Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/Aus...

When you go to vote you'll be handed a pencil to use for filling in your ballots - but why pencils? Why not pens? And are you allowed to bring your own pen or even any other writing utensil for that matter? Well the answer is yes, you can bring along something other than a pencil - but you must make sure you mark your ballot clearly for it to be formal so please consider that not everything is...

Australia uses preferential voting for its elections, but how does it work? Well here's an explanation how it's used for the House of Representatives to find which candidate has a majority. Preferential voting requires you to rank the candidates by numbering them 1, 2, 3, etc in order of your favourite candidate to least. But then how is a winner determined? I've got a few different sc...

In this episode I'm going to bust some myths and misunderstandings about donkey voting. Is it a valid vote? How often does it happen? And does donkey voting have an impact on the results? Find your candidates at the AEC website: https://aec.gov.au/Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedLike Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Expla...

How does voting work? How do you fill in the ballot for the House of Representatives and the Senate? And what's the difference? In this episode I'll explain the different requirements for expressing your preferences in Australian federal elections and the basics of how a winner is determined. To find your candidates/more information about voting visit the Australian Electoral Commission: h...

There's an election happening soon! But candidates have been preparing for months in advance. What actually is involved in an election campaign and what is it like from the perspective of a candidate? Well, I sat down with Nathan Barton, an independent candidate backed by the Voices for Moore group, to ask him about his experiences deciding to run, trying to connect with the electorate, how he...