The Tally Room

Ben was joined by Mark Riboldi from UTS to preview this weekend's Farrer by-election, and what it might imply about the Coalition's bigger issues losing support to One Nation and independents. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. Yo...

Ben was joined by Rob Manwaring to look over the results of last Saturday's South Australian state election, in particular the emergence of One Nation as a party polling higher than the Liberal Party. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your sup...

Ben was joined by Josh Sunman from Flinders University to run through the seats that could be in play on South Australia's election night and how preference distributions could become much more complex amidst a One Nation surge. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile ple...

Ben was joined by Intifar Chowdhury and Anthony Zougras to bring the podcast up to speed on South Australian politics before the state election on March 21. They discussed the decline in support for the Liberal Party, the emergence of One Nation, and Peter Malinauskas' dominance in the state. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’...

How does owning your home or renting impact on how you vote? For today's podcast, Ben was joined by Shaun Ratcliff and Josh Goddard to discuss what we know about how home ownership (or asset ownership more broadly) influences voting trends. We discuss Josh's research looking at 14 different Western democracies, and also hear from Shaun about more research closer to home. You can now watch a video...

In last Sunday's Thai general election, voters swung strongly to current prime minister Anutin's Bhumjaithai Party, or BJT. In this podcast, Ben discusses Thai politics and the results of the Thai election with Erin Cook of the Dari Mulut ke Mulut newsletter .   You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube.   This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If...

Ben was joined by Donna Weeks, emeritus professor at Musashino University, to discuss this coming weekend's Japanese general election, where new prime minister Sanae Takaichi will be attempting to achieve her own mandate. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free versio...

Ben was joined by George Hasanakos from pollster DemosAU to discuss the surge in support for One Nation, which has pushed them ahead of the combined Liberal-National vote in a number of polls, as well as the split in the Liberal-National coalition. They discuss how these two trends impact on how polls are conducted. This podcast was recorded before the publication of polls by YouGov and Essential...

Ben was joined this week by Osmond Chiu, Per Capita research fellow and contributor editor for the Labor Left magazine Challenge, to discuss the factions of the Australian Labor Party. Read Osmond's 2020 piece in Jacobin on the history of Labor's factions. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support....

Ben was joined by Sarah Cameron from Griffith University, to discuss the results of the 2025 Australian Election Study, including Peter Dutton's unpopularity, foreign policy, voter dealignment, and how the vote splits by gender, generation and whether people own their own home. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider...

Ben was joined by Michael Evangelidis from GovConnex to discuss the factions of the Liberal Party of Australia - how fluid they are, how they work from the branch level to federal and state party rooms, and how the factions have changed in recent years. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You...

Ben was joined by Frank Bongiorno and Chris Monnox to discuss the history of Australia's federal parliament being expanded, in 1949 and 1984. We discuss the motivations for these changes, the positions taken by the parties and why it happened when it did. We also discuss efforts to break the 'nexus' which links the size of the House to the size of the Senate. This podcast is supported by the Tally...

Ben was joined by Matt Dennien from the Brisbane Times to discuss the Queensland state redistribution, specifically the first round of submissions. The conversation focuses on the Labor and LNP submissions, and also run through some of the other public submissions. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your...

Ben is joined by Kevin Bonham and Chris Monnox to discuss the results of the Tasmanian state election and prospects for the formation of a new government. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 or more per mon...

Ben is joined by William Bowe from the Poll Bludger to discuss the latest Tasmanian state polls and go through Tasmania's five electorates one by one, discussing the race and possible winners in each division. We refer extensively to Kevin Bonham's blog post breaking down the latest DemosAu poll This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhi...

Ben was joined by Tasmanian political observer Mike Lester to look at the state of the campaign and the announcement of candidates for the Tasmanian state election. We particularly look into the Tasmanian Nationals and the shadow-boxing around who takes the blame for the calling of the election and who has the best prospect of forming a majority government. This podcast is supported by the Tally R...

Ben is joined by Kevin Bonham to discuss the collapse of the Tasmanian government just 15 months after the last election, and to look at some of the early moves for independents to find a new party home. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast...

For this podcast Ben interviews two scrutineers about their experience in the recounts: Adelaide, a Liberal scrutineer from Bradfield, and KJ, an independent scrutineer from Goldstein. Ben also discusses the recount procedures he saw in Bradfield last week and the latest count updates from Monday afternoon. Ben's blog post about visiting the Bradfield recount The podcast features the song 'It's a...

Ben was joined by Kevin Bonham to run through the close seats and the Senate race that have dragged out, one week after the election. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 or more per month. And $8 donors can...

Ben is joined by William Bowe from the Poll Bludger to discuss the results of yesterday's Australian federal election, which produced Labor's best result since 1943. We talk about the close seats, how multi-party politics is transforming local electorate contests and what is likely to happen in the Senate. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podca...

Ben is joined by Peter Brent and the ABC's Tom Crowley for the final pre-election episode of the 2025 federal election campaign. We discuss how a hung parliament might play out and the experience of riding Peter Dutton's campaign bus. For our seat of the week we discuss the NSW seat of Werriwa. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhil...

Ben is joined by Jill Sheppard and Emily Foley to discuss the long-term trend of the major parties losing primary votes: what is causing the trend, how it might play out in 2025 and whether they can do anything to reverse the trend. The seat of the week is Bruce in south-eastern Melbourne. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile ple...

Ben is joined by Duncan McDonnell from Griffith University to discuss the close of rolls and nominations and the role of Gen Z voters in the election. The seat of the week is Lingiari in the Northern Territory, and we also talk about Indigenous enrolment and parliamentary representation. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If you find this podcast worthwhile pleas...

Ben is joined by Stewart Jackson and Phoebe Hayman to discuss the role of the Greens in the federal election: the seats they are defending and are challenging for, the rivalry between Labor and the Greens and how the electoral system shapes their relationship. The seat of the week is Wills, in the inner north of Melbourne. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon . If yo...

Ben is joined by journalist Rachel Withers, writer of the Crikey column 'Well Hung' , to discuss the prospects for independent candidates, including teal and Muslim independents, at the 2025 federal election. A 2023 meme from Twitter user Pineapple Crab applying different definitions for a "teal" Read my 2023 paper ' Not Your Parents' Electoral System ' This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’...