Political parties

Collection
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The RMIT ABC Fact Check determines the accuracy of claims by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in public debate. This collection provides an archive for all RMIT ABC Fact Checks.
Collection
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The Whitlam policy collection brings together landmark research reports, supplemented with audio, video, articles, literature reviews, essays and transcripts produced by The Whitlam Institute since 2008.
Discussion paper

Party platforms on corporate democracy and governance

Corporations play a major role in Australian democracy. They lobby governments for favourable policy outcomes. They make substantial donations to political parties and sometimes run overtly political advertising campaigns. This paper reviews the federal policies of political parties to identify which policies – if any...
Article

Big money was spent on the 2022 election – but the party with the deepest pockets didn’t win

Nine months after the 2022 federal election, Australian voters finally get a look at how much the major parties spent and who funded their campaigns.
Briefing paper

Who pays the piper? Donations to federal political parties 1998/99 – 2019/2020

Under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth), disclosures are required of political parties and donors. This analysis collates and categorises disclosures made to the Australian Electoral Commission by both donors and political parties over the period 1998/99 – 2019/2020.
Report

Visualising Victoria's electoral history

This paper provides an outline of some of the main electoral and political changes in Victoria since the 1850s. It combines historical sources with computational data analysis and visualisation techniques to illustrate patterns in Victoria’s electoral and party systems.
Discussion paper

The case for truth in political advertising reform in Tasmania

This paper addresses the Tasmanian government’s objections to legislating truth in political advertising laws, as part of the review of the Electoral Act currently underway.
Report

The new majority: the state and future of the British centre-right

Over the last few years, the centre-right coalition in the United Kingdom has broadened beyond recognition – illustrated most strikingly by the Conservative Party’s landslide win at the 2019 election. The author of this report argues that the conservative movement’s future lies in paying disproportionate...
Report

Operation Watts

This joint investigation, conducted by IBAC and the Victorian Ombudsman, was initiated following allegations of serious corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including Members of Parliament. The joint investigation examined a range of matters, including allegations of misuse of electorate offices, ministerial office staff and...
Report

2022 Election commitments report

The 2022 Election commitments report provides the budget impact of each of the election commitments made by the major parties in the 2022 general election, and the total combined impact of their policy platforms on the Australian government budget.
Report

Post-election briefing 2022: changing constituencies, changing prospects for reform

The 2022 federal election has reshaped Australia's political landscape. Labor will form government despite having an astonishingly low primary vote of around 32%. This paper summarises the election campaign, the results, the key themes, and the prospects for real, impactful reform in the new parliament.
Discussion paper

Australians’ views on gender equity and the political parties

This paper focuses on the views of Australians about gender equality, on Australians’ attitudes to gender issues, confidence in the different parties on issues related to gender equity and how this relates to voting intentions. It is based on data from the April 2022 ANUpoll.
Report

The way in: representation in the 46th Australian Parliament

Representation matters. Within our society a lot of attention is paid to how power is used, and in whose interests, but the issue of who has power is of equal importance. This report explores the path to parliament taken by our current representative members of...
Report

The 2022 Australian federal election: themes, challenges and issues

This publication has two key aims. First, it seeks to underline the issues which are dominating this year's campaign, as well as those issues which have generally attracted less attention by the parties and media. Second, it aims to showcase the strength of Monash University’s...
Discussion paper

Views on policy and politics on the eve of the 2022 federal election

This paper focuses on the views of Australians on politics and policy, just as the 2022 federal election campaign got underway. The authors use data from the April 2022 ANUpoll, which collected data from 3,587 Australians aged 18 years and over.
Article

Clive Palmer, his money and his billboards are back. What does this mean for the 2022 federal election?

As it contests the 2022 federal election, is the United Australia Party also on a downward trajectory or will it tap into populist sentiment reacting against vaccine mandates and climate change? Susan Harris Rimmer shares her analysis in this article.
Article

Hope? Contempt? Reciprocity? How each political party’s election ads reveal their key messages

The federal election campaign is underway and political advertising has really started to ramp up. But who is each party targeting and what’s their key message?
Report

Road to renewal: elections, parties and the case for democratic reform

In this paper, the authors argue democratic reforms to enhance the influence of ordinary and underpowered citizens over public policy are a necessary component of any strategy to recapture lost electorates and reinforce the foundations of democracy.
Guide

Election funding and disclosure in Australian jurisdictions: a quick guide - February 2022 update

This guide summarises the complex funding and disclosure laws federally, and in each Australian state and territory. This document does not attempt to capture every nuance of each system and is not a substitute for legal advice. The analysis separates out donations and electoral expenditure...
Report

Political marketing and management in the 2020 general election: key findings and advice for future practice

This report explores the use of political marketing and management during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides valuable insights into political marketing and management in practice.
Briefing paper

Four leverage points to improve how Australia makes its future

This is a snapshot of the first Next25 Recoded report that explores and synthesises 50 deeply reflective, one-on-one interviews with established and emerging leaders from a diverse cross-section of the future-making system.
Report

Xi dreams of 100 more glorious years for the Party: might China awake?

The Chinese Communist Party is at the peak of its power as it enters its second century. This paper examines its evolution over the last 100 years, before turning to its centenary celebrations in July 2021, with Xi Jinping at the helm.
Journal article

Who votes for public health? An analysis of Australian politicians’ parliamentary voting behaviour

Despite the important role politicians play in setting health policy, limited attention has been given to examining the voting behaviour of politicians in the Australian Parliament regarding health-related policy. This study systematically assessed the voting patterns of federal politicians to determine whether they concurred with...
Working paper

Understanding the origins of populist political parties and the role of external shocks

This research uses New Zealand electoral survey data to examine the impact two large external shocks had on the development of New Zealand First, one of the oldest populist political parties in the OECD.
Report

After Xi: future scenarios for leadership succession in post-Xi Jinping era

After nearly nine years in office, Xi Jinping now stands as the overwhelmingly dominant figure in China’s political system. This paper assesses China’s possible leadership succession scenarios in the coming years and decades.