An analysis of the 2023 election for 21 members of the NSW Legislative Council. The paper summarises the election result before delving into greater detail on preferences, above and below the line voting, votes by party, regional and electorate summaries, and comparisons with Legislative Assembly results. It also examines prospects for the 2027 Legislative Council...

This report finds that the present design of Victoria’s upper house, the Legislative Council, reinforces urban domination of Victorian politics while also failing to act as an effective mechanism for scrutiny of government. It provides three recommendations to address the present accountability, democratic and regional representation deficits.

Considerable concerns exist over so-called 'group voting tickets' used in elections for Victoria’s Legislative Council. This paper discusses Victoria's experiences, focusing on ensuring that the state's Upper House retains the public's confidence in its role and representativeness.

During the 2015 federal election campaign, the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau promised a new “nonpartisan, merit-based” appointments process for the Senate of Canada. This study investigates how the Senate’s functioning has evolved since 2015, with specific attention to the relationship between the government and the second chamber.

This paper was presented as a lecture in the Department of the Senate Occasional Lecture Series at Parliament House.