In this revised research brief, Gerard Newman discusses the 141 by-elections for the House of Representatives since Federation, including the most recent for the New South Wales division of Werriwa. Appendices give a full set of by-election figures.

The 2005 British election was held on 5 May. Scott Bennett reviews the campaign, the results and the fall-out, and looks at the controversy over Britain's first-past-the-post voting system.

In this submission to the inquiry into the 2004 federal election by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, George Williams and Bryan Mercurio argue for reforms to the rules governing voting technology, political advertising, political funding and overseas voting. Other submissions to the inquiry are available at the committee's website.

Using post-election surveys of 14,000 voters in ten Australian elections between 1966 and 2001, Andrew Leigh explores the impact that individual, local and national factors have on voters' decisions. In these ten elections, the poor, foreign-born, younger voters, voters born since 1950, men, and those who are unmarried are more likely to be left-wing. Over...

With control of the Senate, the Coalition government will move further down the path of labour market deregulation. Further changes will cater to the interests of employers, with special attention to small business owners, while hastening the demise of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and imposing additional fetters on trade union activity. Yet, says Josh...