3.7 Electoral systems in Australia with Antony Green
Release Date: 04/22/2019
The Paris Citizens' Assembly
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I talk with Anouch Toranian, the Deputy Mayor of Paris, Yves Dejaeghere, the Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy, Europe and Claudia Chwalisz, leader of innovation in citizen engagement with the OECD about the design and establishment of the Paris Citizens' Assembly.
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3.8 New Zealand's Electoral System with Therese Arseneau
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
I'm speaking with Therese Arseneau about the introduction of a mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system. Therese talks about the background to the referendum which led to the introduction of MMP in New Zealand [1:20], how voters view the impact of MMP [13:20], the reality of MMP and coalition governments [21:20], the impact of MMP on women's representation [28:10], its wider impact [34:00] and Maori representation generally and the impact of MMP [39:30].
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3.7 Electoral systems in Australia with Antony Green
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m talking with Antony Green about the Australian electoral system and Vote Compass, a tool which allows voters to explore how their views align with the major parties.
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3.6 Reforming democracy, democratic legitimacy and majority bonuses with Dr Camille Bedock
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m talking with Dr Camille Bedock about her book Reforming Democracy: Institutional engineering in Western Europe, 1990 - 2010 and also about her more recent research with Sophie Panel on citizen conceptions of how democratic their democracy is and with Nicolas Sauger on how electoral systems with majority bonuses affect electoral competition.
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3.5 Electoral Integrity with Pippa Norris
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I am speaking with Professor Pippa Norris about her work on electoral integrity.
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Bonus Ep10 Deliberation Culture Context - John Dryzek
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m speaking with Professor John Dryzek about his ARC Laureate Fellowship, his reflections on the Conference generally, how we might establish global deliberative processes and directions for future research in this area.
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Bonus Ep9 Deliberation Culture Context - Quinlan Bowman
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m speaking with Dr Quinlan Bowman about his reflections on the Conference Deliberation, Culture and Context.
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Bonus Ep8 Deliberation Culture Context - John Parkinson
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m speaking with Professor John Parkinson, who is currently a Professor of Social and Political Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
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Bonus Ep7 Deliberation Culture Context - Ian O'Flynn
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this bonus episode I’m speaking with Dr Ian O'Flynn about his work on deliberation in divided societies.
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Bonus Ep6 Deliberation Culture Context - Stephanie Lawson
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In bonus episode 6 I’m speaking with Professor Stephanie Lawson, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the Macquarie University about her paper ‘Consensus Politics and Democracy in the Pacific Islands: A Critique’ which she presented at the Deliberation, Culture and Context conference.
info_outlineIn this episode, I’m talking with Antony Green about the Australian electoral system and Vote Compass, a tool which allows voters to explore how their views align with the major parties.
Antony is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's election analyst. As well as being an Adjunct Professor University of Sydney in the School of Social and Political Sciences.
I spoke with Antony about how he came to be Australia’s best-known election analyst - he said he was in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills.
He identified three institutions which define Australian politics:
- Compulsory voting
- Preferential voting
- Bi-cameral Houses of Parliament
And highlighted a couple of institutional challenges in Australia
- The power of our Senate undermines the mandate given to the House of Representatives to implement the policies they took to the election
- Strict rules around what counts as a validly completed ballot paper results in around one-third to a half of all votes being considered informal.
I also asked Antony what he thought of the idea of a Citizens’ Senate. He noted that it would be difficult in practice due to the need to amend the Australian Constitution and that there would be many questions to be answered about how it might work in practice.
Anthony has been involved in the development of Vote Compass here in Australia and I asked him about the benefits and limitations of the tool.
My interview with Antony was recorded some time ago and we are currently in the midst of a Federal Election here in Australia. As Antony suggested in his comments on Vote Compass, it has been extended to include the ultra-conservative party One Nation. It will be interesting to see the impact of a party to the right of the Liberal/Nationals on where people’s policy preferences align.
If you would like to see how your policy preferences align with four of the political parties contesting the upcoming 2019 Federal Election visit the ABC’s Vote Compass.