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For questions relating to the government and politics of Australia.

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23 views

Which aspects of Australian refugee policy are under state government control?

Queensland is having a state election very soon, and while I normally don't pay too much attention to state politics, I've been wondering to what extent state governments do actually make an impact on ...
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49 views

Why is Fringe Benefits Tax the same as the highest tier as of Income Tax

In Australia FBT is currently 47%, which matches the income tax rate paid by anyone earning over $180,000 (45% income + 2% Medicare levy). It seems like Fringe Benefits would cost more for anyone ...
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3answers
5k views

Why did China target Australia for economic sanctions?

China initiated an anti-dumping investigation against Australian wine. Previously, China had increased tariffs on Australian barley. Why did China do this? Is there merit to this claim?
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1answer
92 views

What is the Victorian government's long-term COVID-19 strategy for reopening borders?

The Victorian (Australia) government is enforcing strict quarantining rules to reduce the number of COVID-19 cases. The short-term strategy detailed in the daily press release, published on YouTube, ...
3
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2answers
225 views

What is China's objection to Australia's planned offer to HK residents?

While I understand that the United Kingdom and China have a treaty with each other regarding the handover of Hong Kong (related question), as far as I'm aware, Australia was not a signatory to such a ...
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1answer
255 views

How are residents of the Australian Capital Territory represented compared to other states and territories?

Every once in a while, the discussion of statehood for Washington D.C. flares up, with the argument made, that residents of Washington D.C. are less represented in Congress than residents of other US ...
5
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1answer
269 views

What were the reasons for creating special districts for a nations capital? And how many are there?

Both in Australia and the US, the capital is located in a special district, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Dictrict of Columbia, respectively. What were the reasons for creating a ...
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51 views

How does Australia's National Cabinet differ from COAG?

As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia formed a National Cabinet on March 13th, consisting of the Prime Minister and the premiers and chief ministers of the Australian states and ...
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1answer
105 views

Why did Secretary Michael Pervan not appoint a CHO in 2018?

So, I was looking at the Australian Chief Health Officers (CHOs), and couldn't find one for Tasmania. Upon further investigation, it looks like the Tasmanian Health Department was re-organized in ...
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1answer
57 views

Who is on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee?

During this covid-19 event, Australians have been addressed by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison a number of times, where he has delivered speeches and informed the public of what actions are ...
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0answers
67 views

What are the (bidirectional) flows of skilled workers between Australia and the UK, presently?

In relation to an Australian statement that there would be "brain drain" from Australia to the UK should a visa-free worker system be adopted between the two countries... Surely, both Australia and ...
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4answers
2k views

Why would low-skilled British workers go to Sydney and Melbourne (in large numbers)?

News from earlier this month The Australian government has turned down the UK’s offer of a post-Brexit trade agreement that included visa-free work and travel between the two countries. Trade ...
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1answer
331 views

What are Australian parliament's rules on the use of props?

NPR's recent news item and podcast Australians Debate What To Do About Climate Change contains the following from NPR's Jason Beaubien reporting from Sydney. Question: What are Australian parliament's ...
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193 views

Why did Wang 'William' Liqiang identify himself?

Wang 'William' Liqiang claims to be a Chinese spy who's defecting to Australia. In the world of spies, double agents, and triple agents, where intelligence agents go to great lengths to conceal what ...
4
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1answer
53 views

Are there some statistics on the political affiliation of NESBs?

Non-English speaking background (NESB) is a demographic category often encountered in Australian publications. Are there statistics on the political party affiliation of NESBs (membership or just whom ...
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1answer
193 views

How is the US-China trade war viewed in Australia?

A pretty good question on econ.SE has highlighted the close relationship between the Australian and Chinese economies. So, I wonder, how is the US-China trade war viewed in Australia, at a political ...
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1answer
71 views

How can I determine how and who legislates drug laws?

I would like to know what process is involved in justifying the prohibition and or control of a substance and how this varies from country to country. For example, opiate based pain killers are a ...
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6answers
6k views

Why should public servants be apolitical?

The High Court of Australia has recently ruled in Comcare v. Banerji which was a test case that revealed the limits of the implied freedom of speech in Australia. A public servant, Michaela Banerji, ...
8
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1answer
415 views

In Australia, do Rupert Murdoch's publications deny anthropogenic climate change?

In Australia, do networks and publications owned by Rupert Murdoch, generally deny or down play the impacts of human actions on climate change? If so, what are some major cases where they advocated ...
3
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1answer
398 views

Is it common practice for foreign warships to dock in Australian ports without being announced to the public?

This article describes how some Chinese military vessels docked in Australia without being pre-announced to the public. It's getting attention because these are Chinese warships and it's close to ...
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1answer
174 views

Why does it take so long to count the last 30% of votes in an Australian federal election?

I've noticed over several federal elections in Australia that around 70% of the votes are counted on election night. However, it then takes days, sometimes weeks to count the remaining 30% of the ...
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1answer
122 views

Did the preferences from Clive Palmers United Australia Party allow the liberals to win the 2019 federal election

Clive Palmer did not win one seat for his 80m campaign but did the preferences deal with the liberals result in the liberals winning the overall election. E.g. for the electorates where liberals won ...
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2answers
192 views

What caused the gap between the opinion polls and the election result in the Australian Federal 2019 election?

Leading up to the 2019 election, the polls suggested a Labor win, but they lost. What was the cause of the difference? I realize it may take some time before a good answer is available.
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168 views

The LNP won the election, but lost my district. Do they still follow through on what my local representative said they'd do if they won?

The LNP won the election, but lost my district. The promises that my LNP representative made, are they still going to happen, even though he lost?
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1answer
93 views

How many extra votes does a party receive by being number 1 on the senate ticket in Australia

There is an understanding that if a party is number 1 on the senate ticket they will pick up extra votes from people who aren't serious and just number from the left. Has this been studied and if so ...
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77 views

What drawbacks are there in preferential voting? [duplicate]

I recently discovered that Australia uses the preferential voting system. It looks like a great system, so great that I do not see any immediate drawbacks. What are they?
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1answer
84 views

What is the smallest margin an Australian Federal or State seat has ever been won by?

What's the smallest difference between the winner and the next party in any state or federal election in Australia. Interested in both percentage and absolute count.
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1answer
85 views

Why do Australian states have different rules for senate voting to the federal government?

There seems to be a difference in rules for voting for the states and the federal government in Australia. For example, in the state of Victoria, you only have to enter 1 preference in the top line on ...
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1answer
51 views

How does someone in Australia get access to a list of Politicians meetings?

In the report "Who is in the room? Access and influence in Australian Politics" the report talks about numbers of meetings with ministers which implies that the list of meetings is somehow accessible. ...
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2answers
365 views

How can an Australian Senator be removed from office?

There's currently a change.org petition calling for the removal of Fraser Anning from the Australian Senate. Accepting that a change.org petition is merely indicative, and ignoring the specific ...
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1answer
153 views

How much of an influence did Port Arthur have on New Zealand?

New Zealand has announced it will change its gun laws in the wake of the massacre against attendees of two mosques. As an Australian, I’m surprised that New Zealand didn’t change its laws after the ...
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1answer
238 views

What is motivating the Australian government to recognise West Jerusalem as Israel's capital? [closed]

In a speech, Scott Morrison Australia current serving prime minister has been indicating that Australia will recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and eventually move the embassy there. ...
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2answers
355 views

Term for the trend where a political party does worse in State elections when holding power Federally

In Australia it's well-known (see, for example, here) that a party that holds power at Federal level will - all other things being equal - tend to hold a disadvantage in State elections. Similarly, ...
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1answer
230 views

Why did John Bercow nominate an Australian senate official to be the Clerk of the House?

In 2014 why did John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, nominate an Australian senate official to be the Clerk of the House? The Clerk of the House of Commons is a constitutional advisor, it ...
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2answers
185 views

Is Wentworth particularly pro-Israel, and why?

I’ve read speculation that the current Australian PM has made some pro-Israel statements recently because there’s a by-election in the seat of Wentworth, because the seat is about ten or fifteen ...
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2answers
412 views

Why was excluding Australian Aboriginal populations from the Race Power considered racist?

Section 51(xxvi) of the Australian Constitution originally read, The people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws: I hope ...
7
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1answer
4k views

What international relations is Australia missing out on by being a constitutional monarchy?

For my debate, I have to argue in favour of Australia being a republic. I'm planning on one of my points being that by still being a monarchy, Australia is missing out on multiple international ...
7
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1answer
180 views

Do aboriginal Australians value the acknowledgement of country speeches

Before many formal presentations often that have some connection with the government there is a formal acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the area and the tribe. This is usually in the ...
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1answer
362 views

How does the Australian Electoral Commission avoid partisan bias?

I was watching a Vox video on gerrymandering in Pennsylvania, and thought how lucky I am that gerrymandering is not generally considered to be much of a problem here in Australia. Some states had ...
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2answers
415 views

Can foreign countries disqualify Australian candidates at will?

Could a country get their preferred candidates to win an Australian election by declaring all other candidates for that office citizens of that country, thereby making all those other candidates ...
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1answer
252 views

Is it practical to protest the same sex plebiscite with a ballot? [closed]

Is it practical to protest the same sex plebiscite, being held in Australia, using the ballot itself? I've heard people advocate glitter bombing, but I assume it'll mainly result in the people ...
7
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3answers
358 views

How did so many Australian politicans recently win Parliamentary seats while unaware of or denying their second nationality?

Half a dozen Australian members of Parliament have resigned or are threatened with the need to do so after "discovering" that they are dual citizens, forbidden from serving (how surprising this truly ...
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3answers
298 views

Why did Australia grant refugee visas to Syrians despite their extremely harsh immigration policies?

I've been recently surprised to find out that Australia apparently granted 12,000 visas to refugees from Syria: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced it has fulfilled it's 2015 pledge to ...
8
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1answer
302 views

Why did Australian Labor MP Khalil Eideh get denied entry to the USA?

Khalil Eideh is an Australian State (Victoria) Member of Parliament who was on an official trip studying drug policy and injecting rooms. When the group was to travel from Canada to the USA he was ...
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0answers
165 views

Would Australia leaving ANZUS affect its Five Eyes benefits?

I'm preparing an oral presentation on whether or not Australia should leave ANZUS, but can't find much information regarding the effect the separation would have on the Five Eyes agreement. On the ...
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1answer
342 views

Why is there a gun amnesty in Australia? (2017)

There is currently a gun amnesty run by the federal government. What motivated the gun amnesty? Who motivated it? What is the objective? Is it likely to achieve the objective? How much is it likely ...
5
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1answer
262 views

Statistics on Australian non-voters who are actually sanctioned (fined or otherwise punished)

Voting is compulsory in Australia (source). Non-voters receive a letter, asking that they provide a valid and sufficient reason, or pay a A$20 penalty (source). Voter turnout in Australia is high, ...
4
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2answers
145 views

How did the introduction of the GST affect state budgets in Australia

I've often wondered if the fact that the states are more willing to sell off infrastructure to raise funds is connected to the introduction of the GST in 2000. Now, as I understand it, the GST ...
12
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1answer
235 views

How much have carbon-based industries invested in anti-climate-change lobbying in Australia?

There are reports that oil, coal and gas industries in America have invested more than half a billion dollars on lobbying against acting on climate change. In Australia there are more than 540 '...
3
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1answer
218 views

What happens to ballot papers after an election in Australia?

The voting process involved, Fill out ballot paper, Put paper in box, Count the papers and the result is declared. After the result is declared what happens with the ballot papers? I could not ...

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