Please explain: a guide to Australian politics

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Sometimes it seems there’s not much difference between Labor and the Liberals – what are the nitty-gritties of each party?

Between all of the name-calling, leadership challenges and commentary on the PM’s ties, it’s easy to lose sight of party principles. So we asked Professor Clement Macintyre, head of the University of Adelaide’s school of history and politics, to clarify.

The Labor Party

“At the core of the Labor Party’s beliefs is a notion of social justice,” says Macintyre.
☛ It believes in creating a strong “safety net” of workplace conditions and government benefits so the most disadvantaged aren’t left behind as society develops.

☛ In practice, this means more regulation of businesses to ensure better wages and conditions, as well as collective bargaining, which means workers negotiate wages and conditions as a group (what we call “unions”) rather than individually.

☛ Labor’s focus on equity and social welfare usually requires higher taxes on businesses and wealthy people to fund social programs.

The Liberal Party

“In contrast, the Liberal Party is about recognising the importance of the individual,” says Macintyre.
☛ It believes governments should support and egg on individuals to improve their lives through innovation and hard yakka in private businesses.

☛ It’s for minimally regulating and taxing businesses, so that those businesses can grow and employ more people. It’s basically letting private-sector employment become the main driver of social benefit.

☛ It champions incentives for individuals to help themselves, rather than imposing higher taxes to fund a broad social-welfare system, which it reckons stifles economic development.

Q: What’s the difference between the House of Reps and the Senate?

The folks who drafted the Australian Constitution decided parliament should have two houses – the Senate and the House of Representatives – to share law-making power. For a law to pass, it must get a majority of votes in both the houses.

The House of Reps (or Lower House) contains 150 geographical “seats” (aka electorates). The boundaries for each seat are designed so approximately 100,000 voters live in each seat. This means the larger states have more seats, and thus more MPs, than the smaller states (NSW = 48, Tas = five). The party that wins the most seats in the House of Reps forms government, and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister.

The Senate (or Upper House) only has 76 seats. And while the allocation of seats in the House of Reps is based on the number of voters, Senate seats are state-based. Each state has 12 seats, regardless of population, and the territories (ACT and NT) have two each. This ensures people-heavy states, such as NSW and Vic, don’t drown out the voices of less-populated states.

In a nutshell, the Senate makes sure all the states are represented equally by state senators, while the House of Reps ensures every Aussie is represented equally by a local member. Got that?

Q: What if you don’t like either party and vote, say, for the Australian Sex Party – does your vote even count?

Yes, your preferences count. Preferences are complex – it’s a little long-winded, so get the lowdown from the king of election explanations, Antony Green.

Did you know?

Vote swayer #: GOOD LOOKS
Voters are drawn to candidates they find attractive. The University of California, US, posed male models as candidates and asked female voters to assess their competency. The hotties scored higher in every category.

Vote swayer #2: THE WEATHER
Research from the University of Iowa, US, examined the link between George W Bush’s approval rating and atmospheric conditions – nice days were generally good news for the then incumbent. Better pray for sun and blue skies, Kevin.

Vote swayer #3: A DEEP VOICE
For a study in PLOS ONE, researchers had fake candidates record the message, “I urge you to vote for me.” Both men and women preferred the candidates with the deepest voices.

*Disclaimer These days the world of politics changes faster than you can say Julia vs Kevin, but this info was correct at the time of going to print.