Australia has its new Senate. The Coalition will hold 30 seats, Labor 26, the Greens nine, and there will be 11 other crossbench senators. In March, the government passed sweeping changes to the way Australians elect their senators. Group voting… Read More »So, how did the new Senate voting rules work in practice?

There are two election battles going on ahead of polling day on July 2. One is for executive power in the contest for the House of Representatives. The other is for the Senate, which is elected under a system of… Read More »Aided by the new Senate rules, Nick Xenophon should have a happy election night

One-third of people believe the next Senate should have more or the same number of crossbenchers, according to polling done for the Australia Institute, a progressive think tank. This compares with 28% who would like to see fewer. There was… Read More »Partisan divide over Senate crossbenchers

In a unanimous judgment, the High Court on Friday crushed Family First senator Bob Day’s High Court challenge to the recent Senate voting reforms.The court regarded none of Day’s arguments as having any merit. It dismissed them as “untenable” or… Read More »High Court unanimously rejects challenge to Senate voting reform

‘Drone strikes are the face of America to many Yemenis,’ Farea al-Muslimi told a rare US Senate hearing on targeted killing yesterday. The Yemeni journalist and activist gave emotive testimony at a Senate subcommittee about the impact of drone strikes… Read More »Yemeni tells US Senate ‘drones are fuelling anti-Americanism’

After a marathon debate in the upper house, the Turnbull government’s changes to the way Australians elect their senators passed on Friday. Under the changes, voters will have more control over their preferences. The general principles of the system are:… Read More »Senate voting changes pass – so how do we elect the upper house now?

The response of those senators whose re-election is threatened by the proposed Senate voting reforms has been to lash out with claims of unconstitutionality and threaten High Court challenges. Are these reforms vulnerable to challenge and on what basis would… Read More »Is a constitutional challenge to Senate voting reforms likely to succeed?

The government is making a major change to its legislation to reform the Senate voting system after a recommendation from a brief parliamentary inquiry. Optional preferential voting will be brought in for below-the-line voting, to match the original plan in… Read More »Government agrees to change its Senate voting reforms as Shorten replaces Gary Gray

Labor has announced it will oppose the government’s proposed changes to the way Australians elect their senators. Labor’s opposition is almost certainly moot, however, as the government has the support of the Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon to pass… Read More »what changes to the Senate voting system are being proposed?