Whether you’re a diehard political junkie, or just dip into politics at election time, the May 3 federal election will be a fascinating watch – as a first-term government attempts to win re-election in the teeth of a cost-of-living crisis.
If you’re working in the public sector the result is likely to have direct implications on your work, so for armchair political enthusiasts, or those just wanting to get the basic information on what the election means to them, we’ve put together a few handy resources.
For a basic guide to the election – when it’s on, who the main players are, or how voting works – this primer from SBS has got you covered.
There are 150 seats in Australia’s House of Representatives, but all the political and media attention will be focused on the 25 or so marginal seats that will decide the election.
Here are two guides to the ‘battleground seats’: one from the Guardian outlining the seats that will get the most attention and why, and one from the Australian with expert views on why political parties are targeting specific seats.
ABC election analyst Antony Green has covered elections since 1990, and outlines his guide to the election in this interview. He has also published this guide that explains the electoral redistributions in place for this election, and provides an electoral pendulum outlining marginal seats.
Polls will be released almost every day during the campaign, and may give an idea of which way momentum is flowing or what issues (if any) have engaged the public. For an exhaustive non-partisan analysis of polling as it happens, the Pollbludger website is a valuable resource.
But what about the policy?
Of course, elections are meant to be about policy and outlining well thought-out and comprehensive visions for the future of the nation.
While policy detail doesn’t always get a huge amount of coverage in the media, the political parties do outline their policies. Websites for Labor, The Liberals and Nationals, and the Greens are a good resource if there are some details that might affect your area.
The Conversation’s policy tracker will be updated through the campaign and aims to put together an accessible picture of the major issues and policy differences between the two major parties.
The ABC’s Vote Compass tool aims to inform voters about the issues in the election, and give them a better idea of which party is closest to their views. Using Vote Compass involves doing a ten-minute quiz which is also used to track voter sentiment on key issues.
The election result will affect the work of public servants at all levels of government. For those in the federal public sector, you are in ‘caretaker mode’ where important decisions that would bind an incoming government are deferred where possible.
For a refresher on what the caretaker convention involves in practice, you can read the relevant part of the Cabinet Handbook here. The Westminster Tradition public service podcast has also run an election special, looking at the Caretaker Convention among other issues.
A couple of other podcasts which will be covering the election are Democracy Sausage, hosted by ANU Professor and former journalist Mark Kenny, and The Conversation’s Politics podcast run by veteran journalist Michelle Grattan.
Finally, if you’re an Australian citizen aged over 18 then don’t forget to vote! It’s compulsory and you will get a fine if you fail to vote without a legitimate excuse. At the 2022 election, only 89% of eligible voters cast a ballot (the lowest turnout in recent history). If you are eligible to vote but are not currently on the Electoral Roll, you have until 8pm on Monday April 7th to enrol, and you can do so online here.