The Tally Room

While I was away in the US, the ACT Legislative Assembly officially voted to increase the number of seats in the Assembly from 17 to 25. The Assembly is currently elected from three electorates: one electing seven MLAs, and the other two electing five MLAs...

The Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Jeff McCloy, resigned his position this morning, after recent ICAC revelations that he had donated money to a number of Hunter-based Liberal MPs despite being a property developer and thus not being permitted to donate money. Two of the...

Following on from the announcement earlier this week that the NSW state government will support a bill from the Shooters and Fishers that will radically expand business voting for the City of Sydney, today the bill was introduced in the Legislative Council, after previously...

Voters in two electorates in the Hunter region of New South Wales will be voting in by-elections in coming months, less than a year out from the next New South Wales election. These by-elections were triggered yesterday by the resignations of Tim Owen, Member for...

Since the expanded City of Sydney was created in 1948, every single state government has tinkered with the City of Sydney's structure and boundaries to advantage their allies in local council elections. Today's announcement by the state Liberal government that they plan to radically expand business voting...

Nominations were announced yesterday for the by-election in the Queensland state seat of Stafford. Only four candidates nominated, representing Labor, Liberal National, Greens and Family First: Bob Anderson (Liberal National) Sally-Anne Vincent (Family First) Anne Boccabella (Greens) Anthony Lynham (Labor) This is in contrast to the Redcliffe by-election in February, when nine candidates stood...

New Zealand goes to the polls on 20 September for their general election. The National-led centre-right government will be running for a third term at the election. For the first time, I am putting together a seat-by-seat guide to the New Zealand election, in a similar...

In 2015, New South Wales and Western Australia will both undergo redistributions to redraw federal electoral boundaries due to New South Wales losing its 48th seat and Western Australia gaining its 16th seat. Yesterday I looked at enrolment numbers in NSW seats, and how...

Every three years, approximately one year after the federal election, Australia's population is assessed, and each state and territory is given a set number of seats to be filled in the next Parliament, based on population. When the number of seats allocated to a...

Less than six months from the next scheduled Victorian state election, the Victorian coalition government is gripped by political instability after ex-Liberal independent Geoff Shaw declared that he will vote for a no-confidence motion in the Napthine Liberal-National government. Geoff Shaw is facing a vote...