NSW 2023 – how preferences decided the close races

When you look at the NSW election results at the state level, there are some general trends that dominate when it comes to preferences. Labor generally benefits from stronger preference flows than the Coalition, with the Greens being the dominant party providing those preferences....

NSW 2023 – how preferences flowed in the crossbench seats

In today's post I'm following up on a pre-election blog post where I looked at what preference flow data tells us about the underlying political trends in the crossbench seats, now with 2023 data. I'm going to start with a chart looking at how primary...

NSW 2023 – upper house preference rates continue to climb

Last week I analysed the final distribution of preferences in the NSW upper house election and thought I had detected some evidence that people were marking more preferences, but at the time we didn't have the full dataset of preferences. Now we do, and it's...

NSW 2023 – final two-party-preferred preference flows

The final preference datasets for the NSW state election were published yesterday. These datasets include the full preference data for every single ballot paper cast in both houses. New South Wales is the only state to publish this data for the lower house, although...

WA state redistribution – the starting numbers

The process of redistributing Western Australia's electoral boundaries has now commenced, with the first round of submissions closing next week. Western Australia's 59 electorates will be redrawn over the next few months, with the draft boundaries due out in July. The electorates in the Perth area...

The six-seat Senate dilemma

I've written before about the peculiar way that single transferable vote works differently with districts electing an odd number of representatives, as opposed to an even number. You particularly notice it in local councils with 2-member or 4-member wards, but it is also an issue...

Podcast #93: NSW election wrap and expanding the federal parliament

Ben is joined by Stewart Jackson to wrap up the NSW state election, but to also discuss the news about a possible expansion of the federal parliament. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider...

Time for a bigger parliament

The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday ran a story about the potential for an expansion of the number of seats in the Australian parliament. I think there's a strong case to make this change, and I made a submission to that effect to the current Joint...

NSW 2023 – mapping the upper house vote

Today's post features two maps showing the vote for the top five polling groups in the Legislative Council election by region, and the swings for the top four groups along with the Shooters. Labor topped the primary vote in 57 seats, with the Coalition coming...

Lower exhaustion rates amid a more concentrated upper house vote

One of the things that stood out in the NSW Legislative Council results was that Animal Justice increased their vote from the level that they polled in 2015 and 2019, but they fell short of winning. I wanted to try and understand what happened....