Civic Guidance

I'm known as the kind of politics nerd who can be informative rather than just argumentative. Others sometimes turn to me during election campaigns and I have obliged both one-on-one and online. 2022 is an election year in Australia so I need to be prepared in any setting, from a classroom discussion to chatter at my favourite cafe. But one can get rusty so I'm writing some very basic guidance here as a kind of revision.

Democracy

The word 'democracy' comes from the Greek and means rule by the people. In a small community (face-to-face and possibly now online) of only a few hundred people, everyone can participate in decision-making, and so direct or participatory democracy is possible. However, in a society of millions, it becomes necessary for the public to elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf. Australia is a representative democracy in which the majority decide who the government will be. More specifically, Australia is a parliamentary democracy in which the ruling majority must abide by the law and respect minority rights rather than just do what is popular in the moment.

Branches Of Government

One important democratic concept is the separation of powers into different branches of government to ensure that nobody has too much power. A common way to do this is with three branches of government, as follows:

- A legislature that debates and writes new laws.
- An executive that approves such laws and puts them into action.
- A judiciary which interprets laws and resolves legal disputes.

In some nations these three branches are strictly independent of each other. In Australia this is true for the judiciary (our various courts of law) but our legislature and executive are connected. The Parliament of Australia is our legislature and is elected by Australian citizens. Some of these parliamentarians are then chosen by their peers to become government ministers (including the Prime Minister) and together this ministry acts as our executive. Having the executive as part of the legislature ensures that ministers must participate in and understand parliamentary debates.

The ministry has executive powers granted to it by the Governor General (a representative of the British monarch). Australia is a constitutional monarchy in that the monarch has a ceremonial role only. If we removed the monarch we would then be called a republic and have a president. Note that our Prime Minister is different from a president in that he or she is only the most important of the various ministers (and is known as the 'first among equals').

Each minister is in charge of a particular government department (these include the portfolios of treasury, defence and international relations). Ministers as politicians are generalists drawn from the public. However they are advised by professional experts within the bureaucracy of government departments.

Another word for the ministry is cabinet and in recent times this name has also been given to a recurring meeting of the Prime Minister with state Premiers that is called National Cabinet (which is only consultative and lacks any power of its own).

Many political practices are governed by parliamentary legislation but the most entrenched rules are defined by the Australian Constitution. This document can only be altered by a referendum (a compulsory vote of all citizens) which wins a majority of votes in a majority of states (four of six). In Australia a referendum is different from a plebiscite - the latter is merely a government-run voluntary opinion poll seeking public advice for parliamentarians.

Levels Of Government

Australia is a federation of states and territories that work together for common benefit. The government for all of Australia is known as the Commonwealth or Federal Government, and is the most important level of government.

At the next most important level are the six original state governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania (listed here in order of population size). The two territory governments of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are also at this level but the Federal Government can overrule laws made by them. The states have branches of government similar to those already described.

At the last level are all the many local governments across Australia. These municipal councils manage local services but can be overruled by the states in which they are located.

Federal Parliament

Canberra (in the Australian Capital Territory) is the site of our Federal Parliament. Parliament is divided into two separate chambers. They are the House Of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). Ministers can be drawn from either chamber.

the House Of Representatives represents Australian society as a whole. Australia is geographically separated into 151 Federal divisions or electorates of approximately the same population each. This is done to try and ensure every vote has the same value. Each electorate sends one representative to Canberra and so the House Of Representatives has 151 members. The Prime Minister is selected by a majority of these Members of Parliament (MPs). The House Of Representatives debates and writes draft laws including rules on how to spend taxes.

The Senate represents the states and territories. Each state elects 12 senators and each territory elects 2 senators for a total of 76 Senators which is approximately half the size of the House Of Representatives. These senators are supposed to represent state and territory interests but are independent of state and territory governments. Senators debate and amend draft laws made in the House Of Representatives. The Senate is called a house-of-review because its job is to let a different group of minds consider and modify laws that will affect Australians in all the states.

Federal Elections

Federal elections happen approximately once every three years. They are run by the politically non-aligned Australian Electoral Commission which ensures voters a secret ballot. All 151 MPs are elected to three year terms but for the Senate it is more complex. Senators for the six states are elected to fixed six year terms and half of them are elected at each election. These longer overlapping terms are supposed to give senators more experience and hamper rapid change to the composition of parliament.

Each MP is elected by a method called preferential voting. This is different from an older method called first-past-the-post as can be seen in this example. There are four candidates competing for one position in the Elementary electorate. The names and percentage share of the votes of these candidates are:

Earth (40%) Water (30%) Air (20%) Fire (10%)

In a first-past-the-post method the Earth candidate would win because they have the largest single share of votes. However notice that only a minority of voters (40%) want this candidate to win and a majority (60%) do not.

In Australian preferential voting a candidate cannot win till they are preferred by the majority (over 50%) and this is done by asking all voters to number candidates in order of preference. The candidate with the smallest number of first preference or primary votes is removed from the contest and their second preferences are redistributed to the remaining candidates. This process of elimination is continued until a candidate has a majority of votes. That candidate might or might not be the candidate who won the largest number of primary votes.

Senate voting is more complex. It combines preferential voting with something called proportional representation. Voters across Victoria (for instance) vote for a number of Senators (usually six) in a multi-member electorate. Rather than needing over half the votes to get elected, each successful Senate candidate needs a smaller proportion or quota of votes to win one of six positions (approximately a seventh of the total vote). This method results in a more diverse range of political opinions being represented in the Senate so it can work better as a house-of-review.

Contests using proportional representation attract a greater number of candidates and to simplify the task for voters they are given a ballot paper with the option of voting either below or above the line. Voting below the line is the standard method of giving every candidate a preference. Voting above the line however allows one to only preference party groupings (the parties themselves having pre-determined the ordering of their own Senate candidates).

Election day is always a Saturday and in other ways elections are run to give voters every chance to cast a vote. Any Australian citizen can vote and also stand for parliament but most will find they need the help of a political party to have any hope of success.

Representatives And Political Parties

There are different opinions regarding how parliamentary representatives should behave. Some say they should be trustees who are free to make their own judgements based on the debates in which they participate. Others say they should be delegates who stick to policy commitments made to those who voted for them. Parliamentary practice assumes the trustee model while most political parties prefer the delegate model.

Parties are like-minded groups of citizens who work together to get party members elected to parliaments. The party or alliance of parties that win a majority in the House Of Representatives become the government and choose the ministry. The next largest group become the opposition who hope to win government next time. Anyone independent of these two groups sits at the cross-benches of parliament. Many different things can bring people together to form these parties.

Ideology unites parties around a particular ideal or value, such as equality, liberty or stability. Some parties focus on just one value, while others are interested in combining values.

Demographics bring together parties to advocate for the needs or aspirations of particular sections of society, such as workers, businesses or farmers.

Issues are of importance to particular parties, and include topics like climate change and civil rights.

Many political parties define themselves by a mix of these things.

Political Participation

There are plenty of ways to participate in election campaigns and other forms of political activity. In Australia it is compulsory for citizens to submit a vote (even if it is a blank ballot paper). There are also many things that are voluntary but worth considering if you wish to influence the political process, which includes:

- Informing yourself with professional media sources.
- Signing petitions to parliament.
- Submitting letters for publication in newspapers.
- Involvement in pressure groups or campaigns that interest you.
- Contacting candidates to share your concerns with them.

And if you want to convince someone of your opinions then remember to be polite and respectful. Nothing turns someone off more than getting yelled at or insulted for having a different opinion. You can be firm but also fair in your discussions with fellow members of society.

For information specific to Victorian state elections see here.