The Tally Room

Ben is joined by Kevin Bonham to discuss three upcoming by-elections in Fadden, Rockingham and Warrandyte, and for a brief update on other election news - the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters hearing on expanding the size of parliament, the potential for an early election in Tasmania and upcoming redistributions.

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Ben is joined by Professor Steffen Ganghof from the University of Potsdam to discuss his book Beyond Presidentialism and Parliamentarism. Steffen discusses an alternative model of democracy he calls "semi-parliamentarism" which can gain the benefits of presidentialism in having a part of the legislature independent of the government, without investing executive power in a single person. And the best examples of this model can be found here in Australia.

Our conversation has relevance to debates around the role of Australia's upper houses and is a fresh outside perspective on how they improve Australia's democracy.

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You can read the full transcript here.

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.

Ben is joined by former AEC official Michael Maley, who has just returned from a trip to Timor-Leste to help with the country's recent parliamentary election. Ben and Michael discuss the constitutional structure, electoral system and party system of Timor-Leste. We also discuss the results of the recent elections, the likely shape of the new government, and the continuing dominance of the independence generation in Timorese politics.

You can read the full transcript here.

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.

Ben is joined by Professor Matthew Shugart from UC Davis to discuss how the electoral system influences the party system. We discuss the effective number of parties measure, and the seat product model, which uses the size of the parliamentary assembly and the district magnitude to predict the shape of the party system in each country.

• The SPM is explained most simply in this journal article.

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Ben is joined by journalist Erin Cook to discuss last weekend's national election in Thailand, which saw the progressive Move Forward win the most seats and set up prospects for a coalition government made up of parties that are not supporters of the royal and military elite that has run the country since the 2014 coup.

• Subscribe to Erin's newsletter on Southeast Asian politics, Dari Mulut Ke Mulut

You can read the transcript for this podcast here.

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.

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.

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Ben is joined by Eddie Synot to discuss the proposal for a Voice to Parliament - where it came from, the history of constitutional recognition and national representative Indigenous bodies and what it might look like.

We discuss the likely democratic structures of a Voice and why it probably won't look much like the Langton-Calma model. We also discuss some of the criticisms of the proposal from opponents.

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.

Ben is joined by Peter Brent to discuss the remarkable results of Saturday's Aston by-election. We discuss the context of the by-election, the potential implications and we also briefly touch on the upcoming Voice referendum.

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.

Ben is joined again by William Bowe from the Poll Bludger to discuss this weekend's federal by-election in the seat of Aston.

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.

Ben is joined by William Bowe from the Poll Bludger to discuss the results of the NSW state election.

• Poll Bludger live results page

This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support.