An alternative classification of Australian elections

Attempts have been made to apply to Australia the classification of elections developed by researchers at the University of Michigan. However, the American model is not suitable for Australian elections on a number of grounds. An alternative classification of Australian elections could be made by modifying the basic scheme developed for New Zealand elections.     

Success,swing and gender: The performance off women candidates for parliament in New Zealand, 1946–87

New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote, and it has a higher proportion of women as Members of Parliament than any of the other Anglo‐American first‐past‐the‐post democracies. An examination of the vote‐pulling powers of women candidates for Parliament in all the general elections in New Zealand since the end of the Second World War finds that female candidates for the Labour Party have done statistically significantly better than their male counterparts, but for National Party candidates the reverse is the case — men perform better than women. Various reasons for these findings are canvassed, including the possibilities that Labour in New Zealand is benefitting from its initiatives with respect to women's affairs, and from the female equivalent of an ‘old boys’ network.     

A united states of Australasia?

Australia and New Zealand have always been close, and the adoption of the Closer Economic Relations Agreement has brought them closer. In the context of public debate in Australia about constitutional reform it is appropriate to discuss the possibility of political union between the two countries. This article looks at some of the processes and politics involved with five scenarios under which union might or might not take place. They are: New Zealand as one or more Australian states; the Canadian model; an Australasian Parliament like the European Parliament; the abolition of the Australian states; and the secession of the Australian states.     

Foreign and comparative politics in the Australian Journal of Political Science: A review

This article reviews analyses of foreign and comparative politics published in the Australian Journal of Political Science over the past 50 years. The article uses a thematic approach, reviewing five broad regional areas: the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; New Zealand and the Pacific; Canada, the USA and Western Europe; China and the rest of Asia; and Africa and the Middle East. The article assesses changes in the attention given to particular regions and countries over time, and highlights countries that have received relatively little attention. The article uses a Presidential address in 1985 by David Goldsworthy as a key reference text for assessing the study of foreign and comparative politics in Australia since 1966. The main shifts in overall attention since the early 1990s have been a decline in the historical study of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and increased attention to New Zealand.     

The ‘hip pocket nerve’ and electoral volatility in Australia and Great Britain

Over the course of the post‐war period, Australian voting behaviour has manifested a marked degree of aggregate stability, whereas British voting patterns have become increasingly volatile. Since class voting has declined at a similar rate in both countries, it cannot explain this divergence. This article suggests that the explanation is to be found in the differential electoral impact of the two countries' macroeconomic performance in this period. Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, the state of the economy, as measured by the rates of inflation and unemployment, is shown to have been a less influential force in Australian general elections than in British ones. The greater aggregate volatility in Britain, in other words, would seem to reflect‐the electorate's greater sensitivity to its ‘hip pocket nerve’, especially when it is touched by inflation. Why this same relationship does not characterize Australian commonwealth elections can be speculated upon, but is a puzzle that remains to be solved.     

The Representation of Small Parties and Independents in the Senate

Minor party and independent senators have played a critical role in supporting procedural changes which have given the Australian Senate the ability to play an independent role in the legislative process, and to scrutinise the executive branch effectively. This article examines how this situation has followed from the adoption of proportional representation (PR) for Senate elections since 1949. In looking at the evidence available in 1948, it is argued that the current symbiotic relationship between minor parties and the Senate could not have been foreseen. Whether intended or not, the adoption of PR and the representation of minor parties has done more to enhance the operation of parliamentary democracy in Australia than any institutional change since federation.     

Swings and Roundabouts? Patterns of Voting for the Australian Labor Party at State and Commonwealth Lower House Elections, 1901-96

Federation for Australia in 1901 was closely followed by the rise of the mass party, an organisation with the potential to reduce the regional differentiation that federalism is designed to protect. Loyalty to party can submerge local issues in nationally based partisanship, and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) may have performed precisely this role, particularly if voters have not differentiated between voting for the ALP at state and Commonwealth elections. This article examines the pattern of electoral support for the ALP at state and Commonwealth elections since 1901 and finds that an apparent similarity in long-term voting support masks important variations both within and between states. The potential for mass party loyalty to create uniform voting responses across the federation has been strongly moderated by the diversity inherent in the federal system.     

Recent Trends in the Internationalisation of the New Zealand Economy

Over the last decade, but particularly since 1984 when the fourth Labour Government came to power, New Zealand has become something of an experimental test bed for the implementation of monetarist ideas of political and economic management. A noticeable outcome of the policy regime recently put in place has been a dramatic ‘opening up’ of the economy as markets are deregulated, protection barriers lowered, and restrictions on movement of capital in and out of the country removed One consequence has been a quantitative and qualitative change in the internationalisation of the economy. This paper traces the nature and extent of this process, and speculates on some policy implications. Four key dimensions of the internationalisation process are surveyed: the expansion of New Zealand capital off-shore, increased levels of foreign investment in New Zealand, the impact of reductions in border protection, and closer economic relations between Australia and New Zealand.     

The Ties that Unwind: Civic and Ethnic Imaginings in New Zealand

Abstract. This paper argues that examining the interweaving of ethnic and civic elements best explains current tensions in ethnic politics in New Zealand in elite state and nation‐building and how these shape patterns of inclusion or exclusion of aboriginal and immigrant minorities. Theories of ethnic and civic nationalism are discussed briefly and the distinctiveness of settler societies is explored. Recent trends promoting biculturalism and multiculturalism are examined. A discussion of legal citizenship since 1840 reveals the linkages and persistence of three historical trajectories – the decolonising of aboriginal people (Maori), the de‐colonial movement among Pakeha (‘white Europeans’), and the partial de‐alienising of immigration. These trajectories, I conclude, reflect in‐built tensions between different historical and current ethnic and civic representations of the New Zealand nation‐state.     

Ideas from ‘across the ditch’? Wedge politics in the 2005 New Zealand election

The 2005 New Zealand election campaign saw the use by the opposition National Party of a racialised and highly divisive ‘wedge politics’. Tensions between Mäori and Pakeha that had previously been managed through care and compromise were inflamed by talk of a New Zealand mainstream and the need for ‘one law for all’. In the context of a difficult national debate about Mäori rights to foreshore and seabed, this talk had strong echoes of recent Australian political discourse. It also had the effect of dramatically increasing the National Party vote in the election, and this research note speculates that, in a different electoral system, this may have been enough to see National form government.     

Business power in Australia: The concentration of company directorship holding among the top 250 corporates

This paper presents results from a comparative study of company directors of the top 250 Australian companies. The paper analyses the concentration of directorship holding in Australia and New Zealand in 1991 and compares this with other Australian, New Zealand, British, Canadian and American studies. The paper argues that while the density of interorganisational interlocks in Australia is quite normal by international standards, such comparisons are substantially affected by the relatively small number of board positions characteristic of Australian companies. When we allow for this external parameter by considering the concentration of directorship holding by persons, there is evidence of a significant concentration of available positions in the hands of relatively few persons in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The paper suggests that the organisation of business power in Australia reflects a continuing tension between principles of regulation derived from the larger economies of Britain and the United States and practical concerns of business leadership in Australia generated by the geopolitical realities facing Australian business.     

Re-examining Leader Effects: Have Leader Effects Grown in Australian Federal Elections 1990–2004?

It is well established that the popularity of party leaders exerts an important influence on vote choice in modern federal elections. Significant partisan and class de-alignment have been key drivers of this trend. Although Australia's development in this respect has been slower than in some other liberal democracies, it has nonetheless been significant, and has weakened voters' attachments to the major parties. This article examines six federal elections (1990–2004) and investigates whether the electoral impact of party leader popularity is continuing to grow, or whether the impact, although important, has been relatively stable or declining. We also investigate the impact of different methods of calculating leader effects on their implied size and, drawing on new data available in the most recent Australian Election Study surveys, present an alternative model of leadership effects that has not been assessable previously in the Australian context.     

Health geography in New Zealand and Australia: global integration or Antipodean exceptionalism?

This paper examines the hallmarks of an emergent and distinctive Australian and New Zealand health geography over the last 30 years. Building on an assessment of the early development of the sub‐discipline in the two countries, a review of published work reveals the co‐presence of local themes alongside connections to more global perspectives associated notably with health behaviour. Further common themes are the influence of year‐round exposure to outdoor spaces and the proximity of “blue spaces” to urban centres. However, there are divergences in the evolution of the sub‐discipline. A comparison of attendance at the biennial International Medical Geography Symposia (held since 1985) with publications in the journal Health & Place reveals differentially globalised characters. A steady flow of international visitors and appointments to New Zealand universities as well as more apparent connections to the wider discipline of geography contrast with more applied geospatial and public health connections in Australian health geography.     

Differing approaches to congressional outreach: comparing Australia and New Zealand

Both Australia and New Zealand, in addition to engaging with the US executive branch, also protect and advance their bilateral relationship by engaging with the US Congress. Since 1987, Australia has pursued congressional outreach, or diplomatic lobbying, to protect and advance its security and trade interests. As a result, Australia has won both security and trade benefits. New Zealand's congressional outreach, on the other hand, has had a more challenging task of improving bilateral relations due, in part, to US objections to New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy. This article extends existing research on Australian and New Zealand congressional outreach, develops a framework for examining embassy-based congressional outreach and, through comparative analysis of Australian and New Zealand congressional outreach, gives greater insight into the nature and character of their efforts on Capitol Hill.     

Internal migration and elector turnover in Australia

This paper argues that internal migration should be given more attention in Australia as a factor to be taken into account in studying voting patterns. After briefly outlining some facts about the recent extent and nature of Australian internal migration, the paper describes and analyses some new information about the amount of elector turnover in the 14 Western Australian Commonwealth electoral divisions between the 1990 and 1993 elections. Even in divisions which had little change in overall enrolment levels, the analyses show such a high degree of turnover that, in almost all of the divisions, between a quarter and a third of the 1993 electors had not been enrolled in the same division at the 1990 election. The uses and limitations of this type of data are also discussed.     

How Do Unionists Vote? Estimating the Causal Impact of Union Membership on Voting Behaviour from 1966 to 2004

This paper explores the voting patterns of trade union members in Australian elections conducted between 1966 and 2004 and finds that, on average, 63% of trade union members vote for the Australian Labor Party. Despite the fact that union membership declined from around half of the workforce in the early 1980s to a quarter of the workforce in the early 2000s, unionists have not become more pro-Labor. Analysing unionists' voting behaviour by gender, it is found that male unionists were more pro-Labor than female unionists in the 1960s, but that the reverse is true today. Recognising that union membership may be endogenous with respect to political ideology, this study instruments for union membership and concludes that the observed association between union membership and voting reflects a causal relationship.     

Religion and Politics in Australia

Abstract

The relationship between religion and politics in Australia has in the past been conditioned by the peculiarities of Australian history. Traditionally religion was related to issues of moral reformation and sectarianism. Changes in Australia over the past forty years have changed this relationship as the public role of religion has waned. In recent times there has been somewhat of a religious comeback in Australian public life. This has been related to a new style of Christian politics, the presence of two strong Church leaders, Cardinal George Pell and Archbishop Peter Jensen, the presence of Islam, the election of a committed Christian Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister and the continuing importance of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) as a civil religion.     

Australian Democracy: Modifying Majoritarianism?

The use of the single transferable vote (STV) for Australian Senate elections since 1949 has modified the majoritarianism of Australian democracy in two ways. First, it has increased the differences between the two houses of the legislature and hence strengthened the bicameral system. Second, it has operated like a true PR (proportional representation) system, and it has therefore increased the overall proportionality of political representation at the national level. In modern democracies, PR does not have negative effects on the quality of macroeconomic policy-making-contrary to the conventional wisdom on this matter. And PR has a strong positive effect on important democratic qualities like women's representation, income equality, voter turnout, satisfaction with democracy, and the proximity of the government to the median voter.     

The Varying Role of Vertebrae in Pacific Fishbone Analysis: Comparing Tropical Versus Temperate Midden Assemblages

Archaeologists working in the tropical Pacific have demonstrated the feasibility and value of including fish vertebrae in midden analyses, and recent New Zealand studies draw similar conclusions. This work provides an illustrated guide to the identification of vertebrae from key New Zealand fish taxa and shows the effects of including vertebrae on a large fishbone assemblage from southern New Zealand. We note major differences between New Zealand and tropical Pacific assemblages resulting from the inclusion of vertebrae. Unlike the Indo‐Pacific taxa of the tropical Pacific, no New Zealand species have been shown to be sensitive to the inclusion of vertebrae. In both places, including vertebrae results in changes in relative abundance and rank order; but in New Zealand, this is a function of processing practices, not fishing behaviours. This work serves to highlight changes in the Polynesian fishing adaption following the colonisation of New Zealand. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Tasman connection: aspects of Australian-New Zealand relations

Although geographers frequently claim an interest in the study of spatial interactions there are few wide ranging studies of relationships between specific areas or countries. Australian and New Zealand geographers have treated their countries' inter-relationships as marginal asides rather than as serious research themes. From a wide possible agenda the following aspects of trans-Tasman relationships are examined: the interchange of plants and animals. New Zealand's nineteenth century peripheral relationship to a southeast Australian economic ‘core’, legislative borrowings concerning land and resources administration, population movements and trade connections. Since World War II growing cultural and political divergences have made the Tasman nations cautious about pursuing closer economic relationships.