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"We put all our politicians in prison as soon as they're elected. Don't you?" "Why?" "It saves time." — Neilette educates Rincewind on The Land Down Under's attitude towards politics, The Last Continent More exciting than a velociraptor tearing into a flock of hyenas, more important than vital, icky surgery. A BBC News reporter once described Australian politics as resembling "a Soap Opera directed by Quentin Tarantino." Well, here goes: System Australia's political system is something of a hotchpotch, because when the Constitution was being written, its authors freely pillaged from other working democracies: Like the UK, Australian uses the Westminster system. One effect of this is unlike presidential electoral campaigns, citizens only vote (officially) for their local candidate, or (unofficially) for political parties. The head of government is just whoever happens to lead the party that wins. Of course, this doesn't stop people voting based on personal charisma of political leaders. Like the US, Australia is a federal system of states plus a few territories, and the federal government has elected upper and lower houses: The Senate is the upper house, where each state is represented by twelve senators and the Australian Capital Territory (or ACT) and Northern Territory by two each.note Note that like the US Senate and unlike the Canadian Senate or British Lords, the Australian Senate is effectively equal in power to the House, with the full and virtually unrestricted power to introduce and amend billsnote and block legislation (although by convention the Senate refrains from blocking bills whose failure would bring down the Government. Except for that one time). The House of Representatives is the lower house, for which each state and territory is divided into named divisions (neat, eh?) of roughly equal population, each of which elects one MP. Like the US, Australia has a written Constitution. This forms the ultimate authority which no laws or state actions can validly conflict with. Like Switzerland, amending Australia's Constitution requires: 1. The amendment to be proposed by parliament, and: 2. The Australian people to approve in a referendum, with a majority in the overall population, and a majority of states (which in practice means 4 out of 6 states). Referenda in Australia are notorious for failing, but some have passed - in 1967, an amendment was passed with 90.77% approval to recognise Australian Aborigines as human beingsnote. Like many countries, Australia has the judiciary as an important check-and-balance for the government. The High Court of Australia has declared government legislation illegal if it contravenes Australia's legal obligations. It is the highest court of appeal, and also specifically tasked with interpreting the Constitution. Australia is one of the very few nations on the planet to have compulsory voting at all levels. As such, voter turnout at Australian elections in generally in the 98%-99% range (there's always a few), which - along with the preferential voting system - means that it can take literally weeks to count all the votes for the Senate. Australia's six states, and, to some extent, two of its territoriesnote, have a degree of independence, and have their own parliaments with an upper house (except in Queensland, where they abolished the state-level upper house) and a lower house, which, like the House of Representatives, has a name for each seat. Tasmania is also different, the lower house is elected like the senate while the upper house is elected like the house of representatives. The system has often been called "Washminster" (a hybrid of Washington and Westminster), which is actually a very good way of looking at it. Nationhood Depending on who you ask, Australia became a "nation" anywhere from 1854 to 1986. Australia's nationhood and independence, like that of most of the "Old Commonwealth" countries (e.g. Canada and New Zealand) developed throughout a gradual process of self-governance and separation from the UK rather than in a flashpoint like a revolution. 1854 or 1886: The firstnote or lastnote  of the colonies became self-governing. 1901: One of the most often-cited dates, including by the government itself: on 1 January 1901, the six separate colonies became states and federated to form a single self-governing Commonwealth. At this point however, it was still subservient to United Kingdom as a 'Dominion' of the Empire, although how subservient was never clear (as although the British Parliament and Government officially retained certain powers over over Australia, these were never exercised, except as regarded foreign policy—and even that was in the process of being let go). 1915: Australian troops first went into battle as part of an Australian army.note This is considered by historians as the period when Australia forged its own national identity and proved itself to the rest of the world, and indeed ANZAC Day, a memoriam of 25th April 1915 when Australian troops landed in Gallipoli, is one of Australia's most important holidays. Some refer to it as Australia's "baptism by fire." 1931 or 1942: With the Statute of Westminster, the Parliament of the UK abolished its nominal right to legislate for Australia and its other Dominions. Of course, this was theoretically self-abrogating, until Australia adopted the Statute as Australian law in 1942. 1986: The other most often-cited date. The Australia Act severs the last powers of the UK government over Australia. Namely, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is no longer a partnote of the Australian judiciary. Leaders and Government The Parliament The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government. They are, as a rule, a sitting MP in the federal House of Representatives and the leader of the majority party in that chamber — they are in charge of the Cabinet (which consists of Ministers drawn from the House or the Senate) and generally run the whole show. The current Prime Minister is Malcolm Turnbull. There is also a Deputy Prime Minister. In a Labor Government the Deputy PM is also the deputy leader of the Labor Party, and in a Coalition government s/he is the leader of the smaller party in the Coalition (the Nationals). The Deputy PM's main responsibility is to step in as Acting PM in the event of the Prime Minister being overseas, incapacitated or dead. The current Deputy Prime Minister is Warren Truss. The Prime Minister also has their own opposite number on the other side of politics: the leader of the second-largest party in the House of Representatives is designated Leader of the Opposition, and is in charge of their own Shadow Cabinet with Shadow Ministers from their own party. This is much less cool than it sounds: the purpose of the Shadow Cabinet is to criticise the real Cabinet, with each Shadow Minister focusing on their opposite number. The current Opposition Leader is Bill Shorten. Unlike most parliamentary systems, the Senate is actually pretty powerful and any law must be passed with approval from both chambers. The House of Representatives does have the sole power to effectively decide which party goes into government, but many governments get frustrated when the Senate amends or rejects their bills. The House of Representatives can sit for up to three years. Because the chamber doesn't start sitting until 1-2 months after the election, and that an election isn't held for up to 2 months after the dissolution, the actual gap between two elections can in theory be over 3 years and 4 months. The Governor-General orders the election to be held when requested by the Prime Minister. The two territories each elect their two senators in each House election. Out of the seats representing the states in the Senate, half of them will change over every three years on 1 July. Each state will elect 6 of its 12 senators to 6-year terms in a normal Senate election, which can be held up to 11 months before the changeover on a date chosen by the government. Most governments have tried to hold the elections of both chambers on the same day. The use of multi-member seats means that minor parties have a stronger presence in the Senate (the 2013 election in particular produced a proliferation of minor parties). The Senate also gives stronger representation to smaller states and only half of it reflects the recent election results, with the other half reflecting the results of the previous election. In addition, it can take up to 11 months for the Senate to change after an election. Since this sets up room for plenty of conflict, there exists a procedure called a double dissolution. If the Senate rejects bills from the House of Representatives under certain conditions, the government can dissolve both chambers. In this case, each state elects 12 senators in one go and they take their seats immediately. The next Senate changeover takes place in the second month of July to occur after the election, so another Senate election must be take place before then. There have been 6 double dissolutions in the history of Australia - the most recent was in 1987. If a double dissolution still leaves Parliament deadlocked, the government can then call a joint session in which the two chambers sit as one and vote on legislation together. Since the House of Representatives is required to be twice the size of the Senate, this gives the latter a big advantage. There has only ever been one such joint sitting, in 1974. The Monarch The head of state of Australia is Queen Elizabeth II: her official title in this country is "Queen of Australia", and technically Australia is in personal union with the UK (that is, we are two separate countries which happen to have the same person as our monarch). Australia has probably the largest republican movement note out of the former British colonies. This movement is very old. It pre-dates the federation of modern Australia, and has been supported by key Australian cultural figures throughout history. For example, in 1887, Henry Lawson (one of Australia's two most revered poets) wrote his first ever poem, "A Song of the Republic", urging Australians to free their land of "old-world errors and wrongs and lies". However, a referendum to institute an Australian republic in 1999 was only supported by 45% of Australians - some republicans refused to support it because they wanted to directly elect a president, which was not the choice available. Those hoping for an up-swell in republican sentiment in future generations were disappointed - support for an Australian republic has dramatically decreased, particularly since the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate (everyone loves a good wedding). Thus, the position of Australia's monarch may be a little contentious, but it remains secure. In practice, all the responsibilities of the head of state are delegated to the Governor-General of Australia, who is an acting head of state (in official terminology, a "viceroy", i.e. representative/stand-in for the Monarch) appointed in practical terms by the Prime Minister for a single five-year term.note All the Governor-General normally has to do is officially sign bills into law, although they do have certain emergency powers which have been exercised before — most notoriously in 1975, when Governor-General John Kerr sacked Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and appointed Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser in his place. The Governors-General did not get off to an auspicious start (the first one, Lord Hopetoun, tried to unconstitutionally appoint the then-Premier of New South Wales as caretaker Prime Ministernote ), and were pretty much one boring British peer after another until Sir Isaac Issacs was appointed to the position in 1930: he was both the first Jewish Governor-General, and the first Governor-General to have been actually born in Australia (naturally, Britain was shocked and appalled). The last Governor-General from Britain, William Sidney, ended his term in 1965 — since then Australia has been generally opposed to appointing non-Australians to the position: there has been one Governor-General who was a member of the Royal Family (Prince Henry, son of George V, immediately after World War II) but when both Prince Charlesnote and Prince William expressed interest in the position (in the 1980s and 2000s respectively) both were told "Um... how about no." The current Governor-General is Peter Cosgrove. From 2010 to 2013, the three people with the most power in Australia - the Monarch, the Governor-General (Quentin Bryce) and the Prime Minister (Julia Gillard) - were all women, as well as the Attorney-General at the time (Nicola Roxon). Of course, the richest person is also a woman... Interestingly, in 2010/2011 the residents of the Federal Division of Sydney had a female member, Lord-Mayor, State Premier, Governor, Prime Minister, Governor-General and Monarch all at once. The States As they are based off the same system, each state mirrors the federal government in its structure (except for Queensland, whose parliament is unicameral). The head of a state government is the Premiernote, and each state also has its own appointed Governor who acts as the Queen's representative for that statenote. Parties There are currently two major political parties and a few significant minor parties. The current ruling party is the Coalition, the alliance between the Liberal Party and the National Party, which gained power after the Labor Party lost the 2013 election after maintaining power for six years (Australian Prime Ministers can stay in power for as long as the public votes their parties in and their parties continue to support them). (NB: Australian spell labor "labour" unless it's the Labor party, named the American way from a charming early twentieth-century vogue for 'modernised spelling' — the disco of its day. This does allow for the joke that the Labor Party can't spell and the Liberal Party can't use a dictionary.)

The Coalition: Made up of two parties: the Liberal Party of Australia, the larger and more powerful partner, and the National Party of Australia, the smaller hanger-on. Despite its name, these days the Liberal Party is generally more conservative than Labor (hence creating awkward terminology, such as "small-'l' liberal"); they have historically claimed to be a classical liberal party but have since become more closely identified with social conservatism. The National Party originated as the "Country Party", and in principle stands for the interests of rural people, which can coincide with porkbarrelling. The Coalition gains much of its support from rural voters and richer suburbs, although in recent years they have gained increasing support in outer suburbs. Generally, the Liberals represent urban and suburban districts while the Nationals represent rural districts; as part of the coalition agreement, each party will not run candidates against an incumbent MP from the other party. Members of the coalition parties will have a very wide range of political views ranging from Christian social conservatism to classical liberalism to 'third-way' centralism, averaging out to centre-right. In some regions of Australia the Coalition parties are formally merged into a single party, apparently to present a more coherent political front. There is the Liberal National Party, unique to the state of Queensland, and the Country Liberal Party, unique to the Northern Territory. The latter dates back to before the National Party's name change; the former was established in 2008. It may be noteworthy that Queensland and the Northern Territory were the only places where the National Party were more powerful than the Liberal Party...

Labor: The Australian Labor Party is Australia's oldest political party, having formed during the late 19th century. The ALP began as (and to a degree still is) the political arm of the Australian worker's union movement. Support from union bosses is still an important political commodity within the ALP. Initially, they were relatively strong socialists who advocated the nationalisation of the means of production. They had a rather brutal split with the Catholic-dominated Democratic Labor Party in the 1950s, which shed them of much of their socially-conservative base and caused them to become more identified as the party of social liberalism (but also led to them being out of government for all but three of the next 23 years); by the time they returned to power, they had shifted to a social-democratic party that was accommodating to a certain measure of privatisation and deregulation. The Labor Party most recently held government from 2007 to 2013. Its support bases are the outer suburbs of the major cities, industrial provincial areas (the Hunter Valley, the Illawarra, and Geelong are the most prominent), and certain gentrified inner-city seats. As with the Coalition, Labor members have a very wide range of political views ranging from old-style socialism to Christian social conservatism to 'third-way' centralism, averaging out to a more or less centre-left position. The important minor parties include:

Australian Greens: Essentially like Greens everywhere, the Australian Greens promote the environment, but are also notable for its policies on drugs and immigration.note Internationally famous for being one of the few Green parties to exert any meaningful pull at all, they tend to have very strong support in the inner-most city suburbs. Federally, they hold one seat in the House of Representatives and ten seats in the Australian Senate; under the 2010-13 Labor minority government the Greens held the balance of power. On a state level the Greens have elected representatives in at least one chamber of each Parliament except in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and also hold balance of power in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Palmer United Party: A very new party from Queensland, founded in 2013 by billionaire Clive Palmer after his very public split from the LNP; originally named the United Australia Party, ostensibly as a relaunch of the older party of the same name, it had to change its name due to a conflict with an existing micro-party called the Uniting Australia Party. Performed better than anyone expected in the 2013 federal election, winning three seats in the Senate (giving them the balance of power in that chamber) and one seat in the House (held by Palmer himself). Their policies are best described as "right-wing populist": they include saving $5 billion on boat people sea patrols and detention by flying applicants to Australia for processing, supporting the Gonski education reforms, axing the carbon tax, and better exploiting Australia's natural wealth. Has proven to be a complete Wild Card basically becoming a massive thorn in the Abbott government's side by opposing most of the more radical measures in the infamous 2014 budget, and Palmer basically doing anything on the spur of the moment that might get him attention and/or to fuck around with the government to get what he wants. As of March 2015, two of the three senators noted above have split from the party and become Independents, making the party's name hilariously ironic. Katter's Australian Party: Another new political party founded in 2011 by federal MP Bob Katter and his Nice Hat — the party's positions are heavily based on those of Katter himself, a former Independent from North Queensland well known for his eccentricity who shot to national fame in 2010 when the federal election resulted in a hung parliament. Originally named "The Australian Party", it was forced to change its name on the grounds of it being too generic. The party is best described as "agrarian socialist", with strong social conservatism combined with a protectionist and anti-privatisation economic policy. Made their strongest showing to date in the 2012 Queensland state election, where they won two seats and 11.5% of the primary vote; they've since picked up one more state MP who defected from the LNP. However, subsequent elections show they haven't really caught on outside of Queensland. Their Victorian state branch has merged with another micro-party, the Country Alliance, to form the "Australian Country Alliance". Family First: Founded in 2002, Family First has grown to become a significant minor party. Although it is technically secular, it is the "Christian" party of Australia, standing for such secular policies as reducing abortion, increased censorship, and thinking of the children. However, they're not exactly Pat Robertsons in Akubra hats. Examples include Indigenous issues and immigration policy - in both instances they take a more liberal (not Liberal — it's confusing) approach and as such line up with the "left", for various reasons (for instance, on the Indigenous issues, quite a lot of Indigenous people are socially-conservative Christians). The party holds one seat in the federal Senate, and two in the South Australian upper house. Christian Democratic Party: Even more the Christian Right than Family First, this is a small but rather persistent party under the Reverend Fred Nile, who keeps up from his sinecure in the New South Wales Legislative Council. Democratic Labour Party: Successor to the original DLP, which was an extremely important third party in the mid-20th century before disbanding. A remnant re-founded the DLP and claimed continuity with the old party, but remained completely unnoticed for about thirty years afterwards. However, in 2006 the DLP inexplicably made a comeback in the Victorian state election, winning one seat in the upper house; then, in the 2010 federal election, they again won a seat in the national senate (on only 2.2% of the primary vote, thanks to preference deals, rather like Family First six years before). Changed their name to the correct spelling of "Labour" in 2013 to better distinguish themselves from the ALP. As of 2014 they have no elected representatives on the federal level after their sole senator left the party, but have since won a single seat in the Victorian upper house again. Like the original DLP they are socially conservative and economically left-wing. Australian Sex Party: Assuredly not Exactly What It Says on the Tin. A new party which grabbed a lot of attention long before any electoral success, due to the name. Its official launch was conducted at Sexpo in Melbourne in 2008. The party was initially founded as a double issue party opposed to an Internet filter and for the legalisation of gay marriage; they're also in favour of compulsory and accurate non-biased sex education in Australian schools, an R18+ video game category, legalising abortion, making the laws regarding pornography more consistent with other sex related laws, decriminalisation of prostitution, creating Federal anti-discrimination laws for employment and (as a Take That to Family First) ending the tax exemption status to religious institutions that are not primarily a charity or some other community aid organisation. Finally in 2014 they won a single seat in the Victorian upper house. Liberal Democratic Party: Another new party which gained a federal Senate seat in 2013, representing New South Wales (where it notably out-polled the Greens). Formed in the mid 2000's by economist John Humphreys and allied with the Australian Libertarian Society. Unlike the British party of the same name, the LDP supports both social liberalism (being socially to the left of even the Greens; supporting ending the drug war, monopolising the gambling market, and supporting same-sex marriage and freer immigration) and economic liberalism (in the classical liberal sense of the term (being economically to the right of the Liberal party); supporting free markets, deregulation of the labor market, ending barriers to international trade). Roughly the Australian equivalent to the Libertarian Party in the United States or the Free Democratic Party in Germany. Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party: A micro-party that no one expected to win anything, least of all themselves, until they did: thanks to a complicated web of preference deals, Victorian candidate Ricky Muir was elected to the Australian Senate in 2013 with just 0.5% of the primary vote. The party's policies are meagre, amounting mainly to "We like cars!" Since being elected, Ricky Muir has formed an electoral alliance with the Palmer United Party. Rise Up Australia Party: Another recent Christian party which can be described as Pat Robertsons in Akubra hats. It's a fringe party which opposes gay marriage and abortion, and supports cuts to immigration (despite its founder, Pastor Danny Nalliah, being born in Sri Lanka) under the tag-line of "Keep Australia Australian." It currently holds no seats. The Wikileaks Party: Well you can guess who ran this party. Gained a fairly decent amount of media attention but mostly collapsed after several of its candidates quit because to the parties preference deals (see below) were revealed to have included some unsavoury groups. In the technical sense, Australia does not have a two-party system. It's just that only two parties ever form government, two parties win the overwhelming majority of seats, and the only other party to have held a ministry in any government in the last 90 years is in a permanent, unending coalition with the Liberal Party. Other minor parties gaining any seats in the federal lower house at all is a very recent development, with the Greens first winning a single seat in 2010 (retained 2013) and Palmer United also winning one seat in 2013. Of course, not all politicians belong to political parties. Independents are also influential as singular freelance politicians with no ties to any particular party, and historically are far more successful than minor-party candidates. The larger parties may bend over backwards to get independents to vote in their favour whenever they hold the balance of power in a house of Parliament, as seen most recently in the 2010-13 hung parliament. There are currently two independent MPs in the House of Representatives (Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan; additionally, the House's sole KAP member Bob Katter was formerly an independent. In the Senate, there are currently four independents: Nick Xenophon, ex-DLP member John Madigan, and ex-Palmer United members Jacqui Lambie and Glen Lazarus. Here are a few formerly-important major parties and third parties which are now defunct or as good as defunct: Protectionist Party — one of the original two main political parties, and the first to form government: home to Australia's first two prime ministers (Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin). As the name suggests, their main thing was protectionism — otherwise, the party had both liberal and conservative wings. While it existed, it governed as a minority government with Labor's (conditional) support. Dissolved 1909. Free Trade Party, later known as the Anti-Socialist Party — the other of the original two main political parties. Again, their main issue was free trade, and the party had both liberal and conservative wings — but with the emergence of Labor as a major party they began to position themselves specifically against them (hence the name change). Spent most of their time in Opposition — only ever formed government once (under the leadership of George Reid), and even then it was for less than a year. Also dissolved 1909. Commonwealth Liberal Party, also known as The Fusion — formed from the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party merging in 1909, when they apparently realised they had more in common with each other than with Labor (who had now officially become a major party). Could be called the original ancestor of the modern-day Liberal Party. National Labor Party — a short-lived offshoot of Labor, formed in 1916 from members expelled from the party over the issue of conscription... including the then-Prime Minister, Billy Hughes. Immediately entered into coalition with the Commonwealth Liberal Party, giving them the majority and therefore the government. Nationalist Party — the new major party, formed when the Commonwealth Liberal Party and National Labor officially merged in early 1917. Governed for the next twelve-and-a-half years total, with two Prime Ministers (Billy Hughes and Stanley Bruce), and remained in opposition for two years afterward before dissolving. Australian Party — a short-lived offshoot of the Nationalists, formed in 1930 from members expelled from the party over the issue of industrial relations... including former Prime Minister Billy Hughes. Sound familiar? Once again, Hughes's defection led to the bringing-down of the sitting government — except this time Hughes et. al. didn't join the opposition but stayed as a minor party for a year or so before being absorbed into the Nationalists' successor, the United Australia Party. Lang Labor — a minor party formed as an offshoot from the ALP, founded by Jack Lang during the Great Depression. Composed of a left-wing branch of the ALP who were dissatisfied with the ALP government then in power — so they helped to bring it down and let the conservative opposition in instead (yeah, Nice Job Breaking It, Hero). Eventually diminished and lost all significance, but hung onto existence until Jack Lang died. United Australia Party — another old major party, founded in 1931 from the merging of the Nationalist Party with a group of defectors from Labor as well as the Australian Party and several conservative independents. Governed for nine-and-a-half years total, with two Prime Ministers (Joseph Lyons and Robert Menzies), before finally dissolving in 1944. The immediate predecessor of the Liberal Party. Democratic Labor Party: The original incarnation. The DLP dates back to 1955 when they split from the ALP, claiming that the ALP were too communist for their tastes. A rather large third party of socially-conservative social democrats, the DLP consistently directed their voter preferences to the Coalition in front of Labor, and therefore guaranteed that the Coalition could stay in permanent power for 23 years despite losing the popular vote twice. The original DLP finally disbanded in the mid-70s, although a remnant lived on and has successfully got several candidates elected since 2006 (see above). Australian Democrats: Originally created in 1978 out of a merger of two left-wing splinter groups from the Liberal Party. Started off intending to be a happy medium between Labor and Liberal, maintaining a roughly centrist political view; over the next twenty years they steadily drifted to the left until they effectively ended up more left-wing than Labor (which had been drifting to the right at the same time). The party barely exists now, although it was the largest of the minor parties during the 1990s. They disintegrated spectacularly in the early 2000s, once it became apparent that all the party's major figures loathed each other and their own party. Famous campaigned under a pledge to "keep the bastards honest", the 'bastards' being either the major parties or politicians in general — which became somewhat amusing on reflection when they imploded. De-registered as of 16 April 2015. One Nation - A party standing for the age-old Australian values of intolerance, ignorance and fish and chips. Received massive publicity in the late '90s, until it became apparent that all involved had no idea what they were doing. Led by Pauline Hanson, a former fish and chips shop owner from Queensland, who unexpectedly won a seat in Federal Parliament as an independent in 1996. From her maiden speech, claiming that Australia was 'swamped' with Asians, the party went through an inexplicable storm of popularity. At its height, the party won 23% of the vote in Queensland in the 1998 state election, second only to Labor. (If you visit Queensland, and you look around, one in four of them voted for One Nation.) Hanson lost her seat in Parliament in 1998, and later left the party. One Nation now exists largely in the memories of those who despised them — those who supported them are hopefully trying to forget the whole thing. How did she win as an independent?. She was a Liberal who was dropped when they realised what she thought. Before the election, but too late to take her off the list. Pauline Hanson went on to run again in the 2007 election in Queensland, under the banner of a new political party "Pauline's United Australia Party" (not to be confused with the original United Australia Party listed above) of which she seemed to be the sole member. Her most famous opponent (as far as the press seemed to think) was an ex football player who dropped out when someone forgot to register him. She lost. Irony of ironies, she immigrated to Britain, but came back to run for a seat in the New South Wales senate. She lost, and claims there was a (deliberate) miscount of the votes to keep her out. Speaking of which, a video of her was released with her saying, "If you are watching this, it means I have been murdered." She believed her life was threatened due to her politics. Hanson attempted another political comeback in 2015, returning as One Nation leader and contesting a seat in the Queensland Parliament. She lost by 200 votes. Issues Because there aren't so many sensitive issues in Australia as in the United States or the United Kingdom, most of the issues in Australian politics are relatively immediate. The only potentially divisive issue between Labor and the Liberals is the economy. Whilst both parties fundamentally accept a mixed economy, the Liberal party is (in general) slightly more likely to gravitate towards markets, whereas Labor is slightly more likely to gravitate towards government-based measuresnote. This varies between individual members of the parties, and it also varies depending on the issue. For instance, whilst the Hawke-Keating Labor governments did a lot of deregulation and privatisation, Howard's government made a move towards a less regulated labour market and the unions within the ALP were not remotely happy. Amusingly, the Taiwanese provided a better summary of the events in the lead-up to the 2010 election than the Australian media did. You don't even need to understand Chinese. Voting Australia uses "preferential voting" — also known as the "Alternative Vote" system in the UK, or as "instant-runoff voting" (which despite initial hopes is not forcing pudgy, middle-aged politicians to sprint). Rather than voting for a singular candidate and have them win through a plurality (i.e. whoever wins the most votes) such as in other countries, Australians are made to vote for their members in order of preference, ranking them 1, 2, 3 and so on. If no one wins a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of #1 votes first off, then whoever got the least number is eliminated and those votes are distributed to whoever the voters ranked as #2 instead — the process is repeated until someone gets a majority.note To prevent confusion, there are television and print ads explaining how a ranking ballot works ("put a '1' in the box of the candidate you prefer the most, etc. etc. etc."). On voting day, party supporters hand out "how-to-vote cards" at polling booths showing how each party prefers candidates from the other parties so that unsure people can just vote according to what their party wants. Also of note is that voting is compulsory. You can generally get away with not voting but legally you're expected to vote. A $AUS 20 fine applies for not voting. In some states, you're not obliged to mark the ballot in any way. If you genuinely don't care about your vote, you can just write "All politicians are wankers" on your ballot and put that in. Of course, if you vote correctly and write "All politicians are wankers" on the ballot, than the vote counters, while recounting everything, will see your vote half-a-dozen times. There is a joke: "For Christ's sake don't vote informal! I wrote 'Useless bastards!' on a ballot paper in 1971, and they've been in office ever since." "Donkey voting" is a type of formal (valid) vote, where the voter just numbers each box, consecutively 1-onwards, this is usually an "I don't care vote" but it can be helpful if there is a lot of candidates in a lower house election because a lower house ticket must be completely filled to be valid. Unfortunately, most media outlets, and thus most voters, use the terms informal and donkey interchangeably. They are not. A variation of donkey voting is to rank your favourite parties at the top, then rank all the others in the order they appear on the ballot paper, which is done by voters who have a preference but not interested in ranking the other candidates. Some people intentionally vote informal because they feel the compulsory voting system has driven both major parties to the centre, forcing them to pander to the 'swing' voters, turning elections into tax cut auctions and fights over which party hates brown people more. They might also feel that regardless of which way they vote, there won't be a recognisable change in leadership; just in the voice doing the 'leading', and so their 'say' is pointless regardless. (The fact that by doing so they are in fact making damned sure that their vote won't count rarely seems to occur to them.) The preferential voting system is worth noting because it means there's no such thing as a minor candidate "splitting the vote". If somebody really likes the Greens but would rather Labor win than Liberal, he can vote 1 Greens and 2 Labor, and when the Greens candidate doesn't get in, that vote goes to Labor rather than being wasted. Plenty of people vote for all the minor parties first, and their actual contribution to the election comes from whether it's Labor 7, Liberal 8 (or Labor 139-145, Liberal 146-151, as in some states' interminably long federal senate ballot papers) or vice versa. Even so, not everyone realises this is the case. You still hear people saying they're going to give their first preference to a major party because "they need it more" (in fact, the opposite is true since the votes will eventually make their way, with their full power, to the two-party preferred statistic anyway). Unfortunately the system has it's weaknesses as you have to number every single candidate (who can number over a hundred) to choose which ones get your preference votes so very few voters do so. Also if you vote the simpler way of labelling a single party for your vote the preference votes are distributed amongst parties according to "preference deals" or agreements between the parties. After the 2013 election it became major issue when a minor candidate who have a tiny amount of votes gained a seat purely through preference deals. Politicians Since they're all interchangeable bastards, we don't bother remembering any politician's names, so the only ones the average Aussie will know (apart from Harold Holt above, or WWII PM John Curtin, or Robert Menzies post-WWII) are the last dozen-or-so Prime Ministers: Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. Edmund Barton if you're 20 years or older. That did cost a few million dollars for the TV ad campaign though. Most are also able to remember Peter Garrett, but that's only because he was part of the band Midnight Oil. As well as for the, ah, Pink Batts scheme. Does anyone actually know of this, aside from Australians? It will be a long time before Queenslanders ever forget their infamous premiernote Joh Bjelke-Petersen either, as much as they'd like to. He shamelessly dished out favours to developers, openly referred to an Aboriginal activist as "Mr. Witchetty Grub", openly supported South Africa's apartheid regime (and responded to protests by bringing in rural cops and stuffing jails until protesters had to be kept in paddy wagons), considered blasting shipping lanes through the Great Barrier Reef with nuclear weapons, involved in the allegedly corrupt pro-development 'white shoe brigade'...and somehow managed to remain in power for nearly 20 years. And even then he was only forced to step down due to a growing bribe scandal in the State Police. He certainly didn't help improve Queensland's red-neck stereotype. How did he stay in power for so long? Mainly due to a parliamentary map known as the "Bjelkemander", which was biased towards the rural areas where his National Party was popular. In some elections, they won the most seats despite taking only the third-highest number of votes. Other factors were his genuine popularity among staunchly right-wing voters and the fact that Queensland was enjoying an economic boom. Before his time, Brisbane and the Gold Coast were little more than large country towns. As a side note, most Prime Ministers until John Gorton have a suburb in the Australian Capital Territory named after them, and all Prime Ministers up to William McMahon have electoral divisions named after them. Billy Snedden - who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1975, and the Speaker of the House from 1975 to 1983 is well remembered.... for the circumstances of his death in 1987. Let's just say that he died on the job with his son's ex-girlfriend. Anyone who is not a Liberal supporter would be familiar with Bronwyn Bishop, former Speaker of the House. She, more than even Abbott to some, is considered the Big Bad due to her fanatical support of her party. A real life Dolores Umbridge (Labor MP Tony Burke said as much,) untouchable Hanging Judge who delights in attacking the opposition through My Rules Are Not Your Rules, and had gained the ire of non-Liberal voters. She was forced to resigned at the request of the Prime Minister after "Choppergate", a parliamentary expenses scandal. She was replaced by Tony Smith. A note Brief Summary of Each Australian Prime Minister: Edmund Barton. Edmund Barton (Protectionist Party) was Australia's first prime minister, from 1901 to 1903. A key member of the Federation movement in the 1890's, he was conservative, rich and racist — the first law his government passed was the foundation of the White Australia Policy, which effectively banned non-white people from immigrating to Australia. Media nickname "Toby Tosspot", owing to his fondness of long dinners and the bottle. He actually didn't really achieve much as Prime Minister at all, as the main focus of the inaugural government was to organise the country's first federal elections - which the Protectonists ended up winning with support from the Labour Party. One thing the Barton Goverment did achieve was to give women the right to vote - which happened in 1902. Resigned to become one of the founding High Court judges. He was a pretty so-so High Court Judge too, and acted much the same way as he did as Prime Minister. Died in 1920. Alfred Deakin. Alfred Deakin (Protectionist Party) succeeded Barton, and was Prime Minister on three non-consecutive occasions between 1903 and 1910. Among people familiar with history, Deakin is remembered rather more favourably than Barton - and was in fact universally liked, only making actual enemies as a result of The Fusion. His policies were small-l liberal, and during his time in the Victorian Government before Federation, he was instrumental in bringing in liberal reforms, as well as helped introduce irrigation. Had he not focused his efforts on Federation, he may well have ended us as Premier of Victoria. Served as Attorney-General in the Barton Government, where he helped establish the High Court. Deakin is also known for believing he could commune with dead politicians, who advised him on tactics. (1903-1904) The first time he was Prime Minister, however, he didn't really do much at all. He led the Protectionists into the 1903 election and retained government, but a swing to Labour gave all three major parties near-equal representation in the House, making it much harder to get anything done. In 1904 the unofficial alliance between the Protectionists and Labour fell apart, and Deakin ended up resigning in frustration. Opposition Leader George Reid declined to form government, so the job of Prime Minister went to.... Chris Watson. Chris Watson (Labour Party), Prime Minister for four months in 1904 after Deakin's resignation. He was the ALP's first ever Prime Minister, at 37 the youngest person ever to hold the Prime Ministership, and the first Prime Minister to come from a Labour Party in the entire world... but he couldn't really achieve much in his brief tenure, generally having more success in wringing concessions out of Protectionist Party governments. He suffered the same problem that Deakin had due to the three major parties having about equal power, so couldn't accomplish much more than passing supply bills - though it is generally agreed that had it not been for these circumstances, he would have made a fine Prime Minister. When he couldn't persuade the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and call an early election, he resigned as PM. Continued on as Labour leader until resigning in 1907 in favour of Andrew Fisher due to his wife's ill health. Was regarded as a moderate and pragmatist, and later in life defected to the Nationalist Party after being expelled from the Labor Party along with Billy Hughes and several others in 1916. Also noteworthy for having become Prime Minister without being an Australian citizen or even a British (Empire) subject: he was born in Valparaíso (Chile) to a German-Chilean father and a New Zealander mother, and was never naturalised. Died in 1941. George Reid. George Reid (Free Trade Party), Prime Minister 1904-1905. He was the earliest-born of all Prime Ministers (in 1845) and the only Free Trade Prime Minister. In the event, he accomplished very little as PM, like Watson and Deakin before him. Aware that he would only be able to serve for a brief period of time, he waited until the unofficial Protectionist-Labour alliance was re-established – which they did in July 1905, at which point he stepped down from the Prime Ministership gracefully. He spent a much longer period of time as Leader of the Opposition. Also served as Premier of New South Wales during the 1890's, where he is generally considered to have been more effective than as PM. Changed the name of the Free Trade Party to the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906 in order to remain relevant and to differentiate themselves from the other major parties. Opposed the idea of The Fusion, Reid stepped down as the Anti-Socialist leader in 1908 in favour of Joseph Cook, and retired from Parliament the following year. Later became Australia's first High Commissioner in London, where he proved to be extremely popular. As a result, he ended up joining the House of Commons as a member of the Conservative Party, and served until his death in 1918 - the first former Prime Minister to die. In his lifetime, Reid was also (in)famous for his wit, and was acclaimed as "perhaps the best platform speaker in the Empire". Much of his audience would attend his election meetings as entertainment, and Reid had the ability to amuse and at the same time inform the audiences. However, not everyone enjoyed his humour, with Alfred Deakin in particular disliking him as a result. Heckler: (pointing out Reid's large belly) What are you going to call it, George? Reid: If it's a boy, I'll call it after myself. If it's a girl I'll call it Victoria. But if, as I strongly suspect, it's nothing but piss and wind, I'll name it after you! Alfred Deakin again (Protectionist Party). (1905-1908) Fifteen months and two prime ministers after first resigning the position, Deakin became PM again. Successfully passed protectionist legislation... after which there wasn't much left that distinguished his party from the Free Traders/Anti-Socialists, resulting in them losing supporters. Managed to hold onto minority government after the December 1906 election despite having won the least number of seats of the three parties, but it didn't last another two years. Andrew Fisher (Labour Party) was also Prime Minister on three non-consecutive occasions between 1908 and 1915. Left-wing and reformist, he was one of Labour's most successful Prime Ministers in the early 20th century. (1908-1909) Fisher first became PM of a minority government in 1908 after forcing Deakin out, when the Protectionist-Labour alliance broke down again. This time around, he only lasted seven months before Deakin took back the government. Alfred Deakin yet again (Commonwealth Liberal Party). (1909-1910) With the Protectionist Party bleeding supporters to Labour and to the Anti-Socialists, and most of supporters being admirers of Deakin himself rather than the party, Deakin organised a merger of the Protectionists and the Anti-Socialists into the "Commonwealth Liberal Party" with himself as leader, giving them a majority and effectively creating Australia's modern two-party system. It backfired: a good deal of liberal Protectionists felt that Deakin had sold out his principles, and voted him out in the next election. Died in 1919. Andrew Fisher again (Labor Party — they dropped the "u" during his tenure, in 1912). (1910-1913) Won big in the 1910 election, becoming the first person to be elected the head of a majority government in Australia. Passed a huge number of reforms, only one of which was officially changing his party's name to a misspelling - on the advice of American-born King O'Malley. Lost the 1913 election by one seat. Joseph Cook (Commonwealth Liberal Party), Prime Minister from 1913 to 1914. Former member of the Labour Party who steadily moved to the Right. Understandably fed up with governing with a one-seat majority and a hostile Senate, he obtained a double-dissolution election, the first in Australia's history - right before the outbreak of World War One. Thrown into an accidental khaki election, Cook and the Commonwealth Liberals ended up losing to Fisher and Labor. Died in 1947. Andrew Fisher yet again (Labor Party). (1914-1915) Having won back the position of Prime Minister, he didn't keep it very long, resigning after a year due to ill health. Became Australia's new High Commissioner in London the following year, succeeding George Reid. Died in 1928. Billy Hughes (Labor Party, then National Labor Party, then Nationalist Party) succeeded Fisher. The most xenophobic PM Australia has had (Former PM Malcolm Fraser even referred to his politics as 'evil'). He was kicked out of the Labor Party in 1916 over the issue of conscription (which he supported and most of the party didn't), but stayed Prime Minister by merging his small band of expelled supporters into the Commonwealth Liberal Party to form the Nationalist Party, which formed the new government and won a huge majority in 1917, although conscription failed to pass in a plebiscite. Hughes was re-elected as Prime Minister in 1919 (but came one seat short of a majority in the House, relying on cross-bencher support), and from 1920 onwards he steadily lost the support of right-wing Nationalists. The 1922 election returned a hung parliament, and the Nationalists formed an official coalition with the new Country Party to stay in governmentnote – the price of the agreement was that Hughes was forced to resign as Prime Minister, as the Country Party didn't trust him due to his Labor background. Hughes spent his entire career jumping from party to party — Labor to National Labor to Nationalist to independent to Australian to United Australia to independent to Liberal.note He sat in Parliament for fifty-one years, a record that has yet to be surpassed. Died in 1952 as the last remaining serving MP from Federation as well as second-last surviving (King O'Malley outliving him by around a year). Hughes was extremely racist, and a vehement supporter of the White Australia Policy. At the Paris Peace Conference he was the most vocal opponent of Japan's Racial Equality Proposal (acting as a cat's paw for David Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson, who also opposed the proposal but less openly); the proposal's resultant defeat made Japan quite annoyed. Bizarrely, Hughes genuinely feared an ethnic German uprising in Australia in the midst of WWI, and even had the police draw him secret escape and counter-militia measures, for when the German hordes descended upon the government. Unsurprisingly, and as the police consistently told him, this was totally pointless. Most ethnic Germans had been in Australia for generations. On another note, Hughes also shot invective at Irish and Catholic Australians during his pro-conscription campaign, despite the fact that huge numbers of Irish Australians actively volunteered for service. Hughes was also instrumental in insisting that the Treaty of Versailles should oblige Germany to pay war reparations, ganging up with French PM Georges Clemenceau to browbeat Lloyd George into backing the measure. Reparations, of course, played a huge part in the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism. If only Woodrow Wilson's style had been less Holier Than Thou professorial lecturing and more annoying politicking... In 1917, while Hughes was campaigning in Queensland, an anti-conscription protester lobbed an egg at him, hitting the PM square in the face. Hughes demanded that the man be arrested on the spot, and was furious when the police on the scene refused. So furious, in fact, that he subsequently founded the Commonwealth Police Force, the predecessor to today's Australian Federal Police. Stanley Bruce (Nationalist Party), Prime Minister 1922 to 1929. When the Country Party forced Billy Hughes to resign as PM as a price for entering coalition with the Nationalists, Bruce was picked as his replacement. A veteran of the First World War, he was a conservative, stuck-up, condescending bastard who constantly wore an expression of deep disdain for those around him. His major political achievements were his "Men, Money, Markets" policies (increased immigration, increased government spending, more international trade) which had the cumulative result of driving the country to the ground in the Great Depression, thanks to enormous debt and a uniform economy. Bruce ended up being brought down by the man he replaced: in 1929, Hughes and a few other Nationalists crossed the floor on a crucial bill and were expelled from the Nationalists, forcing a federal election — an election which Bruce not only lost, but in which he became the first sitting Prime Minister to actually lose his own seat in Parliament (The only other sitting Prime Minister who lost his seat so far was John Howard in 2007). He was also infamously known for his irrational hatred of unions and the labour movement in general, and passed extremely harsh strike-breaking laws. Later went on to a distinguished, and highly successful diplomatic career. Died in 1967. James Scullin (Labor Party), Prime Minister 1929 to 1932, and the first Catholic and Redhead PM. Was sworn in two days before the Wall Street Crash, which made his entire tenure as Prime Minister all about the Great Depression. Ended up acting as Treasurer as well after the first one, Ted Theodore, was forced to resign in scandal. Spent the entire second half of 1930 in England begging for a loan; he left James Fenton as acting PM and Joseph Lyons as acting Treasurer, who drastically changed government policy to cut spending while he was away. After returning he tried to reinstate Theodore as Treasurer — as a result, his party suffered two splits at once: a faction of rightists (who included Fenton and Lyons) thought Theodore was too radical, and defected to the opposition; another faction (known as "Lang Labor", led by Jack Lang) thought Theodore wasn't radical enough. An early election was forced and Scullin lost in landslide. Stayed on as Labor leader until 1935, upon which he stepped down in favour of John Curtin. Became an elder statesman in the Labor Party, whose members often turned to him for advice. Died in 1953. Joseph Lyons (United Australia Party), Prime Minister 1932 to 1939. Formerly a Labor minister under Scullin, he left the party along with four other MPs in 1931 — they combined with the Nationalist Party plus three other independent MPs to form the United Australia Party (the Liberal Party's immediate predecessor). Is generally remembered favourably, though reviled by the Labor Party as a rat. The first Australian prime minister to die in office, succumbing to a heart attack in April 1939. Earle Page (Country Party), served as caretaker Prime Minister for nineteen days in April 1939, taking over after Lyons' death. Only served as PM until the United Australia Party, as the dominant party in the Coalition, could elect a new leader — who turned out to be Robert Menzies, whom Sir Earle hated. Well-known for being strongly against government spending... unless it was directed at rural areas, in which case he was all for it. The third-longest serving federal MP in Australia, after Philip Ruddock (who is still serving) and fellow former PM Billy Hughes. Also the only sitting Prime Minister to have been knighted (several others were also knighted, but only after their times in office). Died in 1961, days after losing his seat in that year's election - apparently never found out the results. Robert Menzies (United Australia Party), Prime Minister on two non-consecutive occasions between 1939 and 1966, and Australia's longest-serving PM. Hugely anti-communist, and massive Britphile — once proclaimed that Australians were "British to [their] bootstraps", and had ambitions to become Prime Minister of the UK someday (obviously, never fulfilled). He ended up founding the Liberal Party, and is regarded as a founding father of modern Australian conservatism. (1939-1941) His first time as Prime Minister, however, wasn't so successful. He first took over soon after Lyons died, but proved to be not very good as a wartime Prime Minister and was unpopular fairly quickly. Held onto government after the 1940 election returned a hung parliament, but was forced to resign the following year. His successor as party leader was none other than Billy Hughes, who was 78 years old at the time and mainly got the job because there was no one else remotely suitable. Menzies had the nickname "Pig Iron Bob" due to his promotions of iron exports to Japan in the thirties. The joke (and it says a lot about Australians that this is a joke) is that the Japanese gave it back soon after. Arthur Fadden (Country Party), became Prime Minister in 1941 after Menzies' resignation, despite being from the Country Party and not the UAP (mainly because of Hughes's advanced age). He only lasted 40 days before the independents who held the balance of power switched their support to Labor — which may have been some small consolation to Menzies. Stayed on as the Country Party leader and became Treasurer after the Coalition returned to power, retiring in 1958 to be replaced by John McEwen. Died in 1973. John Curtin (Labor Party), Prime Minister 1941 to 1945, and also the first agnostic PM. Led Australia during World War II, and is credited with starting Australia's close alliance with the US. Considered one of our great Prime Ministers, for his war-time leadership, great oratory and general sympathy for the poor guy. Had ill health all through his tenure and ended up being the second Australian Prime Minister to die in office - from heart disease on the eve of victory in the Pacific, in July 1945. Francis Forde (Labor Party), caretaker Prime Minister for seven days in July 1945 after Curtin's death, until losing a ballot for the Labor Leadership to Ben Chifley — the shortest tenure in the history of the country. Was deputy leader of the Labor Party from 1932 until he lost his seat in 1946. Well remembered for his loyalty to his party, and gave his full support to Chifley. Was also remembered for being the longest-lived Prime Minister (having lived to age 92 years, 194 days) until his record was surpassed by Gough Whitlam in 2009. Died in 1983. Ben Chifley (Labor Party), Prime Minister 1945 to 1949. Became Prime Minister one week after John Curtin died, and was re-elected the following year (defeating former Prime Minister Robert Menzies, the first leader of the Liberal Party). The last truly socialist Prime Minister of Australia, and one of the most influential. Is something of a hero of the Australian left, for introducing a large number of social programs. Ended up suffering a huge backlash in 1948 and 1949 for trying to nationalise the banks and for a crippling coal strike which Menzies exploited to portray Labor as soft on the Communists. Ended up losing to Menzies in a rematch election in December 1949. Died in 1951 shortly after losing the election that year. Chifley is best remembered for his "light on the hill" speech, which is seen as encapsulating the Australian Labor movement's ideals and aspirations. The appropriate section is quoted below: Chifley: I try to think of the Labor movement, not as putting an extra sixpence into somebody's pocket, or making somebody Prime Minister or Premier, but as a movement bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people. We have a great objective — the light on the hill — which we aim to reach by working the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labor movement would not be worth fighting for. If the movement can make someone more comfortable, give to some father or mother a greater feeling of security for their children, a feeling that if a depression comes there will be work, that the government is striving its hardest to do its best, then the Labor movement will be completely justified. Before Chifley, Labor had generally been against immigration. By contrast, his government saw the beginning of a large wave of European immigration. This was the first mass-migration program to include non-British immigrants. This did not mark the end the White Australia Policy; both Labor and the Coalition favoured this policy until the 1960s. Still, it was a first step. Robert Menzies again (Liberal Party), for a long time this time. (1949-1966) Founded the Liberal Party while out of power, merging the United Australia Party with several minor parties, and became its first leader. Was widely regarded as unelectable until the whole debacle in 1948, after which he went on to win back the Prime Ministership. Cruised through his time as PM without serious opposition due to the ALP-DLP split in 1955 - though he did lose the popular vote several times, and relied on DLP preferences to remain in power. He lasted forever and ever and ever, governing for 17 years straight and finally not so much resigning as ascending to Camelot. Died in 1978. Having a conservative founding and leading a 'Liberal' party might sound odd to American readers. Menzies said about the party he founded: "We took the name 'Liberal' because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary but believing in the individual, his rights, and his enterprise, and rejecting the socialist panacea." On the other hand, he was a dedicated social conservative. He successfully exploited anti-communist sentiment on more than one occasion, even unsuccessfully trying to ban the Communist Party. Menzies was probably the last PM to consider himself to be British, saying in an Australia Day speech in 1950 that "You and I are Australians. We are also British. We do not and cannot think of the people of the other British nations as a foreign people". Menzies was a staunch supporter for the White Australia Policy. When in 1964 one of his ministers, Hubert Opperman, argued the policy was based on discrimination Menzies argued discrimination against non-Whites was 'the right sort of discrimination'. Menzies was essentially the last defender of for this rigid race-based ideology. During his government, restrictions that prevented Aboriginals from voting ended on both a federal and state level. He also made one of the classic heckler putdowns: Heckler: I wouldn't vote for you if you were the Archangel Gabriel! Menzies: Madam, if I were the Archangel Gabriel, I'm afraid you wouldn't be in my constituency. Menzies was well-known for his wit, so much that a collection titled The Wit of Robert Menzies was the best-selling non-fiction book in Australia for a period. Harold Holt (Liberal Party) — Prime Minister from 1966 to 1967, taking over after Menzies' retirement and winning re-election later that year. Didn't make much of a mark during his relatively short tenure: he was mainly known for winning the largest victory at an election during the Coalition rule in 1966, being a strong supporter of the Vietnam War (which was popular at the time), expanding Australia's troop commitment and coming up with the quote "All the way with LBJ." Holt and his successors were less conservative than Menzies, and began to further ease restrictions on Asians and other non-White people, and drop the inter-changeability of 'British' and 'Australian'. What Holt is most famous for nowadays is how he died — or rather, how he disappeared without a trace. One day in December 1967, after a few drinks and a tough day at the office, Harold Holt plunged into the surf at Portsea to impress a woman generally considered his mistress, and was never seen again. And in true Australian spirit, in Melbourne a council swimming pool was named after him. Harold Holt's death was the subject of many conspiracy theories that continue to this day. Theories range from him having deliberately committed suicide, to having faked his own death, to having been kidnapped in the water by a Chinese submarine. And some Aussies love mocking the conspiracy theories. Yes, haven't you heard? They're now looking for a dingo with a snorkel. John McEwen (Country Party), caretaker Prime Minister after Holt's disappearance from 1967 to 1968... well, actually it was only 23 days, but it lasted over the New Year. McEwen was leader of the Country Partynote. It was expected that the Liberals' deputy leader William McMahon would take over as PM in short order — but McEwen, who hated McMahon, officially said "No way in hell" and refused to let McMahon's candidacy even be considered, throwing the Coalition into crisis. The job inevitably went to the newly-elected Liberal leader John Gorton, who then made McEwen the first official Deputy Prime Minister. Retired in 1971, with Doug Anthony replacing him as Country leader. Interestingly, he is the only Prime Minister to have committed suicide, starving himself to death in 1980. John Gorton (Liberal Party), Prime Minister 1968 to 1971, and the first openly non-religious PM. Can be best summed up as being Australia's Gerald Ford. After Harold Holt disappeared, Gorton was plucked from the Senate to be his permanent replacement, being selected after a lot of factional in-fighting within the Coalition over who'd take over. Described by John Howard as a "Tory Larrikin" and "Australian to the boot-heels", Gorton was a proud nationalist who fought as a fighter pilot in World War II and was severely wounded several times (his face literally bearing the scars of war). He single-handedly revitalised the Australian film industry, and gave vital government support to the arts. Gorton ended up losing much of his initial popularity (largely due to the rise of Gough Whitlam), just scraping re-election in 1969 (and only then due to DLP preferences), and losing a leadership challenge to William McMahon 18 months later. Died in 2002. Gorton was Prime Minister during the Lunar landings of 1969. He also presided over the greatest loosening of censorship laws Australia has ever seen (spear-headed by Minister for Communications and his good mate, Don Chipp). And as a youth, one of his schoolmates was Errol Flynn. Gorton was also the first and only member of the Upper House to become Prime Minister. By convention, the PM is supposed to be a member of the Lower House, so Gorton resigned his seat and ran in a by-election for Holt’s vacated Lower House seat, which he won. What this means is that, for a few weeks in February of 1968, Australia was in the peculiar position of having a Prime Minister who was not technically a member of parliament. Gorton was a heavy drinker, a heavy smoker and a heavy womaniser. Not uncommon among Australian PMs by any means (his predecessor, Harold Holt, drowned while showing off in front of his mistress); unfortunately, Gorton was rather determinedly indiscreet about it. He was so well-known for taking the odd day off Parliament that his go-to excuse of having a touch of the flu became a punch-line: around Canberra, the phrase "Gorton flu" became a popular euphemism for a hangover. Gorton was also infamous for appointing Ainsley Gotto, a young woman as his private secretary. He relied on her for advice and she was reviled for having too much power. When Dudley Erwin was sacked as Minister for Air, Erwin's famous excuse was that "It wiggles, it’s shapely, it’s cold-blooded and its name is Ainsley Gotto". Forty-odd years later, history would repeat itself - with Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin. He was one of the Liberal Party's more progressive Prime Ministers, to the point that he alienated hard-line conservatives and traditionalists, who railed against "Gortonism". The Gorton Government saved the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling, supported equal pay and increased funding for Aboriginal affairs, provided free health care for 250,000 poor families, expanded the social services system and increased Commonwealth education spending. After losing the Prime Ministership, Gorton co-sponsored a successful motion to decriminalise homosexuality, and after leaving parliament he campaigned for drug law reform. Gorton also holds the distinction of being the only Prime Minister to vote himself out of office. Well, kind of. After Defence Minister Malcolm Fraser resigned over Gorton interfering with his portfolio and denouncing him as "unfit to hold the great office of Prime Minister", Gorton called for a motion of confidence in his leadership. Faced with an evenly-split confidence vote in the party room and realising that he could not credibly hold onto the leadership, Gorton announced that he was using his tie-breaking vote as chairman to kick himself out. Technically, the chairman didn't get a casting vote in these proceedings, but in the heat of the moment nobody was about to argue with him. Outside of parliament, Gorton left the Liberal Party in disgust when Malcolm Fraser became leader of the Liberal Party. Fraser had been one of Gorton's top supporters until the dying days of Gorton's office, openly resigning and denouncing him on the floor of parliament. Gorton ran as an independent and denounced the Dismissal of the Whitlam government. He even congratulated Bob Hawke for "rolling that bastard Fraser" from office in the 1983 election. Even up to his death at 90, he never forgave Fraser and reportedly could not bear to be in the same room as him. Upon retirement from politics, Gorton lent his support for Don Chipp's Democrats until rejoining the Liberal Party in the 1990's. Gorton is also known for appearing on the popular music television series Countdown - and wasn't the only Prime Minister to appear on the program, with both Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke appearing as well. There was also a song written about Gorton - "The Ballad Of John Grey Gorton" by John Vincent. William McMahon (Liberal Party), Prime Minister 1971 to 1972. After being barred from becoming Prime Minister in 1967 and with an increasingly-unpopular John Gorton in the top job, McMahon finally seized his chance to become PM after McEwen's retirement. Never actually won an election: he became PM through a leadership challenge and lost the election the following year. Billy McMahon is generally remembered for being the father of actor Julian McMahon, for rumours that he was gay, and for being the guy who lost a federal election to Labor after 23 years in power. Generally considered to be the worst Prime Minister, and disliked by his colleagues and opponents alike. Also known for having the nickname "Billy Big Ears". Died in 1988. His wife, Sonia, is also remembered for wearing a scandalous (at the time) side-split dress to meet Richard Nixon at the White House. Gough Whitlam (Labor Party), Prime Minister from 1972 to 1975 and longest-lived former PM. Made an astonishing number of reforms during his brief tenure, and completely changed Australia as a result. Huge increases in education funding, universal health care, decriminalisation of homosexual acts, withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, abolished conscription, the final and public abandonment of the White Australia Policy, introducing the Racial Discrimination Act, granting Aboriginal land rights, ambitious new cultural policies, urban renewal projects for Australia's impoverished communities, free tertiary education, etc. Faced several scandals in government and severe inflation, owing largely to the fact that his ministers (none of whom had ever held government before) wanted to accomplish all their projects as quickly as possible and damn the consequences — in his own words, "Crash or crash through". In 1975, a hostile senate refused to pass the government supply bill (i.e. the budget) unless an early election was held. Governor-General John Kerr broke the face-off by dismissing the Whitlam Government and appointing Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker PM. Though Whitlam advised supporters to "maintain the rage", Fraser won the election by a landslide a month later. The left idolises Whitlam for his reforms (and despises John Kerr), while the right hates him with a passion. Not only did he live to the longest age (98 years) but he was the last Australian Prime Minister whose lifespan overlapped with that of every other PM to date. Died in 2014. Like Menzies, he's also remembered for his "zingers". In reply to persistent questioning about his views on abortion: "In your case, it should be retrospective". When an opposing politician stated "I am a Country member!" note, Whitlam slyly responded "I remember." Malcolm Fraser (Liberal Party), Prime Minister from 1975 to 1983. Instrumental in bringing down two Prime Ministers - Gorton and Whitlam. Won the 1975 election against Whitlam after getting media support from Rupert Murdoch's papers, economic problems, the numerous scandals by Whitlam government ministers, and giving the reassurance that, unlike Gough, you could trust him not to change too much too quickly. His time as PM isn't approved of by the left or right — the left revile him for his role in "The Dismissal", while the right regard his government as a wasted opportunity because he wasn't enough like Margaret Thatcher. After being voted out of office he gradually became estranged from the Liberal Party, eventually leaving them altogether in 2009 when Tony Abbott became the Liberal Leader (saying that the Liberal Party was "no longer a liberal party but a conservative party"), and patched things up with Gough (the two campaigned together in support of a republic for the 1999 referendum). Died in 2015. He got respect from liberals (not Liberal party Liberals that is, the other kind, which isn't mutually exclusive) who respect his humanitarianism, particularly his embrace of (following Vietnam) what is likely the largest single intake of Asian refugees the country has ever seen. Similar refugees in the modern day are locked up, often for years, while security goes through paperwork, while some governments have gone to great lengths to stop asylum seeker boats (purportedly to prevent the risk of deaths at sea, at least within Australian waters), policies that Fraser repeatedly criticised when he was alive. Bob Hawke (Labor Party), Prime Minister 1983 to 1991, elected with a landslide majority less than a month after becoming Labor leader. Famous for his blokeiness: he held the world record for drinking an entire yard glass of beer (eleven seconds, during his days at Oxford), and after Australia's win in the 1983 America's Cup he proclaimed "Any boss who sacks a bloke because he doesn't turn up for work today is a bum!" After decades of almost unbroken defeats, Hawke developed an innovative new strategy for the Labor Party: be the Liberal Party instead. Hawke (or more precisely, treasurer Paul Keating) actually presided over the most extensive and thorough regime of deregulation and privatisation the Australian economy has ever seen, before or since. Even centrist and leftist academic economists accept the benefits brought by his reforms, and these were combined with the establishment of Medicare (Fraser having previously watered down Whitlam's universal healthcare program), increased funding for schools, public housing, welfare funds, and the introduction of occupational superannuation. Defeated in a leadership challenge by Keating in 1991. Currently the oldest-living former Prime Minister. Paul Keating (Labor Party), Prime Minister 1991 to 1996. Is remembered for being PM during the "recession we had to have", in his words, and for making the Redfern speech. Despite low popularity he won the "unwinnable" 1993 election often attributed to his small-l liberal Liberal (told you it was confusing) opponent Dr John Hewson being unable to explain the GST in layman's terms on national television, but lost the 1996 election due to John Howard taking out the lower-middle-class support base — "Howard's battlers". His time as PM polarises people to this day, though most agree that he was one of Australia's greatest treasurers when he served under Hawke. Has the honour of being the only Australian Prime Minister to have a musical dedicated to him: Keating The Musical. Like Menzies and Whitlam, Keating is also notorious for his zingers - a good sampling appears on the page for the aforementioned musical. John Howard (Liberal Party), Prime Minister 1996 to 2007. Famed for his huge eyebrows and ridiculous voice, loved by political cartoonists everywhere. A friend of George W. Bush, Howard instituted the Pacific Solution to deal with asylum seekers which was rather controversial (later dismantled by Rudd, and re-introduced by Gillard). Won a narrow victory (losing the popular vote) in 1998, exploited voters' fears of "illegal" brown people coming to Australia to win the 2001 election, and cruised to a victory in 2004 over the loud-mouthed and slightly unhinged Mark Latham. Actually had two ministers named Abbott and Costello (Health minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Peter Costello, who often give off the vibe of absolutely hating one another).

Howard was a divisive Prime Minister. Controversies include: switching back to supporting the GST before the 1998 election, the resignation of one of the Governor-Generals he appointed, support for Bush's foreign policy and denying climate change. The last straw was the introduction of his WorkChoices program in 2007, which gave huge amounts of power to employers in bargaining & contracting while massively undercutting workers' ability to collectively bargain — he lost the election that year, and became the second ever sitting PM of Australia to lose his seat (the first being Stanley Bruce in 1929). Depicted in a negative light in Keating! The Musical, and generally despised by the Australian left. A whole lot of (anti) political music has been written about him (see Like A Dog by Powderfinger and The King is Dead by The Herd for some examples). Kevin Rudd (Labor Party), a.k.a. "Kevin07", "Kevin24/7", "Kevvie" or "K-Rudd"note, Prime Minister 2007 to 2010. Looks a lot like an overgrown schoolboy, speaks Mandarin. Presented himself as a moderate fiscal conservative. His Prime Ministership involved successfully guiding Australia through the recession, making the first official apology to Indigenous Australians, and abolishing overseas detention centres for asylum seekers note. Failed attempts at reform include a 40% profit tax on mining companies and a draconian attempt to set up a mandatory internet filter. He's in about as many rap songs as John Howard, usually in reference to replacing him.

Rudd's policy decisions, to use his own words, caused a political shit-storm alienating several figures in his party and he was eventually ousted in a leadership challenge on 23-24 June, 2010 (when his own party pulled a Praetorian Guard on him), being replaced by then-Deputy PM Julia Gillard. Julia Gillard (Labor Party), Prime Minister from 2010 to 2013. Australia's first female Prime Minister — although interestingly, she is not the first atheist note or the first redhead.note  She replaced Kevin Rudd after a leadership challenge and narrowly stayed in power after the 2010 election produced a hung parliament, thanks support of one Greens MP and three independents. She generally been portrayed by satirists, comedians, and the press in general as a backstabber for ousting Rudd (cartoonists also tend to drastically exaggerate her nose). Her government was overshadowed by infighting between the Rudd and Gillard supporters that led to a decline in the polls. Rudd quit the cabinet after failing to defeat her in a leadership challenge in February 2012, before he finally succeeded in June 2013.

Gillard's policies included some social conservatism (such as reducing immigration, attempts to follow Howard's offshore processing of asylum seekers and declining to support gay marriage until after she left office) but with less economic statism than Rudd tended to advocate. In 2012, she made the now-famous Misogyny speech that drew international attention. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had criticised her for defending the scandal-tainted and "misogynist" Speaker Pete Slipper. In her famous response, Gillard accusing Abbott of being a misogynist himself. Kevin Rudd again (Labor Party), for three months in 2013, before his party was defeated. His most noteworthy action during this time was to become the first PM to support gay marriage. Tony Abbott (Liberal Party), 2013 to 2015. He was initially considered an unelectable budgie-smugglers-wearing Catholic firebrand when he became opposition leader in 2009. Yet Abbott won the 2013 election resoundingly, in part because voters were fed up with the fratricidal Labor government, and many voters thought that his would be able to avoid this.

After an unpopular budget in 2014 (to writ, one of the items included young people who lose their job to get no benefits for six months, then apply for forty a month to be entitled to them,) that cut spending Abbott's popularity dropped and never recovered. Conservative even in relation to his own party, Abbott was mocked for being nostalgic for decisions such as reintroducing knighthoods and refusing to let his party members vote on gay marriage. Other controversies included trying to downplay the issue of climate change and (despite trying to fend off accusations of misogyny) appointing just one woman to the cabinet. He fulfilled his promise to abolish the carbon tax, in favour of a Suspiciously Similar Substitute. He also developed a reputation for being gaffe-prone and for engaging in rather odd and eccentric behaviour. In foreign policy, his government received praise for its handling of the downing of Flight MH17, which killed 38 Australians, and they entered Australia into combat operations in Iraq in response to the rise of ISIS.

Discontent grew against Abbott within his party, with his subordinates disliking his centralised leadership and the powerful role he gave to his chief of staff Peta Credlin.note History quickly repeated itself. Abbott was defeated in a leadership challenge by his predecessor (seen below). As he said over Australian deaths in Iraq, "shit happens." And the greatest irony of all? He destroyed two prime ministers, but failed to outlast either of them. Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal Party), since 14 September 2015. When things were getting really bad for the government, Turnbull finally stepped in and ousted Abbott in a quick and relatively bloodless contest that was over by midnight the day he announced it, with Julie Bishop supporting him as deputy leader of the Liberals. Turnbull's coup was largely welcomed by the Australian public, although it was a nightmare for the hard right, to say the least. For the left, it's a mixed blessing: Turnbull is more moderate than Abbott, but probably harder to beat at the next federal election, which is expected in late 2016.