Jono Searle/AAP
The findings indicates natural disasters such as the current floods in southeastern Australia can influence election results.
Malcolm Turnbull emerges from the long campaign in a weakened position, having squandered the benefits of incumbency.
AAP/Paul Miller
There have been three clear lessons from this long election campaign: the vote is fragmenting, the media is fragmenting, and long election campaigns are not a good idea.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale (2L) celebrates on election night.
AAP/Mal Fairclough
With voters turning away from the two major parties and towards the Greens and micro-parties, it may be time to rethink our entire electoral system.
With voters increasingly disillusioned with the two major parties, microparties such as those led by Jacqui Lambie and Nick Xenophon will play a bigger role.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Whatever the outcome of this election, hung parliaments and minority governments will increasingly be a feature of the Australian political landscape.
The cross-bench senators may call to mind Paul Keating’s charge of ‘unrepresentative swill’, but they also reflect and respond to the 21st-century world in ways that the major parties can’t.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The Senate is not a root cause, but part of a long list of symptoms that indicate Australia’s political system is increasingly unfit for purpose in the 21st century.