Daniel Wirls, University of California, Santa Cruz
Republicans were able to push through a tax plan and a flurry of judicial nominees after the Senate curtailed use of the filibuster. It’s time to go all the way.
Changes to Senate voting laws and the particular case of Senator Bob Day make for an unprecedented constitutional tangle, and one that will change the make-up of the Senate.
One-third of people believe the next Senate should have more or the same number of crossbenchers, according to polling done for the Australia Institute.
The Senate reforms and a double-dissolution election means that it is difficult to predict who will be sitting in the upper house after July 2. But you can count on Nick Xenophon being there.
Natalie Mast speaks with 'Poll Bludger' William Bowe about how the election campaign has gone so far and what the Senate might look like as a result of changes to the voting method.
With the election result almost certain to be close, preferencing will play a key role, leaving the progressive parties in particular in a difficult bind.
The conventional wisdom is that Bob Hawke’s 1984 election was too long and almost disastrous, and therefore not to be repeated. But the times are very different now.
After a marathon debate the Senate has passed the government’s comprehensive rewriting of the upper house voting system, designed to limit the prospect of “micro” players being elected.
Ricky Muir from the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party this week made an unsuccessful last roll of the dice to try to delay the government's Senate voting reform legislation.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has said Labor would not support an early recall of the Senate, further complicating the situation if the government wants to call a double dissolution.