Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pat Leslie

@palesl.bsky.social

380 followers 200 following 340 posts

Politics researcher at ANU (Australian politics, comparative institutions, quantitative methods). patleslie.net fan: Sheffield United F.C. ⚔️

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Apr 28

My piece on the voting behaviour of the teals has made it to the AusJPS. New, improved and open access.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

1 16 28

Reposted by Pat Leslie

Erin Cook @erincook.bsky.social · 1d

Recast this with 65 year Olds and I'm sold

CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · 1d

here's one of the ads

1 6 19

Reposted by Pat Leslie

Rachel Withers @rachelwithers.bsky.social · 5d

Absolutely nothing to see here
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Sportsbet dines with government minister at Labor fundraiser despite calls to reject lobbying from industry

Exclusive: Dinner occurred on the same day that four crossbench MPs held a press conference calling on government to ignore lobbying from gambling industry

www.theguardian.com

2 22 40

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 8d

Enough with the intestine chat!

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 12d

Thought you'd like it!

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 12d

It's a banger

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

District magnitude and substantive representation

I define the substantive ‘representativeness’ of elections in terms of voters’ electoral welfare, the ‘congruence’ between voters’ ideal policy positions and the stated position of their closest pa...

www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Pat Leslie

Marija Taflaga @marijataflaga.bsky.social · 21d

The institutional equivalent of a slow motion train crash

www.afr.com/politics/fed...

‘It shows you everything that’s wrong with the Liberal party’

The battle for the seat of Bradfield is a snapshot of how the Liberals are on a campaign to irrelevance.

www.afr.com

3 4

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 26d

see also a new pre-print on the same type of network from Eve Cheng and myself:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 26d

very interesting work on bipartite graphs.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A Statistical Model of Bipartite Networks: Application to Cosponsorship in the United States Senate | Political Analysis | Cambridge Core

A Statistical Model of Bipartite Networks: Application to Cosponsorship in the United States Senate

www.cambridge.org

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 26d

ellmer, an absolutely incredible piece of software. ellmer.tidyverse.org

1 2

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 27d

this is so cool

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · 29d

Always thought provoking. Never thought about freedom of speech as the Socratic method of liberalism. Thank you @clothedvillainy.bsky.social

substack.com/@clothedvill...

Liberalism for me, but not for thee

Engaging seriously with the question of political non-violence

substack.com

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 15

Here’s the link!

law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/errn...

The Electoral Regulation Research Network and Democratic Audit of Australia Working Paper Series

The Electoral Regulation Research Network and the Democratic Audit of Australia publishes a series of working papers

law.unimelb.edu.au

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 15

I’ll go first. I like to celebrate by announcing the return of the Electoral Regulation Research Network working paper series!

With yours truly as its editor (with Dr Eden Blazejak, and Dr Peta Stephenson)

If you’ve got an idea for a short paper, get in touch!!

law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/errn...

1 2 9

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 15

Happy International Day of Democracy everybody! How do you celebrate it?

www.un.org/en/observanc...

International Day of Democracy | United Nations

The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support ...

www.un.org

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 14

I agree and there's a danger that people interpret the paper as saying ‘public universities should be detached from public accountability’. If you view the anu as simply a federal agency, then you might think the buck stops with the minister and that’s it, which in law it does.

1 2

Reposted by Pat Leslie

Luke Buckmaster @luke-buckmaster.bsky.social · Sep 10

Parliamentary Library hosting a lecture on AI and civic participation [15 September] events.teams.microsoft.com/event/5ecd00...

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

events.teams.microsoft.com

5 4

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 11

Xi was flanked by Putin, Lukashenko and Kim Jong Un. Hardly an irresistible combo of rising powers. The really surprising thing about that whole parade was just how weak the guest list looked.

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 7

Found my alt

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 7

At ANU: chancellor appoints executive, executive is accountable to board, chancellor chairs board appointments.

It’s hardly a loop which guarantees accountability to the broader purpose of a university, whose long-run stakeholders are its students, alumni, and staff.

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 7

An important and intuitive intervention. Some universities (not Australian ones I don’t think) allow key positions like chancellor to be elected by alumni, staff and students.

The democratic design of Australian universities (imo) do have accountability loops, but they are too narrow…

Francis Markham @francismarkham.bsky.social · Sep 7

Australian universities are in a governance crisis. VC pay blowouts, scandals, mission drift — these aren’t random, they’re structural.

This new working paper with @marijataflaga.bsky.social & Keith Dowding digs into why the system is broken, and how to fix it.

doi.org/10.25911/MWW...

A thread:

Neither corporate nor government: Why university governance needs to be different, and better
Marija Taflaga, Francis Markham and Keith Dowding.

Preprint, 29 August 2025. https://doi.org/10.25911/MWW4-9781

Abstract
Australian universities face a governance crisis rooted in failures of accountability. Unlike parliaments and corporate boards, university councils lack effective mechanisms for principals to discipline agents. In parliaments, voters can replace elected representatives; in corporations, shareholders can vote out directors. Both systems close the delegation–accountability loop, ensuring alignment between principals and outcomes. University councils, however, are self-perpetuating bodies dominated by external appointees, and in recent decades they are typically from corporate backgrounds. As neither producers nor consumers of universities’ core product—knowledge creation and dissemination—they have minimal intrinsic stake in academic outcomes leaving councils detached from the university’s core mission. This misalignment fosters mission drift, weakens oversight, and contributes to repeated scandals. Because councils largely appoint their own successors, they remain insulated from meaningful scrutiny, unlike boards or parliaments where underperformance is sanctioned externally. Restoring accountability requires giving academic staff and students a renewed oversight role, alongside clear safeguards for the public interest. Because academics and students are both producers and consumers of knowledge, they have a direct and enduring stake in its quality. We recommend two mechanisms to do this are:
1. Academic Senates empowered to appoint and review council members, ensuring councils reflect the university’s purpose.
2. Robust Committee Systems that embed staff and student voices in decision-making, reduce information asymmetries, and align incentives with academic purposes.

1 2 3

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Sep 5

Light rail, but evil

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Aug 21

No one is telling me to do it, just a sicko unfortunately

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Aug 21

gantt charting my way to Final Victory

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Aug 16

Thinking of you!

1 2

Pat Leslie @palesl.bsky.social · Aug 15

Some interesting claims about durians here wondering if you could verify some, particularly 3, 5 and 7?