Ben Raue
@benraue.com
3.5K followers 1.1K following 1.6K posts
The guy from The Tally Room. Psephologist analysing Australian elections, and hosting a podcast about elections in Australia and elsewhere. Find me at https://www.tallyroom.com.au/
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benraue.com
I am not familiar enough with local geography to know.

Rustie's writings are all from before the boundaries (draft or final) were published but I think he's planning further analysis.
benraue.com
Somewhat, but overall it’s still close.
benraue.com
you're welcome
benraue.com
I’m going to be discussing this topic on ABC Radio Sydney in a few minutes.
benraue.com
Yes I’ve noticed the Nationals were much more enthusiastic about parliamentary expansion than the Liberals when the committee was discussing the issue.
Reposted by Ben Raue
grugstan.bsky.social
I'm voting in UQ's Senate election today for the three alumni seats and it's a masterclass in terrible electoral design.

For one it uses the terrible perversion that is the FPTP method of election multiple members in a seat.
benraue.com
Overall the extra Senate seats wouldn’t have changed the left-right balance by much.
benraue.com
As for the Senate, Brandis claims the Greens would be the main beneficiaries, but this couldn’t be more wrong. The Greens at the moment are over-represented in the Senate. Expanding to 14 or 16 senators would just solidify their current seats. Most seats would go to Labor, the Coaltion or One Nation
benraue.com
An expanded parliament would add seats in all five mainland states, but shouldn’t benefit particular parties. If parties benefit from urban areas having an increasing share of seats, that will happen whether or not the parliament is expanded.
benraue.com
For now I’m just talking about the proposal to increase the number of senators per state, and the increased number of seats in the House as a consequence.
benraue.com
yes I did notice that Thorpe thing. I've got a blog post tomorrow morning on this.
benraue.com
The article just has a flat-out mistake where he says the parliament was last expanded in 1987. They even re-use that mistake in a pull-out quote! It was 1984.
benraue.com
It also isn't logical that the Greens would benefit significantly from a Senate increase. Lowering the quota to 11% wouldn't really give the Greens much of a chance of winning extra seats - most of the benefits would go to the majors or smaller parties!
benraue.com
If the parliament is expanded, those new seats will be shared around the country proportionally, including in regional area. That will include slow-growing rural areas not losing seats they would have otherwise lost.
benraue.com
This op-ed from George Brandis is full of holes and I don't know how The Age let it through.

-He claims that "Because most population growth is in city electorates", the ALP would gain most from a House expansion, even though the population growth benefits parties who do well in cities regardless.
benraue.com
I do think for a particular kind of election postal voting probably works better - depoliticised, not in the public eye, little known about the candidates, non partisan.
benraue.com
I don't think I've ever had a good dataset on this question. Advocates of postal voting in Victoria pointed to higher turnout - I think there are other issues with turnout. The last election in VIC to feature a mix of methods was in 2016, and turnout was lower on average in attendance councils.
benraue.com
I can't find the cross of trams cover right now, where would I find it?
benraue.com
put the stadium on the top of the mountain and take the cable car there
Reposted by Ben Raue
drdrehistorian.bsky.social
Besides how insulting this is to the hardworking election crew, or how wrong the international comparison is, it ignores a very simple fix: NZ does not have a live progress count after election night. This is why Australian counts feel faster even though they often aren't; we can see results firm up
Reposted by Ben Raue
jedgarnaut.bsky.social
On the street, it's got a dozen names. Some call 'em White Devils. Simple, classic. Some cats call 'em The Levelers, 'cause they take you from a 10 on the pain scale down to a zero. Smooths you right out. You call it Tylenol. I call it death.