Books

• Alan J. Ward, Parliamentary government in Australia, 2014: combines constitutional history and political science to compare all nine of Australia's political systems, federal, state and territory, from colonial times to the present.
• Singleton, Aitkin, Jinks and Warhurst Australian political institutions, 2013: introduces students to the structure and organisation of the institutions and functions of government in Australia, with reference to contemporary issues and debates.
• Robert Corcoran and Jackie Dickenson, A dictionary of Australian politics, 2010: a dictionary that defines a range of Australian political terms and expressions, and includes international terms which are essential to political discussion.

Journals

• Australian journal of political science: articles on a wide range of political topics. Also available online from 1997 to the present, through the link in the Catalogue record.

Student texts

• Edited by Alan Fenna, Jane Robbins, John Summers, Government and politics in Australia, 2014
• Martin Drum and John William Tate, Politics in Australia, 2012

Websites

• Parliament of Australia: official website of Australian parliament, with information on parliamentary departments, links to committee reports, full text of bills, speeches, biographical information, parliamentary publications, and more. You can also use the Parliamentary Library.
• National Archives of Australia: includes fact sheets and research guides on subjects such as Parliamentary Papers and several Prime Ministers.
• Federal Register of Legislation: a register of Commonwealth legislation and related documents.
• British Royal Family official website: including information on Australia's head of state, the King.
• Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia: information on the role of the Governor-General, speeches, previous Governors-General, the Australian Honours Secretariat and links to the websites of the State Governors.
• Prime Minister of Australia official website: includes speeches, media releases, links to the ministry and general information on Australia.
• Australia's Diplomatic and Consular Missions: includes a listing of all Australian Embassies and Consulates, arranged alphabetically by country.
• The Commonwealth: provides information on the association of 56 independent sovereign states known as “The Commonwealth”. The site includes historical detail, facts and figures on each of the member nations including Australia, current news, press releases, publications, events and initiatives.

Books

• David Eastman, The founding documents of The Commonwealth of Australia, 1994: copies of original documents (1891-1903) involved in the process of creating the Commonwealth of Australia
• Nicholas Aroney, The constitution of a federal commonwealth : the making and meaning of the Australian constitution, 2009: looking at historical, political and legal issues, this book discusses how the Constitution came into being
• Helen Irving, The Centenary companion to Australian federation, 1999: looks at the individual colonies as they made their way towards membership of the Australian Commonwealth in 1901. With cross-referenced short alphabetical entries covering key events, people and concepts
• Gavin Souter, Lion and kangaroo : the initiation of Australia, 2001: a detailed account of the first two decades of the Commonwealth of Australia
• Compiled by Robin Brown, Collins milestones in Australian history : 1788 to the present, 1986: an overview, dates, and significant events. Each year represented has a section headed “History, Politics, Economics, Law.”
• Compiled by Neville Meaney Australia and the world : a documentary history from the 1870s to the 1970s, 1985: looks at Australia’s foreign relations, attitudes to international affairs and the evolution of foreign policies from colonial times

Reference works

• Colin A. Hughes and B. D. Graham, A handbook of Australian government and politics: details of election results for the Commonwealth and states, as well as lists of cabinets, governors, and governors-general.
  • 1890 to 1964
  • 1965 to 1974
  • 1975 to 1984
  • 1985 to 1999
• Ian McAllister, Malcolm MacKerras, Carolyn Brown Boldiston, Australian political facts, 1997: includes data about politics in its broadest sense, ordered and classified, and supported by a comprehensive index.
• Ann Millar, The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, 2000: a biographical account of senators and history of the Senate. Entries are arranged according to the state each senator represented.

Newspapers

Trove newspapers include early official gazettes, such as

• The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
• The Bulletin (1880-1984)*

*The Bulletin is also available on microfilm (check the dates).

For more information, try our Government gazettes research guide.

Cartoons

Political cartoons express contemporary opinions about public issues and officials. The Library holds cartoon collections, including:

• Moir collection of cartoons and drawings (1972-2011)
• Pryor collection of cartoons and drawings (from 1978)
• Cartoons by WEG.

Pictures and manuscripts

• Federation celebrations, Sydney, 1901
• Papers of Sir Edmund Barton
• Official programme of functions and displays to celebrate the opening of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York, at Melbourne

Websites

• The full text of the Australian Constitution from Australian Parliament House
• 110 key founding documents, from the Museum of Australian Democracy’s Documenting a Democracy
• National Archives of Australia’s Australian Constitution and Federation
• Australian web archive from our Federation Gateway
• University of Sydney’s Australian Federation Full-Text Database
• The Australian Electoral Commission’ factsheet on the Referendums 1898–1900
• Australian Prime Ministers

About elections

Australians vote for government representatives at national, state and local levels in a 3 to 4 year cycle. National elections are run by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Australian ballot or secret ballot

Australian ballot, also called secret ballot, is the system of voting in which voters mark their choices in privacy on uniform ballots printed and distributed by the government or designate their choices by some other secret means.

Victoria and South Australia were the first states to introduce secrecy of the ballot in 1856. For that reason, the secret ballot is referred to as the Australian ballot.

The system spread to Europe and the United States to meet the growing public and parliamentary demand for protection of voters. Find out more about the Australian ballot in the Encyclopaedia Britannic Online. 

Referendums

A referendum is a vote of the Australian people on measures proposed or passed by the Australian Parliament. A number of different types of referendums can be held, the most common is a Constitutional referendum. More information, including a list of all referendums and results, is available at the Australian Electoral Commission.

Australian Electoral Commission

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is an independent statutory body and was created by a 1984 amendment to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. It runs national elections and is responsible for the registration of political parties.

To find out more about the AEC and history of elections in Australia go to:

• a brief history of the evolution of universal suffrage, secret ballots and compulsory voting in Australia.
• current Acts and Amendments governing the role of state and federal electoral commission
• a complete list of registered, deregistered and renamed parties since 1984

States and Territories are responsible for elections within their jurisdictions.

At the Library

These resources include 

• David M. Farrell and Ian McAllister, The Australian electoral system : origins, variations and consequences, 2005
• Ian McAllister, The Australian voter : 50 years of change, 2011 
• Rodney Smith and Dr. Anika Guaja, Voting and elections, 2013 
  • From the Hot Topics series published by the Legal Information Access Centre, State Library of NSW. 
  • A condensed version is available online
• After the election : what happens? prepared by Leo Hardiman, Damian Page, Leah Edwards (2013). General information and background from the Australian Government Solicitor
• From secret ballot to democracy sausage: how Australia got to compulsory voting by Judith Brett (2019)

Election ephemera

Election Ephemera includes published leaflets, letters, 'how to vote' cards, posters, pamphlets, badges, stickers, hats, cardboard cutouts, DVDs and any other political material.

The Library also collects Broadsides and posters relating to the Australian federal elections campaigns.

Appeal to Women Electors [Federal Election 1955?]. Item 21 from [Ephemera relating to the Australian federal elections campaigns : including press releases, policy speeches, advertising material, how to vote cards, etc.]

Where else to look

• ABC Elections including Antony Green’s Election Blog
• Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive collects historical electoral statistics from 182 countries
• Archived election campaigns : see the archive at The Australian Web Archive

Case Study

Q: I am in the United States. I have heard about an Australian law that forces people to vote or they get a fine. Can you supply more details?

Voting at federal elections is compulsory for all citizens included on the Australian Federal electoral roll. The introduction of compulsory voting varied from state to state; you can read about the background and history of compulsory voting in Australia on the Australian Electoral Commission website.

Anyone who is unable to provide a valid and sufficient reason to the Divisional Returning Officer for failure to vote at a federal election, and who does not wish to have the matter dealt with by a Magistrates Court may pay a penalty.

If the person refuses to pay the penalty then the matter may be referred to a Magistrates Court, where a higher penalty (plus costs) may be ordered on conviction.

On average about 5 per cent of enrolled voters fail to vote. In recent federal elections, with a voter turnout of approximately 95 per cent, informal voting (blank or not properly completed ballots) has accounted for about 5 per cent of all the votes cast (see: Compulsory voting in Australia from the Australian Electoral Commission).

Books and journals

• Parliamentary handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1901+: information on the parliament, biographical details of parliamentarians, election information and historical statistics.
• House of Representatives Practice 6th edition, 2012: explanation of the role, laws and practices of the House of Representatives.
• Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice 1953+: explanation of the role, laws and practices of the Senate.

Oral history

• Old Parliament House political and parliamentary oral history project

Speeches and media releases

• Ministerial document service : daily collation of Ministers' and Opposition Leaders' statements 1976-2001: a daily collation of press statements by Federal Government ministers and the leaders of opposition parties. Includes press releases, speeches, grants made, major contracts let and appointments of government agencies. (Request through the catalogue)
• PM Transcripts. Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia: this collection of transcripts from Australian Prime Ministers contains approximately 20,000 individual speeches, media releases and other transcript items dating from the early 1940's.

Websites

• Parliament of Australia: the official website of Australian parliament. It includes information on parliamentary departments, links to committee reports, full text of bills, speeches, biographical information, parliamentary publications, and more.
• Making Laws: describes the passage of a bill through federal Parliament.
• Parliamentary committees: information about the committee system and lists the current and former Senate, House and Joint Committees.
• The Parliamentary Education Office: provides parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students.
• Commonwealth Budget: includes budget speech, budget overview and guide, and portfolio budget statements.
• High Court of Australia: general information, sitting days, text of recent judges' speeches and more.

Newspapers

From 1960 until 1992 the Library maintained newspaper clipping files containing articles from major Australian metropolitan newspapers. Many of these clippings files, including those relating to Australian politics and government, have been catalogued and are available to request online. For an overview of what is available use our newspapers research guide.

Some useful collections include:

• Australian Labor Party
• Liberal Party
• National Party of Australia
• Democratic Labor Party (Australia)
• Australian Country Party
• New South Wales Parliament Elections
• Parliament House of Representatives Elections

Biographical files on parliamentarians are also available, such as:

• Dame Nancy Butterfield
• Jim Kaldis

There are also some bound volumes of newspaper clippings that have been compiled to cover certain major periods, such as:

• Federal double dissolution, May 1974

Case Study

Q: Can you please help me find the 1993 Australian Labor Party election proposal? It contains details about the proposed dental reform for low income earners and pensioners.

Media releases (including speeches) can be found in the Ministerial document service: daily collation of Ministers' and Opposition Leaders' statements. We can check January to March 1993, leading up to the election.

Nothing in the monthly indexes specifically mentions the Dental Reform program; however the election statements by the Prime Minister (Paul Keating) and by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health (Brian Howe) are included.

The earliest speech which mentions the Dental Reform Program is from Brian Howe, in a speech in Port Macquarie on the "Fight for Medicare" (Page 6660 of the Nos. 139 - 156 Ministerial Document Service) on 24 February:

"Today the Prime Minister announced initiatives which extend the caring arm of Medicare.

"First, a public dental scheme for those people who really need it. All health card holders - that is two million Australians - will now be eligible for free dental services".

The Prime Minister's speech is not in this volume, but can be accessed online at The Museum of Australian Democracy, Old Parliament House. This is also dated 24th February 1993. However, no details are given, just the general outline:

"A new Commonwealth dental health program will be established for emergency and basic dental care for health card holders."

Background

The Australian Constitution defines the boundaries of law-making powers between the Commonwealth and the States/Territories.

Government publications

To locate selected types of Australian government publications, including Acts, Hansards, Gazettes and Parliamentary Papers, use GovPubs : the Australian Government Publications Guide.

• Use the Browse by State function to find State parliamentary papers in your State or Territory library.
• Use GovPubs to locate government publications in the National and State libraries.

State and territory libraries

Your state or territory library may hold complete sets of parliamentary documents.

• Libraries ACT: The ACT Heritage Library collects ACT Government publications and the publications of other jurisdictions where the content relates to Canberra.
• The State Library of New South Wales has a guide on Government Publications: New South Wales
• LibrariesNT; search for Northern Territory parliamentary papers at LibrariesNT.
• The State Library of Queensland has guides on law resources, covering government publications.
• The State Library of South Australia has a guide on Government and Parliamentary publications.
• Libraries Tasmania; search for Tasmania parliamentary papers in the catalogue of Libraries Tasmania.
• The State Library of Victoria has a guide on Victorian government publications
• The State Library of Western Australia

Case Study

Q: How can I get an online copy of the second reading speech of the South Australian Development Act 1993.

Bills must pass through the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council before becoming an Act (either House may introduce the Bill). The Second Reading speech for the Assembly and Council are usually identical. A Second Reading speech explains the content of the Bill in non-legal terms.

South Australian Hansards for 1993 are available online from the Parliament of South Australia website. Search by keyword or date (use the search link in the menu). The Development Bill was introduced by the Minister of Housing, Urban Development and Local Government Relations, and the Second Reading speech was on 10th March, see pages 2433-2443.

The Legislative Council received the Bill from the House of Assembly on 31st March 1993. The Second Reading speech in the Legislative Council was on 1 April 1993, see pages 1849-1859.

There is more information about the Development Act 1993 at the South Australian Legislation website.

Official reports of the parliamentary debates (Hansards) are also available in print for the following dates:

• 1914-1951
• 1952-1993
• Legislative Council from 1993
• House of Assembly from 1993

Constitutional responsibility for local government lies with the state and territory governments. This means that the roles and responsibilities of local government differ from state to state.

For facts and figures about Australian local government, go to the Australian Local Government Association.

Local council documents

Documents prepared by local councils may be lodged at the Library. To find them, search the catalogue for town or shire name and council, or “Municipal Council”. For example:

• Caboolture Shire Council
• George Town Tasmania Council

You can also find:

• Local government directories
• Maps of local government areas
• Reports, reviews statistics

Books

• Prepared under instructions from the Minister of State for Home and Territories by G.H. Knibbs, Local government in Australia, 1919: an introduction to local government and some historical statistics.
• Brian Dollery, Lin Crase and Andrew Johnson, Australian local government economics, 2006: discusses economic foundations of local government, and the current place of councils in the broad context of Australian federal fiscalism.
• Brian E. Dollery, Michael A. Kortt, Bligh James Grant, Funding the future : financial sustainability and infrastructure finance in Australian local government, 2013
• R. Ian Jack and Terry Kass, Local government records and the local historian, 1987: discusses local government records including minute books, rate books and records, building registers and other documents related to local government.

Websites

• Local government directories at directory.gov.au
• Information about finance, including funding and grants, publications and local government award from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts
• Finding data for local government areas via Australian Bureau of Statistics