Product Description
Democracy, in all its flaws, passions and intricacies, is the foundation of government. The law on it shapes our experience of electoral democracy. The very question of ‘who’ sets that law is contentious. Should it be set by courts via a constitution, or be the work of partisan but accountable legislators? The Law of Politics is the definitive account of this area. It chronicles and critiques the rules, cases and institutions at play. From voting rights to the framework for free and fair elections and referendums, and from political parties to restraints on money in politics.
Fully revised, this second edition encompasses major developments in the qualifications of members of parliament, voting systems, campaigning and political finance. It also includes a new chapter on local government. Throughout, the law is canvassed in light of the aspirations of liberty, equality, integrity and deliberation, as well as the realities of practical politics.
Foreword by Antony Green AO
Preface and Acknowledgments
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
1. Defining the Law of Politics
The Scope and Rationale of this Book
Sources of Law in a Federation
Electoral Law: Overwrought but Underdeveloped
Australian Electoral Regulation: A Potted History
Flux, Malpractice and Trajectories of Reform
What is Electoral Law For?
2. Mapping Parliaments and Weighting Votes
What is a Vote Worth?
Parliamentary Design: Structure and Size
Vote Weighting and One-Vote, One-Value
Redistributions in Australia
Independence: Depoliticising the Redistribution Process
Redistribution Criteria
Litigation and Controversies
3. The Franchise
Voting Rights and Wrongs
The Constitution and the Universality of the Franchise
Qualifications for the Franchise and Reform Debates
A Compulsory Franchise
4. On a Roll
Giving Flesh to the Franchise
The Roll: Privacy, Finality and Closure
From Compulsory to Automatic Enrolment
The Link to Place: Residency and Address
What’s in a Name? Power to Refuse Inappropriate Names
5. Initiating an Election and Qualifications
Elections: When and Who
The Electoral Commissions
Electoral Writs, Timelines and Vacancies
Ballot Access and Nominations
Candidate Qualifications
Disqualifications
The Ramifications of Disqualifications
Reform
6. Political Parties and the Law
Parties: No Longer under the Legal Radar
Court Involvement in Party Affairs
Party Registration, Membership and Naming
Anti-Discrimination Law
Freedom of Association and Juridification
7. Campaigning and Advocacy
On the Hustings
Truth in Political Communication
Misleading Electors in Casting a Vote
Defamation
Offensiveness
Improper Influence and Electoral Bribery
Identification of Material
Rules about Canvassing
Penalties and Time Limits for Offences
‘Horizontal Censorship’
8. Political Broadcasting and the Internet
Campaigning in the Ether
Freedom and Equality: the Breadth and Limits of Constitutional Implications
An Obligation of Balance?
Authorisation of Political Broadcasts
Blackouts and Opinion Polling
Electronic Communication … and ‘Fake News’
9. How We Vote
The How and the How Many
Voting Systems
The Secret Ballot
Where and When We Vote
Counting: Scrutiny and Formality
Safeguarding Elections: Voter ID and the Count
10. Judging Elections: The Role of Courts in Electoral Practice
The Terrain
Disputed Returns and Parliamentary Membership
Grounds of Challenge and the ‘Common Law of Elections’
Injunctions and Administrative Review
11. Money in Politics
Political Finance, Party Finance or Election Finance?
The Genesis of Regulation
The Federal-State Dimension
Financial Disclosure
Donation Limits
Expenditure Limits
Public Funding
Enforcement
Milking Incumbency: MP Allowances and Government Advertising
A Watery Conclusion
12. Local Government
The Nature, Promise and Limitations of Local Government
Indigenous Local Government
Terms and Voting Systems
The Right to Vote and Be a Candidate
Local Government Campaigns and their Finance
Challenging Council Elections and Qualifications
Local Polls and Referendums
13. Referendums and Direct Democracy
Consulting the People
Constitutional Referendums
Key Features and Compulsory Voting at Referendums
Challenging Referendums
Direct Democracy and Plebiscites
Bibliography on The Law of Politics in Australia
Books and Symposia
Articles, Chapters and Research Reports
Index