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Today we go to the polls, the half of us who aren’t eager beavers who have voted already.
Some will no doubt discharge this civic obligation grumpily, muttering about an empty ritual in which nothing much really changes. Others, like me, will pore over all the flyers while feeling justifiably proud about compulsory voting and Australia’s highly regarded electoral commission. Some of us might just be fixated on the prospect of a delicious democracy sausage.
But apart from getting brunch, what will we actually be doing when we vote? We will be electing local MPs and senators to represent our communities. We will be expressing our preferences for who forms government. We will be endorsing or rejecting individual policy ideas and sending signals about our preferences and desires. Each act in itself is a grain of sand, but every one is part of a sandcastle that we build together.
As the campaign draws to an end, there’s been a fair bit of commentary about the smallness of many of the ideas on offer, particularly from the major parties. There’s a mismatch between the size of the challenges we face – such as climate change, housing and geopolitical upheaval – and what it’s been possible to canvas in a public square
shaped by algorithms and the attention-seeking imperatives of modern media.
The Conversation exists to expand these possibilities. By working with academic experts to share the latest research and explain the news, we provide a non-partisan platform for the big-picture discussions we need to have, both during campaigns and between them.
We hope you’ve been informed and engaged by our coverage and seen the value in our focus on policy over personality. Our team, led by Politics Editor Amanda Dunn and Chief Political Correspondent Michelle Grattan, has worked incredibly hard to provide coverage that driven by the issues that matter most to you and the country, not just what the politicians want to foreground.
After the polls close tonight, join us on our home page where we’ll have a live blog and all the results.
All the best for a sunny polling day, a valid formal vote and a succulent sausage. Whether you have onions or not is up to you.
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Misha Ketchell
Editor-in-chief
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Intifar Chowdhury, Flinders University
Young voters will decide who makes up Australia’s next government. Here’s how they might vote.
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Robert Hortle, University of Tasmania; Logan Linkston, University of Tasmania
Here’s how to navigate federal ballot papers. In this practice election, it’s farm animals battling for your vote.
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Digital Storytelling Team, The Conversation
It’s time to test your election campaign knowledge.
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 Alison Carabine, Public Policy Editor, and The Conversation Digital Storytelling Team Your guide to the major policy issues of the 2025 election |
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Joshua Black, Australian National University
Research shows Australians are increasingly drifting away from the major parties. Can independent candidates capitalise on this?
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Emma Shortis, RMIT University
It’s clear the second Trump administration is radically different from the first. This has rattled the right of Australian politics and worked to Labor’s advantage.
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Best reads this week
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Pamela McElwee, Rutgers University
Harmful dioxins in Agent Orange, used to strip forests of their leaves, still linger in soil. Restoration work has been slow, and upheaval at USAID may slow it more.
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Amin Saikal, Victoria University
Pakistan believes an Indian ‘military incursion’ is imminent, following a terror attack last week in Kashmir. Will nuclear deterrence be enough to prevent war again?
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Matthew Sharpe, Australian Catholic University
Mussolini’s rise shows that strongmen are only as powerful as the democratic opposition allows. Failing to take them seriously enables their success.
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Daniela Simone, Macquarie University
Nagi Maehashi has accused the author of Bake with Brooki of plagiarising two of her recipes: for caramel slice and baklava. Big money is involved.
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Monica Gagliano, Southern Cross University; Prudence Gibson, UNSW Sydney
During a solar eclipse in a forest in Italy’s Dolomites region, scientists seized the chance to explore a fascinating question.
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TC Weekly podcast
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Ex-Labor strategist turned pollster Kos Samaras says both major parties have been slow in adapting to this year’s huge pre-poll voter turnout.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Chief Political Correspondent Michelle Grattan and Politics Editor Amanda Dunn discuss why the Coalition has focussed on culture wars issues this week.
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Our most-read article this week
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Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, Swinburne University of Technology
Whatever caused the blackout in Spain and Portugal, it highlights the vulnerabilities in some electricity grids.
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In case you missed this week's big stories
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Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne
There is nothing in the work of these media outlets that would qualify them as “hate media” – which means the opposition leader simply resents the scrutiny.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
With the election nearly over, Michelle Grattan takes a look back at the key moments of what felt like a very long campaign.
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Stephen Bartos, University of Canberra
Most of the proposed savings seem achievable – except for the cuts to the public service.
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John Hawkins, University of Canberra; Stephen Bartos, University of Canberra
With the key measures of inflation back within the Reserve Bank’s target band, expectations are growing for a second rate cut in May.
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Carlos Gutiérrez Hita, Universidad Miguel Hernández
A power surge caused a massive nationwide power cut, but the root cause is still unclear.
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
The Liberals had been poised for a heavy defeat – before the election of Donald Trump across the border.
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Kai He, Griffith University
The escalating US-China trade war leaves everyone worse off. A collective effort to restore the global trading system is urgently needed.
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Matt Garrow, The Conversation; Matthew Hall, The Conversation
Neither major party wants to change two longstanding concessions for property investors – negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount. We invited four experts to unpack who benefits, and how.
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Tegan Cohen, Queensland University of Technology
Political parties are exempt from many of the regulations about spam and unsolicited marketing – and it’s unlikely to change.
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Nial Wheate, Macquarie University; Shoohb Alassadi, University of Sydney
After May 1, the drug will cost a tiny fraction of its original price. But it can’t be taken at home.
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