A case for free and fair elections
A case for free and fair elections
David Solomon

A case for free and fair elections

The High Court has recognised an implied freedom of political communication. The same constitutional principles could support a broader guarantee that Australian elections themselves must be free and fair.

Recent articles in Policy

Work longer, wait longer, now borrow your own retirement back
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Work longer, wait longer, now borrow your own retirement back

One Nation’s super-for-housing plan offers immediate relief, but risks repeating a message its new midlife voters know well: solve the problem with your own money.

Turning Crown evidence – a different twist
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Turning Crown evidence – a different twist

Documents obtained under freedom of information raise questions about how senior NSW prosecutors came to publicly support DPP Sally Dowling, after being given just 40 minutes to express contrary views.

Australia’s social media ban has an enforcement problem
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Australia’s social media ban has an enforcement problem

New powers will help eSafety investigate whether platforms are enforcing the under-16 social media restrictions, but early evidence suggests the policy’s limits run deeper.

Nepal’s catastrophe demands more than climate silence
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Time to move to fixed four-year terms
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Time to move to fixed four-year terms

Australia’s three-year federal election cycle encourages short-term politics and uncertainty. Fixed four-year terms could improve policymaking, investment and democratic fairness – if voters can be persuaded to back reform.

A system that abandons adolescents with severe behavioural needs
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A system that abandons adolescents with severe behavioural needs

Adolescents with severe behavioural needs are too often treated as beyond help. As suspensions rise and specialist provision narrows, Australia's public education system risks abandoning them when support matters most.

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Australia’s new unfair trading laws are a major step forward, but gaps covering financial services, personalised pricing and exploitative product design could leave consumers exposed to serious harm.

We need more Voc Ed students. Here’s why
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We need more Voc Ed students. Here’s why

Australia relies on vocational education to build its future workforce, but declining enrolments in full qualifications risk deepening skills shortages in construction, care, clean energy and other critical industries.

A future where Australian Muslims no longer question belonging
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A future where Australian Muslims no longer question belonging

By 2050, a new generation of Australian Muslims will be shaping the country’s institutions, communities and public life, confident in their identity, belonging and contribution to Australia’s future.

Do 'fuel breaks' stack up for us and our forests?
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Do 'fuel breaks' stack up for us and our forests?

Victoria plans thousands of kilometres of fuel breaks, but evidence suggests they could damage endangered forests, increase carbon emissions and deliver limited protection against the most dangerous bushfires.

Albanese backflips on renewables for data centres
Peter Hannam

Albanese backflips on renewables for data centres

The Albanese government has retreated from requiring new data centres to prioritise renewables, allowing states greater control over energy sources as Queensland and the Northern Territory pursue fossil fuels.

New endometriosis tests offer hope – but the evidence isn’t there yet
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New endometriosis tests offer hope – but the evidence isn’t there yet

Long delays in getting an endometriosis diagnosis have prompted much excitement about new saliva, gut and blood tests, but promising early results need further validation before they can be relied on in general practice.

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All earlier articles in Policy (423 more)

DateTitleAuthor
28 Jul 2026Protection for some, pedagogy for othersSara Cheikh Husain
27 Jul 2026Seventy-five years on, the Refugee Convention still mattersJane McAdam
25 Jul 2026Public life needs fewer empty notes – Message from the EditorMartyn Pearce
25 Jul 2026The Victorian prison bill is about much more than fresh airDaniel Scoullar
24 Jul 2026The two stories I tell taxi driversKomla Tsey
24 Jul 2026Indonesia’s rupiah problem is now a credibility problemNauli Desdiani
23 Jul 2026Double hedging in the Indo-PacificJohn McCarthy
23 Jul 2026Age bans will not fix social media’s harmsKelly Stonelake
22 Jul 2026Australia has served in Africa but failed to learn from itChristopher Burke
21 Jul 2026Europe talks tough on China but lacks a planJames Curran
20 Jul 2026Australia needs a capability stateStewart Sweeney
18 Jul 2026How the Royal Commission should define antisemitismGareth Evans
17 Jul 2026The government asked charities what reform was needed; it has the answerMark Gaetani
16 Jul 2026The next Basin Plan is a disaster in the makingQuentin Grafton, Richard Kingsford, Sarah Wheeler, John Williams
15 Jul 2026Productivity is the symptom. Rentier capitalism is the diseaseStewart Sweeney
15 Jul 2026From compliance to opportunity in AI: the key is capabilityJohn H Howard
14 Jul 2026Future pharmacy should put patients and taxpayers firstPeter Breadon
13 Jul 2026Thirty years after Dolly, cloning is not what we expectedSathana Dushyanthen
11 Jul 2026The unfairness we've learned to walk pastFabian Webber
10 Jul 2026Entitled schools are taking on entitled parents: what about the students?Lyndsay Connors
9 Jul 2026Defence policy deserves more than slogans and selective historyPaddy Gourley
8 Jul 2026Government is contorting itself on overseas studentsAbul Rizvi
8 Jul 2026Aged care assessments need experts not algorithmsKathy Eagar, Paul Sadler
8 Jul 2026The NDIS transformed lives – fixing it will take more than cost cuttingTom Keating
6 Jul 2026Thanks Mr Fox; please keep digging   Duncan Graham
4 Jul 2026Labor must remember what it stands forJohn Menadue
3 Jul 2026Does stopping native forest logging in Australia really kill orangutans?Chris Taylor, David Lindenmayer
3 Jul 2026How to pay for using our roadsChris Jones
2 Jul 2026New supply won't fix housing while investors keep winningGavin A. Wood, Rachel Ong ViforJ , Christopher Phelps, Susan J Smith
1 Jul 2026Australia must have an ambitious research policy to underpin economic transformationKim Carr
30 Jun 2026Enough is never enoughGeorge Browning
29 Jun 2026Subsidised but unaccountable: the religious charity gapAndrew Phelan
26 Jun 2026Hanson's politics of subtraction offers her own voters lessKos Samaras
26 Jun 2026Dysfunctional disability policyFiona Carberry
25 Jun 2026Gambling reform was quietly taken out with the trashRoss Gittins
24 Jun 2026Specialist fees are out of control. Medicare needs reformJohn Menadue
22 Jun 2026Housing policy should build homes, not wealthJohn Menadue
20 Jun 2026Pauline's poisonous politics – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
19 Jun 2026The man who did everything rightKos Samaras
19 Jun 2026The tragedy of AUKUSJoseph Camilleri
18 Jun 2026China fear is weakening Australian researchJames Laurenceson, Wanning Sun
17 Jun 2026Gotcha, or getting tax right?Crispin Hull
16 Jun 2026Australian smelting needs an urgent clean energy fix to stop the bailoutsTim Buckley, AM Jonson
14 Jun 2026Should we bring back native forest logging? The answer is a clear noDavid Lindenmayer, Chris Taylor, Maldwyn J. Evans
13 Jun 2026More room for dialogue with China in the Pacific regionWinston Mok
13 Jun 2026Star stuck government warned by security agenciesLaurie Patton
12 Jun 2026Is re-nationalisation the answer to Australia’s energy transition?Gary Moorhead
12 Jun 2026The prison revolving door is costing livesJane Anderson, Kelvin Quartermaine
11 Jun 2026Why are voters cranky enough to turn to Hanson? I have a theoryRoss Gittins
10 Jun 2026If Support at Home is the answer, what is the problem?Kathy Eagar, Susan Kurrie
9 Jun 2026How governments move into Mafia – or Trump – territoryJack Waterford
7 Jun 2026Gold standard? Revisiting the Hawke government’s reform legacyFrancesca Beddie
7 Jun 2026Homelessness needs political action, not just public sympathyFabian Webber
6 Jun 2026That sinking feeling – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
6 Jun 2026Hailing Australia's under-appreciated life-saving heroesAndrew Fraser
5 Jun 2026The quiet Australians who actually empty the binsKos Samaras
5 Jun 2026East Africa is coping on the frontline of the Ebola outbreakChristopher Burke
4 Jun 2026Australia needs to start planning for life after gasPoppy Johnston
1 Jun 2026Victoria: the police stateMonique Hurley
1 Jun 2026Australia can't have it both ways with China and the US foreverNick Bisley
1 Jun 2026Securing the NDIS for future generations: government half-thinkPeter Kent
29 May 2026Governing on empty: the Hormuz crisis across Asia and the Pacific — part 2Nicola Nixon, Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj
27 May 2026Governing on empty: the Hormuz crisis across Asia and the Pacific — part 1Nicola Nixon, Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj
27 May 2026Tensions in Australia's migration system: a missed opportunity for the CoalitionPeter McDonald
26 May 2026Rehabilitation fails when prisons strip people of dignityRenee McNab
25 May 2026Australia abandoned harm minimisation on smoking – and fuelled a black marketAlex Wodak
25 May 2026A more nuanced way to tackle social media's harmful effectsTony Ward
23 May 2026Compassion does not end at the front gate – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
20 May 2026Chance for a fresh start in patching up the Commonwealth Public ServicePaddy Gourley
20 May 2026The aid budget ignored a deepening global crisisStephen Howes
19 May 2026Cutting tobacco tax will not stop Australia’s illegal cigarette tradeSimon Chapman
19 May 2026Australia keeps feeding a housing system that cannot deliverStewart Sweeney
19 May 2026The prison system is failing at the point that matters mostMainul Haque
19 May 2026The Safeguard Mechanism for greenhouse gases is flawedKen Russell
18 May 2026Labor has backed away from meaningful gambling reformCharles Livingstone
17 May 2026The battle for human attention is becoming a battle for democracyJacques Attali
16 May 2026Australia needs a broader vision of social cohesionVasiliki Nihas Bogiatzis
15 May 2026Budget 2026: Will this budget really make housing fairer for more Australians? It’s a good startAruna Sathanapally, Matthew Bowes
14 May 2026Budget 2026: Leadership means more than keeping campaign promises – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
14 May 2026Symbolic empathy is no substitute for tackling homelessnessFabian Webber
11 May 2026Is the renewed push for a Human Rights Act worth the effort?Frank Brennan
11 May 2026NDIS: the way forwardPeter Kent
11 May 2026Australia needs to retain women in STEM careersGillian Woodhouse
11 May 2026More than 1 in 3 Australian adults are functionally illiterateGenevieve McArthur
11 May 2026Not much 'reform' in the National Health Reform AgreementJohn Dwyer
10 May 2026Looking for a home in a land of empty housesAdrian Rosenfeldt
8 May 2026Could the government have blocked return of Australian women and children from Syria?Abul Rizvi
8 May 2026Connect people leaving prison with a job: it works!Jane Anderson
4 May 2026The NDIS has transformed lives – but profit is distorting its purposeSari Smith
3 May 2026Antisemitism inquiry interim report: we don’t need more terror laws – we need gun reformGreg Barns
3 May 2026Why at-risk children keep falling through the netRuth Clare
2 May 2026Why a 73 year old Jew had himself arrestedStephen Heydt
2 May 2026Independent media probably won’t benefit from the new social media taxClaire Stuchbery
1 May 2026Rethinking Australia’s place in the world in an era of fractureJoseph Camilleri
1 May 2026Supercharging our AI Safety Institute now could make all the differenceKate Chaney MP
30 Apr 2026Multiculturalism should shape Australia’s foreign policyJocelyn Chey
29 Apr 2026It’s time to tax gas exports in the national interestMichael Keating
29 Apr 2026Australia can’t have self-reliant defence and nuclear submarinesMike Gilligan
29 Apr 2026Time for Premier Minns to “move on” his anti-protest lawsShaoquett Moselmane
28 Apr 2026Australia's foreign policy needs renovation, not demolitionPeter Varghese

See the complete index — all 473 articles in Policy