By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and party director James Ashby have both said they won’t run against Nationals leader Matt Canavan in the seat of Capricornia.
This makes it a near certainly that Canavan, who lives in Yeppoon in the central Queensland electorate, will have a smooth transition from the Senate to the lower house.
On Monday, Canavan formally confirmed he will contest Capricornia at the 2028 election, following the recent announcement by Nationals MP Michelle Landry that she will retire then.
“As leader of The Nationals, I have a duty to be on the…
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By Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau, Research Fellow, Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies, Flinders University
On Tuesday, voters across the United States will cast their votes in the 2026 midterm elections. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate are on the ballot.
Forecast models give Democrats about a 95% chance of winning a majority in the House.…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image A police vehicle on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, August 14, 2026. © 2026 Alfonso Nqunjana/AP Photo Zambian police and military forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained, beat, and threatened opposition members, lawyers, journalists, and government critics in the days before and after general elections in August. The post-election climate of intimidation, harassment, and repression has had a chilling effect on civic and political organizations, particularly on dissenting voices.The authorities should immediately halt the crackdown, allow access to lawyers…
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By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
Labor’s primary vote dropped two points to 27% in Newspoll, equalling the mid-September Newspoll for their lowest this term. It’s near Labor’s record low in 2011.
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By Alisa Tian, Associate Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting, School of Humanities & Languages, UNSW
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are more widespread than ever, and one of the functions they offer is fast, real-time translation. Some people are even questioning the need to ever learn another language, if near-instant translation is so widely available to all of us, often for free.
However, those translations are far from perfect. While AI translations are very fluent, fluency doesn’t equal accuracy. Even proficient bilinguals can
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By Jared Mondschein, Director of Research, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney
In a politically polarised American electorate, it can be hard to find bipartisan consensus on many issues. Ahead of the US midterm elections, however, there is one thing almost everyone can agree on: concern about government corruption.
A record 89% of Americans recently said in a Gallup poll that government corruption is widespread, with Republicans, Democrats and independents all in agreement (ranging between 83-91%). This marks a significant increase from 73% in…
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By Michael Baker, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago
Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato
There are three steps the next government can take to restore New Zealand’s commitment to pandemic preparedness and other health security strategies.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image The Adelaide Women’s Prison, South Australia, 2026. © 2026 Dean Faulkner/ABC News Prison authorities in the Australian state of South Australia are harming people with disabilities by using solitary confinement.Solitary confinement has a disproportionately harmful impact on people with disabilities and can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and even torture. Australia’s federal and state governments should take urgent action to ensure proper independent oversight of prisons and invest in alternatives to incarceration.(Sydney) — Prison authorities…
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By Jared Mondschein, Director of Research, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney
In a politically polarised American electorate, it can be hard to find bipartisan consensus on many issues. Ahead of the US midterm elections, however, there is one thing almost everyone can agree on: concern about government corruption.
A record 89% of Americans recently said in a Gallup poll that government corruption is widespread, with Republicans, Democrats and independents all in agreement (ranging between 83-91%). This marks a significant increase from 73% in…
(Full Story)
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By Evangeline Gardiner, PhD Candidate in Public Health, The University of Queensland
Health promotion often treats weight loss as the primary pathway to better health – but it’s not. Here’s what the alternative looks like.
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