Judith Brett — How a Benthamite Political Culture Shaped Australia's Electoral System [Aus. Policy Series - LIVE]

Australia stands alone among English-speaking democracies with its compulsory, preferential voting system. But why? This episode is the fourth instalment of my Australian policy series. It was recorded in Melbourne on March 6, 2025. I speak with Judith Brett—Emeritus Professor of Politics at La Trobe University and author of the canonical history of Australia's electoral system, From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage —about how Australia became an electoral trailblazer. We trace the accidental adoption of near-universal manhood suffrage in the 1850s, the political calculations that led to compulsory voting and preferential voting, and why bureaucratic efficiency is so deeply woven into our electoral culture. Along the way, we explore how Benthamite thinking and low taxation in the colonial era combined to create a voting system that is unique among English-speaking democracies.

You can listen to Judith Brett — How a Benthamite Political Culture Shaped Australia's Electoral System [Aus. Policy Series - LIVE] online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Judith Brett — How a Benthamite Political Culture Shaped Australia's Electoral System [Aus. Policy Series - LIVE] is an episode from The Jolly Swagman Podcast by DM Podcasts.

This episode is 85:55 long.

This episode was published on Mar 14, 2025.

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