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In the second part of 'Just Vote 1', Ben looks at the history of optional preferential voting from the 1950s to the 1990s: the role of DLP preferences in keeping Labor out of power, and the Whitlam government's failed attempt to legislate for OPV in response. Then in the 1980s and 1990s, things began to change - as preferences became more favourable to Labor, the party positions changed. In the final episode, Ben will look at the rise of One Nation and tactics to encourage voters exhausting their ballots, and look at who optional preferential voting might benefit or hurt today. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. Buy your ticket now for the Tally Room live podcast in Melbourne on December 1. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $10 or more per month. And $10 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

In the first in a three-party election history series about Optional Preferential Voting called 'Just Vote 1', Ben explores the rise of preferential voting - how it happened, who supported and how political self-interest explains the change. In the next two episodes, Ben will explore Labor's push for first-past-the-post and optional preferential voting in the middle of the 20th century, and how the self-interest of the parties flipped in the 1990s to the point where it's the Coalition that is now more likely to support OPV. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. Buy your ticket now for the Tally Room live podcast in Melbourne on December 1. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Mark Riboldi from UTS to preview this weekend's Farrer by-election, and what it might imply about the Coalition's bigger issues losing support to One Nation and independents. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Rob Manwaring to look over the results of last Saturday's South Australian state election, in particular the emergence of One Nation as a party polling higher than the Liberal Party. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Josh Sunman from Flinders University to run through the seats that could be in play on South Australia's election night and how preference distributions could become much more complex amidst a One Nation surge. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Intifar Chowdhury and Anthony Zougras to bring the podcast up to speed on South Australian politics before the state election on March 21. They discussed the decline in support for the Liberal Party, the emergence of One Nation, and Peter Malinauskas' dominance in the state. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

How does owning your home or renting impact on how you vote? For today's podcast, Ben was joined by Shaun Ratcliff and Josh Goddard to discuss what we know about how home ownership (or asset ownership more broadly) influences voting trends. We discuss Josh's research looking at 14 different Western democracies, and also hear from Shaun about more research closer to home. You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

In last Sunday's Thai general election, voters swung strongly to current prime minister Anutin's Bhumjaithai Party, or BJT. In this podcast, Ben discusses Thai politics and the results of the Thai election with Erin Cook of the Dari Mulut ke Mulut newsletter.   You can now watch a video version of this podcast on Youtube.   This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Donna Weeks, emeritus professor at Musashino University, to discuss this coming weekend's Japanese general election, where new prime minister Sanae Takaichi will be attempting to achieve her own mandate. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by George Hasanakos from pollster DemosAU to discuss the surge in support for One Nation, which has pushed them ahead of the combined Liberal-National vote in a number of polls, as well as the split in the Liberal-National coalition. They discuss how these two trends impact on how polls are conducted. This podcast was recorded before the publication of polls by YouGov and Essential that continued the continuing trend. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined this week by Osmond Chiu, Per Capita research fellow and contributor editor for the Labor Left magazine Challenge, to discuss the factions of the Australian Labor Party. Read Osmond's 2020 piece in Jacobin on the history of Labor's factions. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Sarah Cameron from Griffith University, to discuss the results of the 2025 Australian Election Study, including Peter Dutton's unpopularity, foreign policy, voter dealignment, and how the vote splits by gender, generation and whether people own their own home. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Michael Evangelidis from GovConnex to discuss the factions of the Liberal Party of Australia - how fluid they are, how they work from the branch level to federal and state party rooms, and how the factions have changed in recent years. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Frank Bongiorno and Chris Monnox to discuss the history of Australia's federal parliament being expanded, in 1949 and 1984. We discuss the motivations for these changes, the positions taken by the parties and why it happened when it did. We also discuss efforts to break the 'nexus' which links the size of the House to the size of the Senate. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.

Ben was joined by Matt Dennien from the Brisbane Times to discuss the Queensland state redistribution, specifically the first round of submissions. The conversation focuses on the Labor and LNP submissions, and also run through some of the other public submissions. This podcast is supported by the Tally Room’s supporters on Patreon. If you find this podcast worthwhile please consider giving your support. You can listen to an ad-free version of this podcast if you sign up via Patreon for $8 (plus GST) or more per month. And $8 donors can now join the Tally Room Discord server.