Auspol Explained

Election misinformation! I saw my fair share of it while making episodes about the 2025 federal election and oh boy, there are some classic repeat claims as well as some new and bizarre ones that are making the rounds. Here's a handy explainer of some of the false, misleading and outdated claims I saw and how they're wrong.The myths/episode chapters are:0:00 Intro2:04 Voting machines switched votes7:47 Pencils are used so votes can be erased10:53 Immigrants were "imported" to rig the election14:52 Preferential voting ensures major parties win21:03 Parties choose preferences25:56 OutroSide note: I point out in the immigration myth that to vote you need to be an Australian citizen. This is technically not strictly true, as British subjects enrolled to vote before 25th January 1984 who are still enrolled to vote also can/must vote. (https://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/British_subjects.htm) That is a small group of people though. It also is not relevant to the myth about immigration that I was busting because the myth clearly is about new immigrants (who can't vote and thus can't have any impact on the election outcome) and has nothing to do with that quirk of history from over 40 years ago.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedFollow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

It's time for parties to choose new leaders! Especially because some of them got voted out of Parliament. So how does that process work? Well, here's a brief overview of how there isn't a one-size fits all approach to party leadership rules in Australia but there is a general vibe to how it works. In this I'll cover how Labor, Liberals, Greens and Nationals decide who their leader should be as well as how the rules for leadership challenges have changed to make them less frequent.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplained Follow me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/auspolexplained.bsky.social Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auspolexplained/ Like Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Every election there'll be someone unhappy with the results and someone claiming it was rigged. But in Australia that kind of claim just doesn't stack up. There is a LOT of scrutiny on Australian elections! They're also run by independent electoral commissions. So, if you doubt their validity or if you're just curious about all the levels of details, security, scrutiny and transparency that goes into ensuring that elections are fair and conducted impartially then here's an episode explaining just how hard it is to do anything dodgy. This may also help you provide rebuttals to anyone claiming in your life "it was rigged!" simply because they don't like a result.Learn more about elections and voting in Australia at: https://aec.gov.au/ You can get a copy of the script with citations here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wKgiSj9llxqeID746WS532mhOZR65gp1/view?usp=drive_linkSupport the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedLike Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

The 2025 Australian election was called after about 2.5 hours - yet days afterwards they're still counting votes so how is it that we know the election result without it being officially declared? Well, in this episode I explain the basics of how the news uses statistical trends to make predictions even though it'll still be weeks before the official declaration of results from the AEC.Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedLike Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

How does preference counting work for the Australian Senate? How do they figure out who wins the Senate seats? To win, a candidate needs a quota - but a quota is different depending on how many seats there are and how many votes there are overall. Once candidates achieve a quota they're elected but then if they have surplus votes those are transferred at a reduced rate to the next preferences on the ballot. If that sounds complicated to you then good thing here's a whole episode dedicated to explaining how that works!If you want to read more about it you can on the AEC website: https://www.aec.gov.au/voting/counting/senate_count.htmFor an explanation about how preferential voting in the House of Representatives works here's an episode I prepared earlier: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cEFXUNwMc0E22jChjDMNv?si=6zaCWBWeS8uvN-4VJI6SPA Support the channel on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/AuspolExplainedLike Auspol Explained on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Auspol-Explained-107892180702388Auspol Explained would like to acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyoongar people and their Elders as the owners and custodians of the Land that the episode was recorded and edited on. This Land was stolen and never ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.