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6/ Between 1972 and 1975, Parliament passed 647 acts of Parliament, compared to 500 between 2021 and 2024.

Acts of Parliament peaked at 221 in 1973, compared to a high of 142 for the last four years (in 2021).

5/ Parliament does not sit for as long as it used to -- between 417 and 634 hours a year from 2021-2024 compared to between 678 and 913 sitting hours a year from 1972-1975. And they fought three elections during that time -- compared to one in the last four years.

Each year 1972 to 1975 had more sitting hours than any year 2021 to 2024 did.

4/ Australians are less represented than ever, with the average local MP now representing 121,000 people -- compared to 65,000 each in 1975. Australia is long-overdue for an increase in the number of parliamentarians.

Apart from a small dip in 1984 when the number of seats in Parliament increased, the average number of voters per House of Reps seat has increased steadily from 57,000 in 1972 to 121,000 in 2025.

3/ Parliament is much more diverse, both in terms of Indigenous Australian representation and women. Whitlam's "It's time" election was with 93 male Labor MPs and senators and *no* women. Now women are a majority in the Labor caucus.

From 3 Labor women and 3 Coalition women in 1975 to 69 Labor women, 22 Coalition women and 20 crossbench women in 2025.

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2/ The independent and minor party vote has gone from 4% to 34%. 1975 was the last year where a major party or coalition won a majority of the primary vote.

The Labor and Coalition votes decline from around 50% to around 33%, while the independent and minor party vote grows.

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Bill Browne @browne90.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

How democracy has changed since 1975, in six charts: 1/ The crossbench has grown from 3 in the Senate to 20 in the Senate and 13 in the House, making blocking supply much more difficult than it was for Malcolm Fraser.

In 1975, the Senate had 27 Labor, 30 Coalition and 3 crossbenchers; now it is 29 Labor, 27 Coalition and 20 crossbenchers.
In 1975, the House had 66 Labor, 61 Coalition and 0 crossbenchers; now it is 94 Labor, 43 Coalition and 13 crossbench.

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ABC News and the Canberra Times showed a lot of interest in the citizens' jury back in the day. Spot a (much younger) Bill in the crowd -- www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04...

The proposed $50 fee per FOI request will make it harder to get information out of government, but do practically nothing to reduce the overall cost of the scheme.

Cost recovery (assuming $50 fee) would raise less than $500,000, against a scheme that cost $86 million last year.

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It takes four public servants to do what took just one under the Howard Government. That explains why administrative costs have more than tripled.

Whereas the average request once took 13 hours to determine (2006-07), it now takes 51 hours (2023-24).

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The Freedom of Information system is so inefficient and expensive *because* it's secretive -- in last year of Howard Govt, there were 27,500 FOI requests granted in full, vs just 4,500 granted in full in 2023-24.

The number of FOI requests granted “in full” has fallen from
81% in 2006-07 to just 21% in 2023-24.

Bill Browne @browne90.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Govt fearmongering about AI writing Freedom of Information requests, vexatious applicants and a swamped eSafety Commission is overstated. The FOI workload is actually at a low point for the decade.

There were only 21,000 requests determined in each of 2022-23 and 2023-24,13 down about a third from the 10-year peak of 34,000 in 2016-17.

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Govt leans heavily on eSafety Commissioner receiving 600 FOI requests in one year. However frivolous they may be, they were overwhelmingly for personal info - so fees wouldn't apply. And at just 1 or 2% of all FOIs, they are not the reason the system is so expensive in money and work-hours.

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Bill Browne @browne90.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

The Albanese Government wants to charge Australians for making a freedom of information request. Makes dubious claims about tech being used to overwhelm the system. In truth? Govt workload one of the lowest in the last 20 years.

Number of FOI requests determined is at lowest rate since 2011-12, but the cost of running the FOI system has hit new highs.

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Bill Browne @browne90.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Senator @davidshoebridge.bsky.social has introduced a private member's bill that would protect the right to protest. @australiainstitute.org.au polling research last year finds 71% of Australians support protest protections.

Graph shows 71% support, 15% oppose legislation to protect the right to peaceful protest.

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Bill Browne @browne90.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Four interesting graphs breaking down past election results from Mark the Ballot. The first shows how the Albanese Govt made history with a swing towards them after their first term.

Graph shows the two-party preferred for Labor and the Coalition since 1946, and which party was in government.

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Bill Browne @browne90.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Labor won almost two-thirds of seats at the last federal election, a testament to Australians strongly preferring them to the Lib-Nat Coalition. But as my colleague @skyelark.bsky.social writes for @australiainstitute.org.au, the gap between primary votes and seats won is historically large.

Labor won almost two thirds of seats despite receiving just over a third of the vote in May. Graph compares UK 2024, Australian House of Reps, Australian Senate and New Zealand 2023. Proportional representation systems deliver more proportional results.

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Aboriginal Tent Embassy a permanent protest established on 26 January 1972 in response to attempts to restrict land rights. The embassy was forced to move, but in 1992 returned to the original site. Gough Whitlam visited the site to discuss the embassy’s demands.

The Aboriginal Flag at the Tent Embassy in 1974.

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Anti-apartheid activists disrupted 1971 South African rugby tour. Protesters “blew whistles, held up placards, and ran onto the field if possible” to interrupt matches. Sir Don Bradman cancelled 1972 cricket tour: “We will not play them until they choose a team on a non-racist basis”.

Deputy President of the African National Congress Nelson Mandela and Prime Minister Bob Hawke, October 1990. Mandela was only recently freed from prison.

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When the first Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978 marched beyond permit, 53 were charged. NSW Police bashed protestor Peter Murphy. Later rallies made police drop charges; parliament changed protest laws, expanded anti-discrimination protections and decriminalised homosexuality.

The first Mardi Gras entrants from 1978 at the 30th Annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Sydney, Saturday, March 01, 2008

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Young men protested conscription to Vietnam War by burning their draft cards. Commentators said they were doing it for the attention. Protesters interrupted US President LBJ, blocked his car: “Hey, hey, LBJ: How many kids did you kill today?”

Protester holds placard saying "LBJ = Hypocrite. World opinion is against US in Vietnam."

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Port Kembla dockworkers went on strike in 1938 to stop iron exports to Japan - which had committed mass murder of civilians and POWs in China. Menzies called it "a provocative act against a friendly power" but grateful Chinese-Australians sent food to striking workers.

In 1939 photo, Attorney-General Menzies walks through strikers. Posters include: "Bombs Hurt People".

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