An unfortunate fact about the Australian education system is that our civic education is lacking. I personally learnt some vague details about how bills progress through parliament in an Australian Politics elective in year 11. Having missed out on every Australian child’s (except you townies, sorry) infamous trip to Canberra, I was relying purely on the conversations that went on around me while growing up to learn about our political system. 

I am lucky to come from a politically engaged family, and by osmosis, I picked up enough general knowledge about domestic politics to never embarrass myself in conversation. However, it was only when I started working in the press gallery at Parliament House for a parliamentary database and when I completed my Australian National Internship Program placement in the office of a Member of Parliament (MP) that I realised how much knowledge I lacked. I quickly learnt a lot about the mechanisms that run this country. I can now not only tell you about the purpose and process of senate estimates, but I can also rant in detail about each committee’s different transcript formatting quirks and exactly how mind-numbing a legislative instrument can be.

But these insights aren’t what’s useful here. We have a federal election in May, and for many of us at this university, it will be the first one we vote in. I’m old enough to have voted in the 2022 federal election, and I will be voting differently this year based on what I’ve since learnt about Parliament and the political game. This article does not aim to get you to vote how I vote. Hopefully, I will write it so you can’t even tell who I’m planning to place my [1] next to on the ballot paper. My aim is to help those who aren’t already in the know understand how politics really works, from someone who has been able to be a fly on the wall for parts of the process. 

So here are some things I think you should know in the lead up to this election:

Politics is political, and the work doesn’t happen where you expect it to

The reality of a politician’s day-to-day life during sitting week is that they have to desperately try and do their real work, intermittently running to the House of Representatives or the Senate to sit in Parliament. You might think that the speeches they give are their bread and butter, but often, it’s the case that the first time a politician will read a speech they deliver is while they’re delivering it. I worked for an MP, which means they worked in the House of Representatives so a lot of the following information is specific to it, but probably applies to the Senate too. 

The proceedings of Parliament are a well-oiled machine, with bill speeches, Matters of Public Importance speeches, Constituency Statements and other speeches all being scheduled and run at prescribed times and for prescribed lengths as dictated by the standing orders and managed by the clerks who work at Parliament. The order of speakers for these sections of the day goes back and forth between the party that currently forms government and opposition speakers, meaning that all day, every day, someone has to talk, even if no one has much to say. The snippets you see on TV of a full and raucous parliament happen during Question Time, one of the only times a day when all politicians are required to be in the chamber. At other times, only the MPs on duty will be there, and if they’re not speaking, they’ll be going through other paperwork or frantically messaging their staffers on the outside to plan future meetings and interviews. 

The Party Whip is the MP in each party whose office is in charge of figuring out who needs to be on duty when, who will speak, and oftentimes, what they will say by distributing appropriate “talking points” for certain types of speech or debate. Constituency Statements and other personal statements don’t include these talking points, but if a debate about a bill or a Matter of Public Importance is occurring, each MP (or more likely their staffers) will have prepared what they say based on the facts, phrases and jabs at the other party provided to them by the Whip. If you watch Parliament closely, sometimes multiple MPs from the same party will repeat the exact line multiple times because there’s no Turnitin in Parliament, so if they don’t paraphrase the talking points well enough, it all comes out the same. 

The bill debates themselves don’t matter as much — everyone knows how they will vote on a piece of legislation well before the debates begin. Oftentimes, the Parliament part of Parliament is just a formality. The real work happens not through these speeches but when MPs and Senators meet other politicians, ministers, lobby groups and experts for the rest of the day. These meetings allow politicians to understand the issues facing Australia, advocate for people in their electorate and the issues they care about, and lobby the higher-ups in the party to possibly introduce legislation on an issue. They also discuss legislation and possible amendments. An opposition party may deal with minor parties and independents to prevent a bill from passing, combining forces to vote it down. Deals like this that happen out of the public eye allow parties to collaborate to pass or deny legislation. So when it comes time for them all to vote on passing bills through various stages, these conversations, rather than the debates the public sees, are what matter. 

What a politician says in Parliament is thus almost irrelevant; it’s the result of commands from higher up, it’s to make them look good, and most of the time, they don’t care about what they’re saying. The real work happens behind the scenes. The ability for a party to put their vision into action through legislation is often dependent on the makeup of their government and how this enables them to vote on legislation, which is decided at the election. Which brings me to my next point…

Your vote REALLY counts

To give a quick crash course on bill stages, when a minister introduces a bill and explains the reasons behind its existence, this is called the “first reading”. After the first reading, the House will vote on if it should go to a “second reading”— this is almost always a yes. The second reading is where the debates happen, where politicians argue for and against the bill (in an often empty room, as explained above). This is also where each part of it is “considered in detail”, and amendments are passed to change the bill. Anyone can suggest amendments, and often, the party in government needs to try and protect their bill from major amendments that would change the spirit or goal of the proposed legislation. These amendments also get voted on through ‘ayes,’ ‘nos,’ and sometimes divisions (which I’ll explain briefly). Once the second reading debates and amendments are finished, MPs vote on whether it should go to a “third reading”. If voted yes, the bill will go to the Senate, where it will again have a first, second and third reading before being passed into legislation and becoming an Act. 

At any point, the bill can also be referred to for public inquiry, which complicates and extends the process. If the party bringing the bill can’t get enough votes to pass it through these stages, or it gets rejected in the Senate, the bill has been “negatived”, meaning it can’t go any further. When Parliament votes on legislation, amendments and other issues that get “moved” in Parliament, the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate hears ayes and nos on the issue. This is why politicians are scheduled to sit in Parliament at certain times of day by the Party Whip, so they can be there to say aye or no as needed. If the sound of it is inconclusive, the Speaker or President will call a “division”. This rings bells throughout the building, and lights flash on all the clocks indicating which house the division is happening in. All members of that house are then required to race to the chamber in mere minutes; the doors are locked, and their vote can officially be counted. 

A government with a majority in the lower house will almost always win a division, which is why most legislation in a majority government passes the House of Representatives and goes to the Senate. A majority in the lower house allows them to pass legislation more easily and reject amendments from the other party and independents. This is where minor parties and independents have real power because while the major parties will always vote for or against issues along their party lines, the minor parties and independents, based on the deals they do, can sometimes sway the tide. Julia Gillard had a minority government, which meant that she relied on the support of these groups to pass legislation. It was notoriously difficult for the Labor Party (in this government) to operate because of this fact. 

I promised I wouldn’t try to sway your vote, and I won’t. You might want one of the major parties to have a clear majority in the House of Reps so that it’s easier for them to fulfil their elected mandate and pass legislation as they see fit. Or you might want one of the major parties to have a minority government so that the Greens and independents have greater power over the legislation that does and doesn’t get passed and the amendments that affect this legislation. Whatever you desire, remember that we have preferential voting in Australia and that how you vote can impact the type of government that gets in and the type of work they can do. Even if you live in a “safe” seat, the 2022 election showed us that no seat is “safe” and your vote can have a big impact.

Politicians have big personalities; listen to what they do, not what they say

Walking through the halls of Parliament alongside an MP and witnessing first-hand the way Members of Parliament, Senators and Ministers banter is truly a titillating and, in some ways, alarming experience. From what I saw, parliamentarians are charismatic class clowns whose main social currency with one another is off-the-charts banter. They work high-pressure, high-stress jobs; every single person around them works tirelessly to support their public image, and everyone is always watching what they do. This means they’ve got to have bluster and ego to survive it all. 

There are talented, interesting, intelligent public servants who work behind the scenes to do as much for Australia as any politician. They are people who would never be comfortable having their face and name printed onto billboards, posters and brochures hundreds of thousands of times to win a political popularity contest. This is not to discount the hard work of politicians or the importance of our democratic process; it is just to remind you of the context around politicians as people and the type of personality they have to have to self-select for this type of role and succeed in it. 

When you see them in an interview, talking incredibly seriously about why their policy is the only viable option and the policies of other parties will ruin your life, just remember that in the halls of Parliament, while it’s not universal, friendships run across party lines and the political spectrum. Listening to vitriolic sound bites and interviews from politicians is not the best way to understand what the parties fight for, or what they do on the floor of Parliament. Just like with parliamentary proceedings, the parts the public sees are often for show — the real work happens in the negotiations and social interactions no one gets to see. Even the most idealistic politicians would rather have a public relations win for their party and their election chances or a loss for another party than meaningful change. This sounds cynical, but the nature of politics is that it is political and sometimes public intention and public image are not the most important things to look at. 

Many politicians use their big personalities and rely on the fact that most Australians don’t have a deep understanding of parliamentary proceedings to score outrage points. For example, many people don’t know that non-government parties and individuals can’t introduce or propose legislation; this is the mandate of the party in power and them alone. The opposition, minor parties and independents can only introduce “private members bills”, which only happens briefly on Mondays. And broadly, it’s a farce. Every bill, almost invariably (at least in a majority government), gets negatived. If you hear a politician that isn’t part of the party in power say, “Today, Parliament voted down THIS important bill,” know that they’re playing you; they knew when they introduced it that it was impossible for it to pass, that’s just the process.

So think carefully about the outcomes you want for Australia’s future when you go to the polls on 3 May 2025. Don’t think about what a politician promised on a short clip on TikTok; look at their track record and what they voted on in Parliament, who they struck deals with, what outcomes their choices led to and whether or not you like those outcomes. For the major parties, look at their previous governments and what happened in Australia as a result of them being in power. Resources like They Vote For You, ABC’s Vote Compass,  Build a Ballot, and this spreadsheet mapping the policies and voting history of the major candidates and parties can help you decipher what MPs and political parties stand for. Remember that a lot of the running of this country happens outside of Parliament in the government departments. However, their funding and ability to fulfil their mandates is affected by the party in power, so when you vote, vote with all that in mind. 

Lastly, politics isn’t just about what happens in Canberra or who our PM is

Politicians travel to Canberra for only 18 to 20 weeks out of the year, and the goal of sitting weeks is only the legislative part of the process. But, your federal representative matters more than just what they do during sitting weeks. For the rest of the year, they work from their constituency office in their local electorate (if they’re a good MP and care about their community).

MPs possess a huge amount of power to make changes for their local community. They can lobby federal ministers for funding to help with roads, schools, and other infrastructure. I have personally witnessed the MP I worked for interrogate Michelle Rowland, the Communications Minister, about why one of the only post offices in their electorate was closed, leaving elderly people to walk further to send and receive their post. 

MPs can send letters of support to the Immigration Minister on behalf of people in their electorate to support their visa cases and other migration matters. They attend events and listen to the voices in their community on what matters to them so that when they arrive at sitting weeks, they can understand the needs of their electorate better. Not all MPs act like this, nor do all MPs care about what happens when they aren’t in front of a camera or delivering a snappy question to the PM in question time. When you vote at this election, don’t just think about the party that is represented by the name on your ballot paper;  think about the individual person you are voting for and whether or not you think they’ll show up for you for all of the 32 non-sitting weeks in a year. 

I used to be a skeptic who thought nothing went on in politics, politicians never cared and nothing ever changed. But I have learnt that who you vote for, who represents your community in Parliament, and which party you give the mandate to introduce and pass legislation, matters hugely. We have the privilege of a relatively stable country, where the changes being made take time to show themselves, but boy do they show themselves. You want to make sure that when they do, in housing prices, climate change, cost of living, the quality of education and health services in this country, you’re happy with how they show up. Be engaged, be suspicious, read between the lines and understand what you’re voting for. Happy election season!