Saturday Magazine

4 Aug 2024

Saturday 3rd August, 2024: Professor Paul Strangio, Politics and International Relations Monash University; 100 years of Compulsory Voting

Current Affairs, Interview, Joy, Joy 94.9, Joy Media, Media, News & Politics, Podcast, Saturday Magazine, Society & Culture

Paul sat down with Professor Paul Strangio, Politics and International Relations Monash University; 100 years of Compulsory Voting

For nearly 200 years, the notion of American political exceptionalism has had currency in the United States: it is an idea rooted in the nation’s status as the first modern republic. As we watch from afar, disturbed yet mesmerised by the latest chapter of violent political division in America, the country seems less a paragon than a symbol of democratic pathology.

America’s certainty in its political uniqueness is symptomatic of a brash national chauvinism. By way of contrast, Australia is prone, if anything, to undue bashfulness about its democratic credentials. How else can we explain that this month marks the centenary of the most extraordinary feature of the country’s democratic architecture, and yet the anniversary is slipping by with neither comment nor reflection. I refer to compulsory voting, which was legislated in the federal parliament in July 1924.

Compulsory voting is not unique to Australia. Calculating how many countries abide by the practice is notoriously difficult, since in around half the nations where compulsory voting exists in name it is not enforced. Most estimates, however, put the figure in the vicinity of 20 to 30.

If not unique, Australia’s experience of compulsory voting is highly distinctive for a number of reasons.

https://theconversation.com/compulsory-voting-in-australia-is-100-years-old-we-should-celebrate-how-special-it-makes-our-democracy-234801

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:02 — 15.6MB)

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11 Jan 2025

Saturday 11th January, 2025: Van Badham on Elon Musk and the Meta-Verse

Current Affairs, Interview, Joy, Joy 94.9, JOY 94.9, Joy Media, Media, News & Politics, Podcast, Racism, Saturday Magazine, Society & Culture

Macca and Nevena discuss Elon Musk's childish behaviour and the Meta-verse with Van Badham. Van Badham is a Melbourne-based writer, an ...

11 Jan 2025

Saturday 11th January, 2025: Frank Bongiourno, Memorable Political Gaffes-Do They Make or Break Elections?

Current Affairs, Election, Interview, Joy, Joy 94.9, Joy Media, Media, News & Politics, Podcast, Saturday Magazine, Society & Culture

  Macca and Nevena talk to Frank Bongiourno, professor of history at the Australian National University and was chair of the literature ...

11 Jan 2025

Saturday 11th January, 2025: Faith Fuhrer; Animal Justice Party: Prahran By-Election.

Current Affairs, Election, Interview, Joy, Joy 94.9, Joy Media, Media, News & Politics, Podcast, Saturday Magazine, Society & Culture

Nevena and Macca are joined live in the studio by, Faith Fuhrer; Animal Justice Party: Prahran By-Election. Faith has lived and ...