Bill Browne

Bill Browne

@browne90.bsky.social

Director at The Australia Institute's Democracy & Accountability Program. Views posted are my own.

4K followers775 following680 posts

Under constitutional challenge, Albanese Govt has revealed just how much Labor and Liberal could benefit from their election law re-write last year: "Labor a total of $15.4 million better off and the Liberals $9.4 million ahead” if donors split $ between state branches to avoid the caps.

"Independents seeking to break into parliament for the first time would have been the biggest losers. Nicolette Boele’s successful 2025 campaign ... $746,000 worse off if the new rules had applied." @paulkarp.bsky.social @politico.com has the court docs. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

politico.comAustralia’s new electoral laws hand $25M windfall to major parties over independentsDonation law reform aimed to take big money out of politics, but new figures reveal parties will rake in millions more.

"PROTECTED" info could supposedly cause damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals. Maybe the information doesn't need to be classified -- but in that case, make it public for everyone to see, not just a foreign tech company!

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sets how many personal staff each member of Parliament gets -- letting him starve his rivals of resources and punishing those who quit the party. Senator Fatima Payman formed an unlikely alliance last week to call him out.

I am heartened by two recent defeats, because they were close-fought things that could have gone either way. They are proof that our efforts can change the direction of our country.

Bill Browne reposted

It’s perfectly legal to lie in a political ad in NSW – but that could be about to change. More than 31,500 NSW residents have said that they want truth in political advertising laws before the state election next March.

Zali Steggall is trying today to drag the Albanese Government to implement one of its own policies: truth in political advertising laws. These laws are popular, constitutional and have been pressure tested in South Australia since the 1980s.

By a quirk of parliamentary programming, on this day 30 years ago Bob Brown and Pauline Hanson rose at the first time to give their first speeches to Parliament. Many topics Brown and Hanson covered three decades ago remain live – from climate change to immigration.

Critics of the Greens have compared the Greens’ upcoming decision on the carbon method disallowance to the CPRS vote 17 years ago. But in truth, voting down the CPRS positioned the Greens to negotiate a better climate package the next year.

"A group of insiders were there with the NSW Govt for two years, in all the conversations linking the park to offsets. They kept this secret from the public and the rest of the environment movement. That sounds more like the definition of a conspiracy." thepoint.com.au/factchecks/2...

thepoint.com.auFactcheck: Are native forest carbon offsets 'a really fantastic proposal'? (No)In an Instagram video, the Executive Director of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF), Lyndon Schneiders, discusses the controversial Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) offs...

God AI is an easy-reading primer to the most extreme danger of AI: that it could kill all human life. Walsh recognises the arguments against this ever happening while refusing to be complacent about the catastrophic consequences if it does eventuate.

One of the effects of the rushed Labor-Liberal deal to change Australia's election laws is that many cash-for-access payments will go unreported. Labor agreed to lift the disclosure threshold from $1,000 in the draft to $5,000 in the final version ... australiainstitute.org.au/post/stich-u...

australiainstitute.org.au"Stitch up" Labor and Coalition Deal on Electoral ReformLast night, Liberal Senator Jane Hume announced they’d done a deal with the Albanese Labor Government on electoral laws – and some twelve hours later, it

“The culture that developed [was] one of fear, one of intimidation, and one of carefully orchestrated cinema to make it appear what’s happening is legitimate, when it’s not,” Liz Allen told the Senate. ANU apologises for indefensible treatment of academic. thepoint.com.au/new/260825-a...

thepoint.com.auANU apologises to Liz Allen after ‘indefensible’ treatment by its former leadershipThe Point, helping readers make sense of the issues shaping their lives today.

"Is the Liberal Party aging out of Australian politics?" Historian James Watson on how low home-ownership and delays in having children mean younger Australians have less conservative interests than their predecessors, see Liberals as tied to asset-owning class.

If the Coalition were not afraid of the “We’ll do the same to you in government” threat, what could they do today to both improve government accountability and make trouble for Labor?

Bill Browne reposted

Three times I’ve introduced a Human Rights Bill. Three times the major parties didn’t support it. A petition signed by over 50,000 Australians demands better. Aus mustn’t remain the only liberal democracy without comprehensive national human rights protections. #auspol #politas

Bill Browne reposted

Former aged care min Anika Wells redacted a bunch of FoI docs -- including my name despite my consent otherwise -- because releasing might chill 'frank and fearless' advice from public servants. The FoI Commissioner rubbished that claim, ordered the release. www.crikey.com.au/2026/08/19/a...

crikey.com.auAnika Wells wanted this information to stay secret. But the FOI commissioner disagreesThe ruling against Wells, related to the $8 million Meals on Wheels scandal, tested the limits of whether 'full and frank advice' from civil servants is impeded by disclosures.

Bill Browne reposted