What does it mean to be a Member of the Australian Federal Parliament? What is the difference between a Member of the House of Representatives and a Member of the Senate? What does a Member of Parliament do while Parliament is sitting? How do we vote for our Members of Parliament? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in Elected to Parliament.

In Candidates Disease, Peter Breen examines the 44th Australian Parliament (2013-2016) and the 45th Parliament (2016-2019) in light of the controversial 2018 leadership spill. He looks at the sickness in Australian politics that gave rise to boatloads of independents and minor parties three million primary votes in the House of Representatives at the last federal election and four million in the Senate, and asks, is that the high water mark for minor parties and independents following changes to the way we vote, or is the political system fully sick with the more serious ailment bipartisan disorder now sweeping through Australia’s major parties? Exercising the right to stand for election and ultimately getting elected is just so easy in Australia it makes people sick. Breen tells anyone who asks that candidate’s disease is a good thing since it gives you a whole bunch of antibodies that protect you against the far more debilitating condition known as bipartisan disorder, which afflicts Australia’s two major political groups: the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal-National Coalition. The problem with modern politics Down Under is not what separates the major parties but what binds them in partisan self-interest.

A behind-the-scenes account of how a rural community found its own voice, elected its own independent representatives, and inspired a national movement that is transforming Australian politics. Twelve people met for the first time at their local library in the rural and regional electorate of Indi in north-east Victoria one winter's day in 2012, driven by a growing sense of despair about how their community was being represented. Beginning with shared values, they formed Voices for Indi, and set about engaging everyday people. They didn't realise that the Indi Way, a new relationship between the community and its member of parliament, was being forged. With the selection of Cathy McGowan as their independent candidate for the 2013 federal election, they hoped to make one of the safest Liberal seats in the nation marginal. In fact, after a highly innovative grassroots campaign, they delivered the Coalition its only loss. In 2016, McGowan repeated her feat, and in 2019 Indi made history when Helen Haines became the first independent in the Australian parliament to succeed a retiring independent MP. Haines was returned at the 2022 election with an even higher vote, joining the largest-ever cross bench in the House of Representatives. This is the inside story of of how and why it all began, and has developed, told by many of the people closely involved. It is a revealing account of a community using values-based, respectful processes to rewrite the political playbook. And it shows why others, including over 40 'Voices for' groups, and the Teal independents, have been inspired to do the same.