Just an aside on the Australian general election that took place over the last few days. Australia’s electoral setup is a modified Westminster-parliamentary system similar to Canada’s (the main difference being they use preferred ballot or Instant Runoff voting to elect their lower house, and Single-Transferable Vote to elect their Senate). The election has resulted in a “hung Parliament”, or a minority Parliament – the first since World War II. The battle is between the Labor Party and the conservative Coalition.

What’s that? A coalition you say?

A coalition of 4 parties actually. It’s led by the Liberal Party (which is not very “liberal”; think of it in the [...]