This article was originally published on The Interpreter, a publication by The Lowy Institute, an independent, nonpartisan international policy think tank located in Sydney, Australia.
Election Day at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia - 3 May, 2025
I emerged from the voting booths at Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club last Saturday clad in red budgie smugglers – a pale imitation of former prime minister Tony Abbott in his political (and physical) prime. Before I could reach the barbecue to tuck into a “democracy sausage”, the only thing which has the universal support of the electorate on polling day, a Reuters journalist approached me for an interview. She was hoping to write a story for her international audience on why Australians are so often seen voting in their bathers, and how the democracy sausage had become both a national dish and a symbol of Australian democracy.
Within hours, the content and footage from my interview had been syndicated internationally and re-published across multiple articles and media outlets, racking up millions of views on the social media accounts of NBC News in the US, Channel News Asia and The Straits Times in Singapore and Asia, and Reuters in the UK and India.
The international interest in how Australians do democracy was both fascinating and humbling to behold. Singaporeans commented that the democracy sausage tradition made “the environment light-hearted and fun”, and that they should make a “Demokrasi Lemak” tradition. Americans asked where one keeps Voter ID in budgie smugglers (we don’t need it to vote!) and remarked on how relaxed and widely trusted the voting process seemed.
The fascination with how Australia does democracy says something more profound about the state of representative democracy around the world. At a time when news headlines are dominated by examples of democratic backsliding across the United States, Europe, and Asia, Australia’s quirky traditions stand out as hopeful symbols of electoral integrity and a unique political and civic culture.
State and Federal election days are celebrations of what it means to be Australian, and everything good about our society and democracy. The festive atmosphere of the barbecue at polling stations shows that we are an inclusive and socially cohesive society. First generation citizens line up alongside First Nations Australians, as voting lines become a peaceful mix of party colours. Nothing says trust in the political system like being comfortable voting alongside your fellow citizens in your bathers. It makes you proud of the society we’ve built together.
Aside from the cultural features, Australian democratic innovations have created our peaceful, effective, and trusted electoral system. In this sense, the Australian-made institutional architecture shapes the substance of our democracy. Ours is an important example for a world lacking both trust and pride in democracy. It’s akin to the scenes of voters abroad proudly holding an ink-stained finger to the camera to mark a vote, yet celebrated for having held stable in Australia for more than a century.
Compulsory voting and enrolment drive high levels of turnout and moderate our politics and policies. Preferential voting in the House and the Single Transferable Vote system in the Senate lead to more representative outcomes. Saturday elections ensure that more working people can have a say in the electoral process. The Australian Electoral Commission’s independent, effective, and efficient management of the system means that results are widely trusted, with unsuccessful candidates accepting outcomes in good faith, leading to the peaceful transfer of power. As the Lowy Institute Poll has shown over the past 20 years, Australians increasingly regard “democracy is preferable to any other kind of government”.
Although Australia hasn’t always lived up to its ideals, egalitarianism is deeply embedded in our national character and political inclination to expand the franchise. Following the sustained advocacy of suffragists such as Vida Goldstein, one of Australia’s first acts of nationhood after Federation was the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act, which gave (white) women both the right to vote and to stand for parliament. Australia was the first nation in history to enact both rights, leading the world in advancing representative democracy and universal suffrage, even as First Nations Australians were excluded from those rights for decades to come.
Compare our democratic mechanisms and processes with those of United States and its presidential elections. Namely the tradition of Tuesday voting, the history of political gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement, the recent need for armed guards and increased security at voting booths, the patchwork of different voting systems and electoral laws in every jurisdiction leading to inconsistencies and delays in outcomes, and the widespread mistrust in the electoral system amid weaponised allegations of electoral improprieties. Worst of all, President Donald Trump’s normalisation of election denialism, culminating in the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Australians should be proud of the integrity of our electoral system and the values which underpin it, and more willing to influence other nations through our example, just as Goldstein and the suffragists did. Perhaps our national tendency to modesty (or tall poppy syndrome) prevents us from doing so. As a result, we miss out on significant soft-power influence in the region and beyond. The Australian example is a model for the world, at a time when democratic norms are eroding across the United States, Europe, and Asia. The humble democracy sausage and budgie smugglers might be the perfect starting point for a discussion about wider democratic reform. As Jack Karlson said, “this is democracy manifest”. Even if he was a crook.
