Say hello to your (policy) friend down under
Scott Hamilton
Author, researcher and policy advisor. Adjunct Associate Professor Monash Uni. Renewable Energy | Climate Change | Water | Renewable Hydrogen | Renewable Ammonia | Renewable Metals | Politics | #bipartisanship
At a critical moment for the US, Australian culture has won a small victory — and there is scope for an even more important Australia-American exchange via the sphere of public policy.
In the current US presidential election campaign – one of the hardest fought in decades — Australian cultural exports have been surprisingly prominent.
When Kamala Harris became the democratic nominee, a video endorsing her for president went viral. It included clips of Australia’s boy wonder, John Farnham, singing the Australian anthem You’re The Voice.
On X/Twitter, Harris’s running mate, Governor Tim Walz, used Australia’s dystopian Mad Max pentalogy to show the warped nature of Donald Trump’s view of America today. ‘My God,’ Walz observed, ‘every time I hear Donald Trump give a speech, it’s like the next screenplay for Mad Max or something. They are rooting against America.’
Even ABC-Australia’s Bluey has been drawn into the fray, as content for pro- and anti-MAGA memes and pundits, and as grist for cultural wars about gender and ‘family values’. According to Nielsen Media Research data published in September 2024, Bluey is the most-watched show (of all shows) in America for 2024. ‘So far, the only thing that can keep him [Trump] awake is an iPad playing Bluey,’ Jimmy Fallon said of the former president appearing to nod off in court.
(ABC-Australia’s TV content has featured in the campaign in another way as well. The anti-Trump but conservative ‘Republicans against Trump’ group has regularly tweeted an ABC clip — from February 2024 — of former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s appraisal of Trump. Turnbull: ‘When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he’s like the 12-year-old boy that goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team. “Ah! My hero!” It is really creepy.’)
There have even been echoes of the famous Gough Whitlam ‘It’s Time’ election slogan from the 1970s, such as when President Biden addressed union workers in Washington DC and repeatedly stressed, ‘It’s time to finish the job’.
The penetration of Australian cultural content into the US presidential campaign marks a striking reversal: usually, the cultural flow is very much the other way. (We all want The West Wing’s Jed Bartlett to come down under and be prime minister of Australia.)
At a critical moment for the US, Australian culture has won a small victory — and there is scope for an even more important Australian-American exchange, from the sphere of public policy. In hotly contested domains such as electoral rights, gun laws, gender equality and disability insurance, the US can take a lot of lessons from successful Australian reforms.
Compulsory voting and the ‘democracy sausage’
Australia’s policy of compulsory voting requires all eligible citizens to vote in federal, state, and local elections – or face a fine. This contrasts sharply with the US, where voter turnout is voluntary, often leading to lower participation rates. Another point of difference: Australia has a simple, direct voting system (one vote, one value), meaning the party with the most members of the House of Representatives chooses the prime minister. In contrast, under the Electoral College system of the US, the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide may nevertheless not prevail in the election.
Another Australian tradition is the ‘democracy sausage’, a popular snack of a barbecued sausage, served in bread with tomato sauce (ketchup) and onions, sold at polling places on election day. This carb-heavy tradition helps turn the civic duty of voting into a good-spirited community event.
Gun laws
The United States emphatically has a problem with guns. In 2023, the country reached a tragic milestone when guns became the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers, overtaking deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents. Amid growing weariness of the pattern of shootings, President Biden again called on the US Congress to ban assault weapons — so far to no avail.
In the aftermath of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, Australia took a different path on gun control. Under prime minister John Howard, a National Firearms Agreement was established; it included bans on automatic rifles, semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. In a nationwide ‘gun buyback’, around 640,000 prohibited firearms were handed over.
Since 1996, Australia has seen just five mass shootings (murders of four or more people by gun), compared to the US with more than 600 mass shootings for each of the past four years — almost two a day on average.
Disability insurance
A July 2011 report of Australia’s principal economic research agency, the Productivity Commission, concluded: ‘Most families and individuals cannot adequately prepare for the risk and financial impact of disability. The costs of lifetime care can be so substantial that the risks and costs need to be pooled.’
The commission proposed a model for a national scheme to support Australians with disability and give them more choice and control. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was introduced in Australia in 2013, and funded through a combination of federal and state government contributions, as well as an increased Medicare levy on all taxpayers. The scheme provides individualised support services for people with disabilities.
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In contrast to Australia’s unified national approach to disability support, the US system relies on a patchwork of programs, with variation in service levels and availability depending on state regulations and individual eligibility.
Gender equality
On Saturday, March 28, 2015, Victorian state Labor premier Dan Andrews guaranteed that women would make up at least 50% of all future appointments to paid government board and court positions. ‘It’s not a target,’ he said. ‘It’s not an aspiration. It’s an assurance.’ The premier said he was sick of walking into meetings and seeing a room full of ‘blokes’ at the table. ‘Under this government, equality is not negotiable.’
Ministers were held to be accountable for bringing board appointments for cabinet approval. If proposed appointments did not feature at least 50% women, they would be rejected. The message was strong and clear.
Thanks to a combination of gender quotas and the Australian version of EMILYs List, 52% of Australian Labor Party (ALP) members of the federal parliament are women (54 of 103 members). In the US, women make up about 41% of the 118th congressional Democrats, much more than Republications, who have just 16% women.
Investment in renewable energy — one area where Australia is following America’s lead in policy
Australia is the global number one in solar photovoltaic panel penetration per capita, with millions of households and businesses harnessing solar energy to power their daily lives. Following the example of the US Inflation Reduction Act, the Albanese government has launched the Future Made in Australia initiative. This program aims to drive local manufacturing and innovation in clean energy, including a commitment of $22 billion in tax incentives to support the production of green hydrogen and critical minerals processing. This investment, though modest in comparison, is a direct analogue of the US IR Act funding.
These resources are crucial for the global transition to renewable energy technologies, such as batteries and electric vehicles. By focusing on those technologies in priority industry sectors, Australia is building on its solar success but also positioning itself as a leader in the global clean energy supply chain, very much in emulation of the US.
If America had Australia’s level of voter participation, an additional 59 million US citizens would have their votes counted in the upcoming presidential election. If the US achieved the ALP’s level of female representation in politics, an additional 100 women would be in Congress. If the US had Australia’s disability insurance coverage, around an additional 4 million Americans would worry less about the financial costs of living with a disability. And if the US had Australia’s level of gun violence, approximately 40,000 fewer Americans would die each year from that cause.
For America, emulating Australian policy settings is not just important, it’s urgent.
Scott Hamilton and Stuart Kells wrote with John Brumby ‘A Better Australia: Politics, public policy and how to achieve lasting reform’.
This article was first published in The Mandarin on 5 November 2024.