A lot of the language used by journalists and politicians in news stories about Australian politics might sound like technical gibberish to the average person.
A quick read of this could help in your interpretation of election news, commentary and results.
Some of the most distinctly Australian political terms include the ‘pub test’, used to describe whether something will be believed by everyday Australians, or ‘dog-whistle politics’, which describes messages that mean one thing to most of the population but something else to a smaller subgroup.
British and US politics has also had a big impact on Australian political language, due to our political system being based on a hybrid of British parliamentary system, and United States congressional system, as well as the large cultural influence both nation's have had on Australia.
The British political terms that have made it into our political vocabulary include the concept of the ‘nanny state’, which describes a government or policy that is seen to interfere with peoples’ personal choices, and ‘hustings’, which is taken to mean any political event or public interaction of a politician during an election campaign. While from the United States, Australian's have picked up phrases like pork-barrelling, which describes sending money or resources to electorates in a bid to secure their vote.
