From donkey vote to hustings, incumbency and writs, there are several words that get used more often every time there’s an upcoming federal election, but what do they mean and where do they come from?
While many people don't give these phrases a second thought, political lingo can sound like another foreign language for many others.
Algene Cruz is an electrical engineer based in Brisbane, he migrated to Australia from the Philippines three years ago and still struggles with political jargon.
"Literally, almost all [slang words] I can’t really understand. It's a bit funny because whenever I'm speaking to any Australians, and they're using slang, it sometimes gives me some time to understand what they're really saying," he said.
"It will be awesome if I could just really get used to it, so I can pretty much understand whatever they are saying."
So let’s break down some of the more commonly used words in the lead-up to the federal election:
Above the line
The term "above the line" refers to voting on the Senate ballot paper. Voting above the line means you have to number at least six boxes (from one to six) on the ballot for the parties or groups of your choice.
Your preferences will first be distributed to the candidates in the party or group of your first choice, then to candidates in the party or group of your second choice, and so on.
An upper house (or Senate) example ballot that shows how to vote above the line. Source: SBS News / Australian Electoral Commission
To vote below the line on the Senate ballot paper means you have to number at least 12 boxes (from one to 12) for individual candidates, so you know exactly who you’re voting for.
Democracy sausage
A sausage sizzle refers to an event where only barbecued sausages are served in a sandwich. Sausage sizzles are usually held on election day where voters can buy at polling booths on election day around the country.
La Trobe University's Judith Brett said the term "democracy sausage" arose around 2012 after it was introduced online.
"A group of young people on social media used the term democracy sausage to talk about where it was possible to buy a sausage for breakfast when you were having a vote and the term took off," Professor Brett said.
Donkey vote
Contrary to the popular belief that it’s an informal throwaway vote, a donkey vote is actually still a formal way of voting.
Political commentator and Griffith University Associate Professor Paul Williams said: "A donkey vote is a valid vote. But we think of donkeys as dumb creatures. So the idea is that someone is going into a polling station, going into the booth, and thinking, I don't know what's going on in politics, I have no interest, I'll just do the simplest and fastest thing to get out of here."
The fastest and simplest thing usually means people start with one on the top and they just number down the page in numerical order, until they get to the bottom without really thinking about what they’re doing or who they’re voting for.
There's also reverse donkey voting where voters start with the number "10" at the top of their ballot and work backwards numbering down to "1".
Hung parliament
Based on the same concept as a hung jury but in parliament, it means no party has an overall majority of seats, so no single party is able to form a government that is capable of controlling a majority of parliament.
Instead, it has to rely on support from other parties and independent candidates.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to call the election on Sunday. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
You might have heard Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are "on the hustings".
The word hustings is an English term, which is used in Australia as the country took on British Westminster politics. To be "on the hustings" is to be on the election campaign trail.
Incumbent
Someone who’s in the job and is typically used for someone who holds office. For example, Scott Morrison is the incumbent prime minister as he's currently in the job.
Dr Williams said there's an idea that incumbency, the period when the incumbent is in power, is considered valuable in Australia as there are rarely changes of government in Australia.
"Certainly during COVID, incumbency was valuable. We saw state and territory governments easily win reelection because Australians were very worried about the pandemic, and they wanted to stick to the government that they knew as they were managing COVID If you want to change courses in times of crisis.
"That veil of panic, and that veil of emergency appears to have lifted in Australian politics. People aren't quite as concerned about the pandemic, now they're more concerned about economic recovery and cost of living, and so I think voters are looking for change ... and the incumbency advantage seems to be over."
‘I don’t hold a hose’
Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) director Amanda Laugesen says one expression the ANDC has been monitoring is "I don’t hold a hose", which goes back to 2019 when Prime Minister Scott Morrison was on holiday in Hawaii during Australia’s bushfire season.
"He came back to use the expression 'I don't hold a hose' to say well, he's not actually the one who's out there dealing with the bushfires directly," she said.
"But it was then sort of turned around to be used against him to say he was in both the bushfire context, but also in later context, not taking direct responsibility for something that he was pushing responsibility onto other people or other factors.
"We've seen that turn up quite a bit through the issue of COVID vaccination rollout. 'I don't hold a syringe.' We've seen it more recently with the floods with 'I don't hold a bucket'."
Manchurian candidate
A phrase that's been heard in Parliament recently, used by both major parties but initially by the Coalition to refer to Labor being more sympathetic to China than the current government thinks Australia should be, according to Dr Laugesen.
"It's quite a potent slur, really, because it really does imply I think an element of treason which I think you know, in its strongest use. So, I think it can be it can be quite a powerful term," the ANDC director said.
A controversial federal election campaign truck has linked the Labor Party to being too close to China. Credit: @JonesHowdareyou via Twitter
It’s defined in the Macquarie Dictionary as "to supply an inappropriate share of government money, in return for political support".
Griffith University’s Dr Williams says the phrase pork barrelling comes from the United States, where barrels of pork were staple food items for the relatively wealthy in the 19th century.
It adopted a political meaning during the American civil war when politicians offered money to reconstruct communities. To offer pork barrels was to offer to build the "American Dream", a better phrase for bribe and encouragement, which Australia adopted into our own version.
Pork barrelling is the practice where political parties and politicians misspend public funds for their own political benefit, usually to sway voters by offering promises during an election campaign.
Rort
A uniquely Australian saying, which as a verb, means to swindle or dupe, according to the Macquarie Dictionary.
The slang term "rort" was introduced in the 1910s and formed from the longer word "rorter".
Though originally it did not possess a political context, it adopted a political meaning and is now often used in reference to election rigging, embezzlement and other dodgy practices committed by politicians.
Writs
The issue of writs is one of the first steps of the election process. Writs, in a political context, are the documents issued by the Governor-General, who has the authority to hold an election in Australia.
A writ for an election will outline the essential steps of the election period and identify the key dates for those steps, in line with the timing framework provided for in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Act), as stated by the Australian Electoral Commission.
Eight writs are issued for a general election, one for each of the six states and the two territories. The issue of writs is notified in the Commonwealth Gazette - an official publication for the purpose of notifying the actions and decisions of the government.
