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The article focuses on candidate preselection in Australian political elections, also known as parliamentary gatekeeping. Topics include how elected politicians shape legislation in Australia, the impact of long-standing dominance by political parties in the Australian government, and calls for primaries for Australian politicians to lessen the impact of party preselections and oligarchical control.

This article briefly outlines the Howard Government's changes to the Integrity Act by considering the inclusiveness of the electoral roll; the impact of early roll closure and why it wasn't as early as expected; whether unusually low admission rates of provisional votes cost Labor seats and affected the Senate result; how important individual incumbency was, buttressed as it was by expanded allowances for sitting members; why little can yet be said about the new funding and disclosure regime; and why this regime needs to be reformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers his views regarding laws that require disclosure of political expenditures in Australia. He states that the amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1918 received little public attention and require organizations to collect resources and report information about the Australian democracy. He also adds that the rules set by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) regarding political spending discourage political debates and participation.