Inside Story - Is compulsory voting a bulwark against extremists?

Inside Story has quoted findings from Fox & Hedgehog’s recent research into compulsory versus voluntary voting in Australia, and whether Australians believe the political system is “fundamentally broken.”

The article, “Is compulsory voting a bulwark against extremists?” by Emeritus Professor Murray Goot, explores the conventional wisdom about compulsory voting and its role in moderating politics. In the piece, the author references our poll conducted 5–6 January 2026, which asked respondents not only how they might behave under a voluntary voting system but also their views on the state of the political system.

The article referenced a few key points from Fox & Hedgehog’s data, including:

Despite perceptions that compulsory voting makes Australian politics converge towards the centre, there is limited evidence that changing from a compulsory to voluntary voting system would have a material impact the vote shares of the major parties, nor of One Nation or the Greens. Only independent, other minor party voters, and undecided voters are more likely to stay home under voluntary voting.

The question of whether “the Australian political system is fundamentally broken” on the other hand revealed significant variation across voters of different parties, including notably higher levels of agreement among those intending to vote for One Nation.

This suggests that while One Nation voters in particular are unhappy with the Australian political system, they would still participate in the voting process even if it were made voluntary.

You can read the full Inside Story article here:

https://insidestory.org.au/is-compulsory-voting-a-bulwark-against-extremists/

And the full Fox & Hedgehog report, including comprehensive findings from the 5–6 January 2026 poll, is available here: https://www.foxhedgehog.com.au/news-den/the-daily-telegraph-national-voter-sentiment-survey