James just took over this subject and is a great lecturer! Very engaging and is clearly passionate about the subject. You don't need a background knowledge on aus political history but it definitely helps as a lot of names and references get thrown around. The essays are all research-based which I personally found easier, and they give you a lot of opportunity to write about things you're interested in.

The subject has had a revamp and is really great

This subject gets an unfairly bad wrap - the participation exercise, whilst lengthy, makes for entertaining tutorial discussions and the lecturer has tweaked it since some of these more negative reviews were written. Overall the subject provides a clear understanding of the way Australian politics runs and the historical reasons for its unique features. Guest lecturers offer a topical element and insight into some of the career pathways for political majors. Would highly reccomend to those with some interest in politics.

Alright but tends to run out of steam halfway through the Semester, attempting to remain neutral and seeming to avoid political history

This was my favorite subject by far. The lecturer was engaging and passionate. On the first day he told us his goal was for us not to know his political persuasion by the end. He did a very good job of this. It's fantastic to see a politics subject taught without overt bias and partisanship. My tutor was very clear and useful, and taught us skills which were applicable to all of our university work. We had access to several high profile guest lecturers (including 2 MPs, and a senior adviser). My only criticism is that there was a decision-making exercise which took up a lot of time. It was designed to engage us in a political process, but it seemed to stall. It would have been good to spend more time in tutes discussing the content of lectures and readings. Regardless, this is still a very good subject and I highly recommend it.

I absolutely despised this subject. The lecturer was unengaged and seemed bored all semester. My tutor was incompetent and unable to facilitate discussion within the group. To top it all off the entire semester was wasted with the decision-making exercise which was pointless and dragged on extensively. Would not recommend this subject to anyone who doesn't already have a deep passion for politics in Australia.