Pandanus Petter

I am postdoctoral research fellow working to understand political representation and public policy in Australia and abroad. My current work focuses on what drives opinion polls in Australian federal politics, and how politicians respond to them. I am also working to understand the historical and contemporary political uses of the Australian/New Zealand phrase 'Fair Go' in an era of growing inequality. I am deeply interested in the ways politicians try to connect everyday people to the political process through the work they do in their electorates and parliament. I use a variety of methods and approaches such as digitally assisted archival text analysis, surveys, interviews and participant observation. With my work I hope to shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of our democratic system as it currently functions and point to the ways positive change can be brought about. This is especially vital in a time when the challenges we all face are too important for us to fall back on corrosive and disempowering cynicism.