Annabel Crabb’s new documentary series Civic Duty takes a deep dive into the quirks and contradictions of Australia’s democratic system.
Annabel Crabb is back with a new three-part documentary series digging into the quirks, oddities and upheavals of Australia’s democratic system. Civic Duty will air from Monday 10 November at 8:30pm on ABC TV, with all episodes available to stream on ABC iview.
The series is framed around the 2025 Federal Election and takes viewers inside the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as it manages the enormous task of running a national vote. The exercise, worth half a billion dollars, involves more than 18 million voters and 100,000 election workers.
Crabb describes Australia’s electoral set-up as “exotic, improbable… a baffling combination of attributes”, pointing to the way the nation insists on pencils and paper ballots while still managing one of the world’s most consistent voting systems.
“We engineer, every three years, the most extraordinary logistical operation that allows every Australian voter to cast their vote from pretty much anywhere in the world.
It’s incredibly consistent, ambitious, and reliable. And yet, we cling to the analogue,”
said Annabel Crabb.
Across three episodes, Crabb examines how the country’s voting system was built, how it operates now, and what challenges lie ahead. She explores how preferential voting, compulsory voting, and the secret ballot – all Australian innovations – have shaped political life. She also meets Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope, who explains the intricacies of ballot distribution, bingo rollers and the quarter of a million pencils deployed each election.
The series also steps outside Australia. Crabb travels to the White House to observe how Donald Trump reshaped media relations, to the U.S. border city of Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia to witness electoral rules made by politicians, and to Denmark, where no party holds a majority and consensus is the norm.
Episode one, Fairness, looks at the origins of preferential voting and the invention of the independent electoral authority. Episode two, Disruption, charts the decline of traditional media and rise of influencers such as Abbie Chatfield in the political conversation. Episode three, People Power, explores how independents and minor parties are redrawing the balance of power, with Denmark used as a case study in consensus politics.
Crabb places the series in the context of her long-running interest in parliamentary life, following earlier works The House (2017) and Ms Represented (2021).
“Over a career in journalism edging dangerously close to the 30-year mark, I’ve never stopped being fascinated by how we govern ourselves. The business of democracy is an extraordinary thing to witness. It’s messy. Human. Fallible. Frustrating,”
said Annabel Crabb.
The program features contributions from politicians, journalists, historians and campaigners including Barnaby Joyce, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Penny Wong, Sarah Hanson-Young, Zali Steggall, Waleed Aly, and George Megalogenis, alongside voices from the AEC and international experts.
God so boring, I’d rather watch paint dry and Abby Chatterhead why? like why?