Assessment Process
How we assess the policies of candidates and parties
We’re committed to helping Aussies understand what they’re actually voting for. And that means fairly and transparently assessing what candidates and parties are offering voters this election.
If you haven’t already, we’d recommend reading through our methodology first to understand how Build a Ballot determines the ‘match level’ between a user and candidates / parties.
Example: What should the federal government do to cut climate pollution?
Example: Stop fossil fuel project approvals and expansions
Example: Strengthen national environment laws to stop fossil fuel project approvals and expansions
Example:
No new coal or gas projects and fossil fuel project expansions (2)
Not opposed to extensions or to new coal and gas project (1)
For users: the rating allocated based on selection / non-selection of each policy option (unchecked = 1, checked = 2)
Perfect match (eg. user 2, candidate 2 OR user 1, candidate 1) = 1 point
No match (eg. user 1, candidate 2) = 0 points
1 Development
In developing the criteria used to assess candidates and parties’ agreement rating with policy statements, we have partnered with academics, experts and independent organisations to ensure we’ve…
- Captured the key policies of candidates and parties for each area covered by the questionnaire
- Prioritised policies that have been independently assessed to effectively solve the problem they’re intended to address
2 Initial assessment
Based on publicly available information, we have provided initial assessments for all parties and candidates that hold a seat in the current Australian Parliament. Where possible, we have also assessed other electorally significant candidates and parties.
- To assign an agreement score of 1.5 or 2, we require a public statement of commitment to a policy (eg. a press release, official website content)
- We have analysed prospective policy commitments, as well as existing party policies or positions that remain current.
- Where candidates or parties are currently (or have previously been) represented in the parliament, we will take past voting records into account when assessing agreement levels.
Where we do not have enough information on a specific policy, that candidate / party is assessed as ‘N/A’ and no match points are available for that policy.
All parties and independent candidates included in our initial assessments will be contacted at least 2 times and provided with opportunities to provide additional information or feedback on their assessment.
3 Contacting all parties
In additional to manual assessments, we are contacting all parties and candidates running at the 2025 Federal election where we can find contact details. All parties and candidates have been invited to respond to a questionnaire outlining their position on the policies included in the tool.
All candidates and parties have been asked to provide links to public statements of commitment for all policies. Once we receive a response, we internally assess all information provided to finalise agreement scores. Any differences between our assessment and the candidate / party’s self reported ‘agreement level’ will be communicated to the candidate / party with opportunity given to respond.
If we do not hear from a candidate / party and they are not captured by our initial assessment, they will not receive a match level within the tool. Users can still choose to preference them wherever the user decides.
Got a question? Send us an email to hello@buildaballot.org.au
If you’re a party or candidate and want to review or complete your assessment, please contact tool@buildaballot.org.au