2025/04/03 by Ana Stevenson · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Australian History and Society #Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism #Political and Economic history of UK and US
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/14490854.2025.2482812
openalex publication_date 2025/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
In the decade before Kate Jenkins’ landmark Set the Standard report into parliamentary workplaces, small screen political humour in Australia challenged the sustainability of industriousness in government work. Historians have paid little attention to the Rudd-Gillard era’s popular culture. This article will historicise the process whereby political humour anticipated how Set the Standard and feminist political scientists would, by the 2020s, conceptually unite longstanding concerns about expectations that parliamentary staff work excessive hours with exposés about a sexualised work culture that is particularly unsafe for women. Beginning with an overview of scholarly and media perspectives towards parliamentary workplaces, this article will focus on two influential television series: firstly, the skit comedy series Double Take (Seven Network, 2009), featuring musical sketches about Australia’s parliamentary work cultures at the federal level; and secondly, the comedy series At Home with Julia (Australian Broadcasting Commission, 2011), featuring the same actors portraying the Australian Labor Party prime ministers.