DATA EXPLORATION
What Parliament Talks About
125 years of parliamentary debate, classified into topics. See what dominates the conversation -- and what gets ignored.
Total speeches analysed
770K+
From 1901 to present
Most discussed topic
Technology
397,030 speeches
Fastest growing (2019-2021)
Health
+51% during COVID years
Topic Treemap
Each rectangle sized by total speech count. Click a topic to investigate further.
Topic Trends Over Time
How parliamentary attention shifts across decades. Toggle topics on/off to explore.
Climate peaked in 2011-12
The carbon tax debate drove 5,169 climate speeches in 2011 alone -- more than triple the 2007 figure.
Housing dominates 2020s
Housing consistently ranks in the top 3 topics, with 4,000-5,000+ speeches per year through the affordability crisis.
Health surged in 2020-21
COVID-19 pushed health speeches from 2,781 in 2019 to 4,197 in 2021 -- a 51% increase.
What Changed?
Compare two years side by side. See how the parliamentary conversation shifted.
2005
2021
Party Focus
What share of each party's speeches go to each topic? This reveals actual priorities -- not campaign slogans.
Labor leads on health and education
Labor dedicates a higher share of speeches to health (6.9%) and education (6.4%) than any other major party.
Liberals lead on taxation and defence
The Liberal Party devotes more attention to taxation (6.5%) and defence (2.5%) than Labor or the Greens.
Greens punch above on environment
The Greens dedicate 5.0% of speeches to environment -- nearly double the share of the major parties (~4%).
Nationals focus on infrastructure
The Nationals give infrastructure 5.8% of their attention -- the highest of any party, reflecting rural priorities.
Explore individual topics
Dive deeper into specific issues with full investigations, donation tracking, and voting records.