About us

Who are we?

smartvote Australia is a project of the Australian National University. The platform is an adapted version of smartvote, a so-called VAA (Voting Advice Application) that was first developed in Switzerland in 2003 and continues to be operated by the politically neutral, non-profit organisation Politools.

The explanatory texts for the questions ("more information") are authored by the Australian National University. The explanatory texts for answers ("comments") are authored by the candidates or by their party on behalf of their candidates. All smartvote Australia content is authorised by Patrick Dumont.


Australian National University

  • Professor Patrick Dumont
  • Professor Ian McAllister
  • Dr Jill Sheppard
  • Professor Mark Kenny
  • Professor John Warhurst
  • Dr Marija Taflaga
  • Dr Feodor Snagovsky (now University of Alberta)
  • Bermond ScogginsPhD Student
  • Mark FletcherPhD Student
  • Alex LemckeResearch Assistant
  • Liliana Oyarzun SilvaCommunications Officer

  • With the additional help and support of
  • Professor Paul Pickering
  • Matt Bowes
  • Emily Downie

The School of Politics and International Relations is the leading department in Australia according to the Excellence in Research assessments since 2010, and ranks internationally among the 10 world best (QS ranking). Amongst other path-breaking work in political science and international relations, it fields the Australian Election Study for every federal election since 1987.

The Australian Studies Institute originates from the Australian National University’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan and its engagement program ‘Australia and the World’. Its mission is to promote the study of Australia and to help bring an Australian perspective to comparative, transnational and international projects.

The School of Politics and International Relations and the Australian Studies Institute are located at the Australian National University (ANU), a world-leading university in Australia’s capital, Canberra.


smartvote/Politools

  • Robin Bartlett RissiProject Manager
  • Jan FivazFounder
  • Daniel SchwarzFounder
  • Albert WaaijenbergWeb Design

smartvote is a Swiss Voting Advice Application (VAA) developed and run by the politically neutral, non-profit organization Politools. Politools is an interdisciplinary scientific network located in Bern, Switzerland, which operates internet-based projects to promote civic education, political transparency as well as political analysis. Since 2003, smartvote has informed voters in over 250 elections throughout Switzerland and around the world.


Zeilenwerk is an information technology company based in Bern, Switzerland, which focuses on the conception, architecture and development of sophisticated custom-made software and web applications. As the main IT partner of Politools, Zeilenwerk (formerly known as soom-it) has supported the development of the smartvote web platform since 2014.