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Yesterday I had a piece published on The Drum about the Constitution and a hung Parliament:

From around 10pm on Saturday night, political wonks and tragics, as well campaign staffers and journalists alike, dusted off their copy of the Constitution (or simply downloaded the iPhone app - yes there really is an app for that) to see what, if any guidance, it gave about would happen in the event of a hung Parliament.

All of a sudden Twitter became rife with self-taught constitutional law experts, proclaiming that the Queen will decide who forms Australia's next Government (she won't) and that Wyatt Roy isn't qualified to be a Member of Parliament (he is).

What did become apparent to everyone who desperately started flicking through the Constitution is that it doesn't explicitly set out what happens in the event of a hung Parliament. Indeed, some observed that the Constitution doesn't even mention the existence of the Prime Minister.

While both of these facts may seem confusing or even troubling to many, those more familiar with the peculiarities of our constitutional system know that there are unwritten conventions that underpin the day-to-day operation of the Constitution.

It is those constitutional conventions that will govern what happens next, as both Labor and the Coalition begin the process of trying to form the next Government of Australia.

Read the rest here.