Australia's Discourse Explorer

Welcome to Australia's Discourse Explorer, an online resource to understand policy and media narratives around cycles of opportunity and disadvantage in Australia through time. We analysed opinion articles published from 2006 to 2022 in Australian newspapers (the ‘public discourse’) and every speech in the Australian Parliament (the ‘parliamentary discourse’). We found that there is a disconnect between how equity, opportunity, and disadvantage are discussed in the media and parliament.

Discover how elections, budget cycles, and moments of consequences shape discourses, and how public and parliamentary discourses interact with, respond to and divert from one another. Explore historical discourses with “Discourse of the Past”. Discover what issues are being discussed in Australia right now and which ones are obscured with “Discourse of the Present” and what this reveals about how we understand and discuss opportunities and disadvantages.

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Discourse of the Past

If you are new to the Discourse Explorer, start here to get an overview of how the topic of equity, opportunity and disadvantage have been covered in the news and in parliament for the last 18 years.

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Discourse of the Present

Stay up to date by exploring the current Discourse Explorer. Discover which issues are being discussed in the media right now, and which ones are left out and obscured.

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Who are we?

Discover more about this project led by the SoDa Labs, the Monash University Faculty of Information Technology, BehaviourWorks Australia, and the Monash Data Futures Institute.

This resource was funded by The Paul Ramsay Foundation. PRF supports and invests in partnerships to break the cycles of disadvantage, so people can realise their potential.