How on Earth is an American President Elected?

The Electoral College is a complete mystery to most Australians with our Westminister style of parliamentary democracy. And yet it is the very mechanism by which the President of the United States is elected. Stephen Marantelli lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is, by profession, a barrister. He has a passion for American history, in particular, the history of the presidency. The nature and trend of the American-Australian alliance is better understood in the light of that history. A successful author, Stephen's imaginative and thought provoking book recounts an imaginary meeting in London between Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister, and George Washington, the First President of the Unioted States.

In the course of Stephen's presentation, we will get an insight into what is going on in the United States at the moment in the lead up to the Presidential Elections in November, and perhaps a little insight also into the strengths and tensions in the long established Australia-United States relationship.