Malcolm Hugh Mackerras AO (born 26 August 1939) is an Australian psephologist and commentator and lecturer on Australian and American politics. Education and works Malcolm Mackerras was born at Turramurra in Sydney in August 1939. He is a brother of Sir Charles Mackerras, a well-known conductor, and twin brother of Professor Colin Mackerras, a leading China specialist. Another brother, Neil Mackerras, was active in the Democratic Labor Party in its early years. Yet another, Alastair Mackerras, was headmaster (principal) of Sydney Grammar School from 1969 to 1989. After attending St Aloysius' College, Milson's Point (1947–1951) and Sydney Grammar School (1952-1956) Malcolm was employed by BHP from 1957–1960, during which time he studied at night for the degree of Bachelor of Economics at the University of Sydney (awarded 1962). Mackerras was a member of the ACT Young Liberals in the late 1960s. His second employer was the Federal Secretariat of the Liberal Party of Australia for which he was a research officer (1960–1967). The organisation moved him to Canberra where he has lived continuously since 1965. He spent several years as a ministerial assistant and three years as an economist with the Chamber of Manufactures (1968–1970), "trying to present the case for protection for Australian manufacturing industry". In 1974 Mackerras was employed in the Department of Government at Royal Military College, Duntroon by the University of New South Wales. He went on to become an Associate Professor in Political Science, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra in 1999. Mackerras retired from the University of New South Wales in 2004. Mackerras is now an Honorary Fellow at Australian Catholic University, Canberra Campus. He is especially interested in elections and electoral systems. His several books and many journal articles are largely in those areas. He has written many articles for The Australian and The Canberra Times on these subjects. He likes whenever possible to visit countries during their elections. He visited South Africa in 1999 as an observer for that country's second democratic election (May–June 1999). He likes, in particular, to be in the United States for a presidential election as it greatly improves his American teaching. During his stay in the US in November–December 2000, there was a "snap" election in Canada, which he visited, enabling him to improve his knowledge of Canadian politics. Mackerras's first published study of Australian politics was The Australian