Australians rarely pause to appreciate the miracle behind the ballot box. How often do we stop and marvel at what we've built? How many of us know that the familiar, uncontroversial features of our electoral system are – in global terms – highly unusual? And how many of us have heard the rollicking backstories of the democratic dreamers and reformed felons behind it?

Across three episodes Annabel Crabb's Civic Duty unearths the individuals and stories that combine to make Australian democracy globally unique, like our invention of the secret ballot, our adoption of preferential and compulsory voting, and our peculiar attachment to sausages.

Annabel travels both here and abroad to investigate how the politics of our parliament have changed thanks to political leaders, the media landscape – but most of all - the power of the Australian people.