I ran a poll recently asking, “If a federal election was held today in Australia,
who would you vote for?”. 11% of respondents voted Labor, the major centre-left party which
has been in Opposition in the federal parliament since the 2013 election, currently led by Anthony
Albanese (or Albo as people like to call him). 5% for the Liberal/National Coalition,
an alliance of centre-right political parties, the current sitting government
led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison (or ScoMo for short). 5% voted for the Australian Greens,
the left-wing environmental and social justice party led by Adam Bandt, who are currently the
third largest political party by vote. The majority of you, 59%, said you would vote
for a minor party or an independent. These include the right-wing Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party,
the right-wing United Australia Party led by Craig Kelly, the right-wing Katter's Australian Party,
founded by Bob Katter, but currently led by his son Robbie Katter, the centrist Centre Alliance
party, although Rebekha Sharkie is an MP, they do not currently have a federal leader, the big tent
or catch-all party, The Jacqui Lambie Network, and the libertarian-focused Liberal Democrats.
Of course, there are a whole bunch more minor parties, but I don’t have time to list them all.
And finally, 20% of respondents said that they would not vote, or vote informally. In Australia,
we can get fined for not voting, but that doesn’t stop anybody from just rocking up
to a polling booth, getting their name signed off, and then just casting an invalid vote.
Now, I’m not telling anybody how to vote. If we believe in freedom, which we should all do,
then we should be allowed to vote however we want to. Some commenters
have said that not voting is a waste of a vote, and I agree to an extent, however,
I also understand that people are so dismayed with this voting system that they may as well not vote.
They feel that their one vote is not going to change anything. But then on the flip side, the
only way we’ll send a message to the big parties is by a lot of us voting for the smaller parties.
Here’s an article I read not too long ago. I don’t really agree with it, but it does make a couple
of key points. “Independents don’t deserve a free pass into Parliament” by Luke Nayna,
Former deputy campaign director for NSW Liberals. “At the last federal election in 2019, one in
four Australians cast a first-preference vote for a minor party or independent.
Over the past decade, this number has gradually climbed as voters slowly erode the two-party
system that has governed Australia in the post-war era. There is real likelihood that Australia will
once again find itself with a hung parliament and minority government. Unlike in 2010, where
the election outcome and hung parliament came as a surprise, many political commentators have
this time recognised the potential influence that independent MPs might hold after the election”.
Basically, there is a trend in Australia for more and more of us to stop voting just for the two
big parties, and start voting for smaller more independent parties. Now I’m not saying that the
author want us to do that, quite the opposite, he wants us to vote for the Liberal party. But
in the end, don’t feel dismayed, vote for who you want to. Lots of others are doing the same.
Currently, Australia’s lower house The House of Representatives currently consists of 151 members.
To form a majority government, 76 seats are needed. That means the current LNP coalition
government (shown in blue and dark green) needs to keep everyone of their seats if they hope to form
a majority government. Labor (shown in red) would need a net gain of eight seats for a majority
government. There’s a real chance of the LNP losing some seats, Labor not gaining enough, and
then a hung parliament is the result. For me, that would be the best result. I would enjoy watching
the major parties squirm to form a minority government with the cross bench. Here’s an example
House of Representatives ballot paper. Voters must number every box in order of their preference.
40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate, will be up for election this year.
The Senate is vested with significant powers, including the capacity to reject all bills.
As a result of proportional representation, the chamber has a multitude of parties vying
for power. The governing party or coalition has not held a majority in the Senate since 2005-2007
(and before that since 1981) and usually needs to negotiate with other parties and independents
to pass legislation. As you can see here, the Senate requires a monster of a ballot paper,
with voters either needing to vote for at least six parties above the thick black line,
by writing the numbers 1 to 6 in the party boxes, or they must vote for at least twelve
candidates below the thick black line. It’s a bit complicated, but that’s politics in Australia.
As I said, I don’t care who you vote for, but don’t feel obliged to vote any particular way.
Vote for who you think would make good decisions on Australians’ behalf. And I guess for some
of you, that means you’ll be casting an informal vote – which is also your right.
For me, I’ll be voting for anybody who is against all of these draconian medical mandates of late.
How about yourself? Will you be voting for any of these people shown on screen?
Australians all let us rejoice, for we are one and free!
For we are one and free! For we are one and free!