How to Vote in the Senate

Though I 've only done very limited due diligence on our senate candidates, I have been able to find a filtering method to work out my rough order of preferences for senate candidates (60+ in Vic).

Method is as follows:

1. Have a look at policies, websites and replies to emails

2. Visit AEC site
http://www.aec.gov.au/election2004/candidates/senate/vic.htm (for Victoria, similar sections for other states)

3. Get A4 page and write down parties, groups and names (for independents)

4. Classify candidates according to the following:

N. Nutters and Extremists
R. Special-interest rent seekers who want your wallet for their pet peeves
H. Harmless
D. Dills
U. Unknown
M. Major parties

(not all candidates need have a letter beside them, but most will)

5. Write these beside each candidates name

6. Vote for your preferred party or group (preferably below the line).

7. Distribute your preference in the following order:

Harmless
Unknown
Rent Seekers
Dills
Nutters and Extremists

'VOTE BELOW THE LINE AND NUMBER EVERY BOX!'

Peter

---- Don't read further if outside Vic ----

PS (Vic voters only): I emailed most candidates with email addresses published on the AEC website.

The following were my replies

----------
* Ex-Service, Service and Veterans Party

Thank you for your enquiry. To begin with the party at this election does
not have policies but it does have issues that it is concerned about. It is
standing for the senate, has no wish or hope of forming government at the
coming elections. The senate is the house of review where the policies that
are enacted in the lower house, the House of Representatives are reviewed.

Some of the issues we are concerned about are on the attached leaflet. There
is much more on our web page. <http://www.esvp.asn.au>

---------
* Greens

Try <http://www.greens.org.au/>

-------
* Family First Party

Thanks for taking the time to email. We appreciate any opportunity to allow
people to make an informed choice when they vote on the 9th October. Our
web site is www.familyfirst.org.au <http://www.familyfirst.org.au> and you
will find our policies, values,
and recent media releases along with information on all our candidates
across Australia. Perhaps after viewing the web site, if you have any
further queries, we would be happy to answer them either by phone or email.
--------
And a couple more:

--------
* Barry Walters (Ind)

My policies can be viewed at <http://www.webcauldron.com/senate>

May I also recommend another site <http://www.comparepolicies.com.au/> where
you can view the policies of many candidates in one place
-------
* Glen Floyd (Ind)

[summary] Campaigning on health effects of products big companies (James
Hardie, tobacco companies), anti-war and anti-Howard.

www.ioos.com.au <http://www.ioos.com.au>
<http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/rotunda/5245/>

-------

And another (can we call this one 'dial a policy'?!)

---------
* John Tibble (Ind)

Thank you for your email.

I am happy to discuss any issue with you if you care to call me on my
mobile.

0419 - XXX - XXX (deleted)

Media releases are being issued this week and next.

JOHN A TIBBLE

-------
Today's responses:

-----------
* Judi-ann Leggetts. (Ind)

i can quite understand your confusion as to who to vote for, especially when
Policies are very similar which do not change things much in any way, but
rather allow them to continue on as they always have done so.

i am standing as an 'Independant' in the SENATE because of this reason. i
am Founder of an Organisation that deals with those who are in receipt of
the DSPpension and injuried workers who live in deep poverty and the lack of
real services that should be given to the terminally ill for them to
maintain a decent life-style only proves to me over the 35 years i have been
involved in this ' Welfare ' has been the worst system of caring for people
who need these services so they can survive and live decently.

i also believe to re-introduce ' Apprenticeship ' for the young is the way
to go for them to get REAL jobs, and not slave labour.
[ i was gladdened to hear Mr.Howard mention he would add 'Apprenticeships'
to his platform, although it is very possible his idea and mine would
differ, but that is politics isn't ?

i do believe in [ free ] life-saving medications for those who are unable
to afford to pay for them. Letters from GP's as proof of this action to
take place would be necessary i am sure all would agree with me.

Over the last 30 years, i have learnt much in the way of 'Welfare' around
the world,,,What works and what does not work. i do believe 10 years ago we
here in Australia did have a reasonably good Welfare system but has
deteriorated since then to what it is now [ in a mess ].

i do not believe that anyone should be Hungry - not appropriately clothed -
or Housed, these are just simple Human Rights, of which Australia has
ratified with the UN but none of us know what Australia actually signed up
as,

With our world wide problems getting worse, i would like to see [ without
sounding like being up there with the fairies ] a round table conference in
real terms of how we can solve many of these problems and perhaps make the
greedy less greedy.

i also would like to see more Australian based business's started up again
for Australians to get more jobs and be creative. It is nice to have items
from other Countries, but i think Australia should be included in this as
well in its own right.

Hospitals i believe should all be extended with many more beds available to
cater for the very ill.
i also believe that Nursing Homes for the younger pensioners should be built
as the Seniors have diferent needs [ this is a complex issue, but it must be
dealt with and quickly too.

i, personally have learnt that those who perform action rather than a lot of
words is the way to go. HOWEVER saying this, i would still request of
people that they vote number [1] for me in the SENATE ' Independant ' and
number the rest of the page.

Your confidentiality is assured re your email address and name. Please feel
free to write to me again if you wish, and i will respond.
--------------
* Sheila Newman (Republican Party of Australia)

Our netsite is www.republicans.org.au <http://www.republicans.org.au>
I wrote the Energy Policy (Preparing for Oil Depletion). Tell me what you
think if you have time.
My interest in the Republic is secondary to my interest in changing our
land-use planning system, but such changes would require changes to the
constitution.

I am a land-use planning, environment, population, energy sociologist and am
running second to Peter Consandine, who is out doing street stalls at the
moment. I am working with another member who makes films with me, trying to
do publicity mainly on the net and e-lists.

A major platform is multi-party democracy - but the Greens have scuttled
this by renegging at the last moment on a reciprocal agreement to first
preference eachother. This means that the RPA still preferences the Greens
first, and then a lot of little parties, although we did leave out some that
had policies we have conflicts with.


If you have a moment, check out
www.alphalink.com.au/~smnaesp/populationspeculation.htm
<http://www.alphalink.com.au/~smnaesp/populationspeculation.htm>

I co-host a program on thursday afternoons "Freewaves" on 3rpp Radio Port
Phillip.

If you want to know more let me know your phone number or ring me on 9XXX
XXXX. I am on email overload, like half the people in Melbourne, I suspect.
-----------
Only one received today...

-------------
* Craig Isherwood (Citizens Electoral Council)

Please go to www.cecaust.com.au <http://www.cecaust.com.au> to find all the
details you require for this
federal election, including the various policies we stand for.

----------

* 'Che' Endra Che-Kahn (Ind)

Thank you for your inquiry. It is great to know, there are people out there
who take their democracy seriously and give independant candidates a go.

The 'Che for Senate Campaign 2004' was launched at a minute to mid-night
yesterday AES Time, give or take a few hours. Please view my policies and my
website at:

<http://www.vote1che.org/>

Thank you once again for your inquiry, I trust I offer you a 'real'
alternative.

Good luck.

Yours in electoral confidence,

'Che' Endra Che-Kahn

----------

* Socialist Alliance

Below (and attached) is a very basic summary of what Socialist Alliance
stands for. We also have a website with a lot more detail an information,
including about the campaigns we are involved in.
Our website is <www.socialist-alliance.org
<http://www.socialist-alliance.org>>.

If you have any specific questions, give me a ring or drop me an email, and
I can fill you in on how Socialist Alliance came together and some of our
other policies.

As Socialist Alliance is a democratic organisation, our candidates all agree
to abide by the platform which is democratically decided on by all of our
members.

Socialist Alliance:
What we are fighting for in this election

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->

Justice not war
Troops out of Iraq now
Break the US alliance and close Pine Gap
Health
Abolish the subsidies to private health and put it into Medicare to restore
bulk billing and cut hospital queues
Extend Medicare to dentistry, chiropractic and other services
Prioritise community health centres
Education
End subsidies to private education and put it into public schools
End all charges, including school ``voluntary'' levies and university fees
Scrap HECS
Tax the Rich
Pay for the expansion of public services by putting company tax back to 49%
(the 1988 rate) and income tax ofr those on more than $100,000 to 60%
End tax loopholes like family trusts and negative gearing
Workers Rights
Repeal the Workplace Relations Act and sections 45D and 45E of the Trade
Practices Act. Solidarity is not a crime.
Jail employers who are responsible for the death of workers
Cut the working week to share the work around
Democratic Rights
Defend and extend our democratic rights
No new security powers. Abolish the secret police.
Extend democracy to the workplace - democratic ownership and management of
the social wealth.
Environment
Close uranium mines and the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor
No new coal-fired power stations
End logging in old-growth forests
No to GM food
Refugees
End mandatory dentention and close the camps
Repeal the Border Protection Act and abolish temporary protection visas
Full citizenship rights for asylum-seekers

--------
* Hope Party (Tim Petherbridge)

Currently our website is suffering a major technical problem that appears to
be unrecoverable before the election date. We can offer you a printed
pamphlet outlining our policies and ideals, but we will require your mailing
address in order to send it to you. You can rest assured that none of the
details you provide us with will be used for any other purpose than replying
to your e-mail.

----------
 
Revealing

A top read Spiderman.

I fear the Socialist Alliance will not get many votes from this bulletin board as a result of their economic policies.

Your 'limited due dilligence' seems quite exceptional to me. Well done.

WaySolid
 
Last edited:
What scares me when looking at the ballot paper is that some of these "Nutters and Extremists" groups are not just sick individuals - they actually have several people on the list and seem to be quite organised.
 
Sim said:
What scares me when looking at the ballot paper is that some of these "Nutters and Extremists" groups are not just sick individuals - they actually have several people on the list and seem to be quite organised.

And don't you need 200 (or is it 500) members to register as a political party? Apparently the AEC contacts them to prove that they're genuine.

But if you get elected as an independent (or resign from membership of a big party whilst occupying a seat) it appears that this rule doesn't apply (how else did the Aust Progressive Alliance qualify unless heaps of Democrat members followed Senator Lees)?

Rgds, Peter
 
I believe that if someone fairly high profile looked to their friends, colleagues & acquaintances, finding 200 people to sign a bit of paper wouldn't be that hard.

Even some political enemies might sign on just to help them marginalise themselves :)

Cheers,

Aceyducey
 
Well done

Peter

Thankyou very much for your research, it was much appreciated. Your post was clear and very easy to follow.

On arrival at the polling station most of these parties were represented and it was good to be able to talk to each of them and to assist them in stopping the boredom :D

Chris
 
Chrispy - you must have a very hetrogeneous booth; at the two I saw only ALP, Greens and Liberal reps were present.


Thanks for all the comments, though in this I really only scratched the surface. Genuine due diligence (of similar rigour that one would apply if one was buying an IP) would have required:

1. The above process to weed out worthy and unworthy candidates

2. Compilation of a shortlist of worthy candidates (note that in a half-senate election you effectively have 6 votes)

3. Examination of the records of each shortlisted candidate based on:
- involvement in community
- willingness to take policy positions (or are they just yes-men to the party machine?)
- success/experience in previous career
- record of trust/integrity
- an assessment of demeanour and personal effectiveness (based on conversations with former associates and opponents)
- record in office (if a sitting member)
- policies that you agree with
- nature of involvement in their party (an ideas person, fence-sitter, numbers man, seat warmer, etc)
- accessibility and responsiveness to personal communications
- input from comments from news sources

Possibly a score based on weightings for each of these factors would be desirable, with regard to the various roles that a politician might find themselves (ie strong local member, party hack, future minister, etc).

This would be a full-time job for an individual, but some sort of collective project done via the web could be a possibility for future elections. There is already significant online comment, but not as detailed as due diligence on all 64 candidates for a senate election.

Of course all this is pretty academic now that the Coalition looks like having a majority (or near majority) in the senate, so due diligence should concentrate on govt ministers (especially the cabinet) as power moves from parliament to executive.

Regards, Peter
 
Represented

Peter

This was the result of our area - and all these parties were at my polling station!!! This was probably because Jenny Macklin is a local identity and spends a lot of time at our shopping centre, so brought out all the opposition parties :rolleyes:

Jennifer Barton FFP 1,573 2.2 +2.2
Jenny Macklin ALP 31,885 45.3 +0.2
Woody Inman LIB 29,707 42.2 +1.7
Stephen Lele CEC 114 0.2 -0.2
Cate Hayward DEM 773 1.1 -5.6
Gary Schorel-Hlavka ADP 178 0.3 +0.3
Don Ardin GRN 5,763 8.2 +1.6
Barry Minster VET 408 0.6 +0.6
.... ONP 0 0.0 0.0
.... OTH 0 0.0 -0.8
Informal 2,558 3.0
Total Votes 72,959 100

Chris
 
The libs didn't bother showing up at any of the polling stations we saw (we went for a ride & went past a few others than the one we voted at).

Probably because they felt that the two Canberra seats were unwinnable for them :)

Interestingly enough, even with no signage, how to vote cards or otherwise showing the flag, the Libs managed decent polling increases in both seats.

Cheers,

Aceyducey
 
There was a Liberal and 2 Labor people at the booth we voted at (Bonython Primary, ACT). Didnt see any of the minor parties though.
 
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