Cross-posted from The Glass Pyramid:
Are you completely fed up with Australian politics?
Fed up with career politicians who can’t even read the constitution and renounce claims to privileges granted to them by foreign powers?
Fed up with politicians who seem more interested in rorting perks and entitlements?
Fed up with politicians who seem more interested in what some large corporaion or foreign donor want than what the people who elected them want?
Fed up with politicians working hard to sell off Australia to foreign buyers bit by bit?
Fed up with Free Trade Agreements that close down our factories and make it easier for foreigners to buy what our politicians are eager to sell.
Fed up with politicians who resign and the next day take big fat jobs working for the outfits who were lobbying them the day before they resigned?
But don’t know how you can make a real difference?
PUT THE BIG THREE IN THE BOTTOM THREE SPOTS ON YOUR BALLOT.
You must change how you vote
If you really want to make a difference you must still vote but change how you vote.
Australians just make it too easy for career politicians from the major parties to cruise back in.
You must always put the ALP, Liberals, National Party last on your ballot in the house of reps and the senate / upper house.
It’s up to you which one you dislike the most and give them the final spot on your ballot and the order you give to the other two in the other bottom 2 spots but you must put ALL three of them in the bottom three spots of your ballot.
Give your top preferences to ANYONE other than the main parties – even if you don’t who they are or they sound a bit weird. Naturally put the best of the randoms at the top.
The point is not that you want some random to win the election but that you want whichever of the big three parties who do win to have sweated it out waiting for preferences to be distributed and to understand that you voted for ANYONE other than the big three parties.
However, if enough people follow this strategy a few randoms will get elected and that is what the career political hacks from the major parties fear like a vampire fears a wooden stake. People in politics who are not career hacks and owe the party hacks and ‘numbers’ people nothing.
Chances are the major parties will start taking voters more seriously when voters start making it clear they are sick of being taken for granted.
Do not move your least disliked major party above the third from bottom spot UNTIL they act like they deserve it.
EXAMPLE
Say there are 7 candidates in your electorate.
4 randoms and a Liberal Party, ALP & National Party candidate.
And of the three major parties you least dislike the National Party and most dislike the Liberal Party. As for the ALP you like them less than the National Party but more than the Liberal Party.
Complete your ballot as follows
1. Random
2. Random
3. Random
4. Random
5. National Party
6. ALP
7. Liberal Party
This ballot makes it clear you are fed up with the lot of them. It will force every seat to be decided on preferences and will make the results unpredictable. It may help drive cynical career politicians out of parliament as it introduces more uncertainty and risk for their ‘career’ planning.
When the votes are counted your first preference vote initially goes to random 1. The election officials will then work out which candidate got the least votes and then move each of those votes to the 2nd preference on each of the ballots received by the candidate with the least number of votes.
Usually this process continues until a candidate has more than 50% of the votes.
Usually this means one of the big 3 parties after all the randoms have been knocked out and their votes are been allocated to the next preference.
But not necessarily if enough people are putting the major parties in the bottom 3 spots on their ballot. If that happens a candidate who is not from one of the big three will be elected.
If the three major parties want you to give them a spot above the bottom three make them EARN it.
Voting strategically costs nothing and EVERYONE can do it.
PUT THE BIG THREE IN THE BOTTOM THREE SPOTS ON YOUR BALLOT.