Other Handy Guides to the Federal Election

If you are arriving at this blog in these final few days before the election, the odds are good that you won’t have time to read my extensive and Eurovision-embellished essays before you vote.

And that’s OK!  Nobody has ever accused me of being concise, and I get that people do have lives that don’t revolve around researching every single political party out there (though I do think it is worthwhile to research a few.  I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I didn’t think our choice of government was important!).

Also, I won’t deny that my blog posts are *full* of opinions, and reflect my own personal priorities.  They may not reflect yours.

So here, for your delectation, are a collection of other essays, blogs and Twitter threads that are designed to help you figure out who to vote for.  Most of them (all of them?!) are significantly shorter than mine.  Some of them have different priorities.  All of them are, I think, useful to any reader who is still trying to figure out who some of these small parties are.

Enjoy!

Information on Voting

• How to make best use of your 2019 Senate Vote – an explanation of how to vote above or below the line, and the pros and cons of tactical voting.
• Senate Voting Card Creator – if, like me, you love voting below the line, but are always secretly afraid of missing a number and having your vote deemed ineligible, this is the site for you.  It allows you to put in your preferences, rearrange candidates according to your whim, and then print out a personalised how to vote card, showing which number will go where on your ballot.  Highly recommended.
• You can’t waste your vote – preferential voting explained – an excellent cartoon that explains preferential voting and why you can vote for a minor party without causing the End of All Things.

Very short summaries

• Here is a one page cheat sheet for the Victorian Senate, in ballot order by Phil Krohn.  It’s not a bad one to take into the booth with you, if you are worried about forgetting who someone is.
• DonkeyVotie provides a pleasingly brief, generally amusing guide to all the political parties on the ballot.
• My fellow tiny-party-fancier André at Axvoter provides a snarky guide to the NSW Senate Ballot, including the independents, usually writing 2-3 paragraphs per party, so a very good option if you want a bit of detail, but don’t have time to read my lengthy essays.
• If you are in Tasmania, Kevin Bonham has a good blog post on the choices available to you.
• If you are in Queensland, greenglowgrrl has done some of the work of finding out about your local ungrouped candidates.  (She has also linked back to this blog, and provided Eurovision songs for the grouped Queensland independents, nice work.)
• Excellent Twitter thread by Soph with a brief tweet on each party.
• Another fine Twitter thread by Bhaskar with a tweet for each party.
• If you are trying to figure out which right wing party is which and how they are related, Jordan McSwiney has done his best to unravel them in this twitter thread.
• The Guardian Newspaper has also provided an article with a brief look at each minor party.
• The Victorian Senate Ballot in Post-it Notes, by Tony Williams. This is, perforce, not a nuanced view of the parties, and I think he is far too kind to both the Republicans and the LDP, but it’s a pretty good fast field guide.

Scorecards on specific issues

• The Australian Climate Foundation has a scorecard on climate change.  The front page is just the major parties, but if you scroll down, there is a link to a page which lists minor parties and independents. VoteClimate has similar scorecards, and seems to have answers from slightly different groups.
• Sustainable Energy Now has a brief scorecard that includes a fair number of small parties
• Fair Agenda has a scorecard on women’s issues, including family violence and reproductive rights (the questions they asked can be found here).  The Women’s Electoral Lobby has a scorecard that I think is more comprehensive – however both scorecards only include the three main parties.
• Rainbow Votes has a scorecard on LGBTQIA+ issues, featuring just the three major parties.
• ANTaR has a scorecard on indigenous matters, again only for the three majors.
• The Australian Refugee Action Network has a scorecard on minor parties and refugees. Choose Humane also has a scorecard on asylum seekers, though sadly it only includes the three big parties.
• GetUp and Colour Code have produced a scorecard on racism, multiculturalism, migration and discrimination.  The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia has not yet released their scorecard on the major parties and multiculturalism, but when they do, it will be at the link provided.
• Everybody’s Home has a scorecard on housing affordability and homelessness.
• Digital Rights Watch has a scorecard on things like online privacy and copyright reform which includes eight parties.
• Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association Australia has a  scorecard which only includes the three majors, but it is VERY thorough.
• COTA released a scorecard for the 2018 SA election on issues affecting older Australians which might be useful for some.  Mostly just the major parties.
• The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network has a scorecard on trade policy.  Again, just the three majors plus the Centre Alliance.
• The National Farmers’ Federation have a scorecard on agricultural issues.  It includes only the three majors and they aren’t very happy with anyone.
• Community Law Australia have a score card on access to justice.  Just the three majors again.
• The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations has a scorecard on student issues.  Also just the three majors.

Oh, you didn’t think I’d let this opportunity go by without a Eurovision Song, did you?

Of course I couldn’t.

At this stage in the lead up to the election, I think you would be well within your rights to feel overwhelmed by the choices open to you.  I hope, though, that between my long posts and the shorter ones linked to above, you might feel a bit less stressed and a bit more empowered to make choices at the ballot box that reflect what *you* want from our next government.

But if you are still feeling like it’s all too much, here, have some words of reassurance from Jessica Mauboy.