Political Parties: The Secular Party

[4thofeleven]

Independent political candidates confuse me. There’s always one or two on the lower house ballot paper, and generally dozens on the senate ballots, but none of them ever seem to do any campaigning. You’d think if you’ve gone to the trouble to get enough supporters to be listed on the ballot paper you’d make some effort to – if not win the election – at least get enough votes that the major parties notice your ideas.

Some independents go further than just registering for the ballot – they ally with other independents, and form their own parties! They still don’t actually bother campaigning, not even to get enough supporters to be formally registered as a political party. One such group contesting the election is the Secular Party of Australia, or as they’re known to the electoral office and to Victorian voters, “Independent Group P”.

They actually seem pretty organised, so maybe I’m being a bit hard on them. They’re running two candidates in every state, which is more than some registered parties could manage. Possibly there is some reason they’re not registered as a party – the government has changed a lot of the rules for registering new parties. Still, it doesn’t explain why they’re not bothering to campaign. The only reason I’ve heard of them is because I obsessively check to see how the major parties are directing their preferences – otherwise, I wouldn’t have heard of them until I was voting.

As for their policies? Vague would be the best thing I can say about them. They’re secularists, so as an atheist, I have no quarrel with them. They’re pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and republican*, so in general, I like them. The problem is that Australia is already pretty secular, and it’s unclear what they’re opposing. Their viewpoints section sais that “Australia now more closely resembles a pluralistic theocracy, where numerous religions have been ‘established’.”, but at no point explains what they mean by that. Funding of religious schools? Religious objections towards stem-cell research? Religious values influencing the decisions of some politicians? The rise of Family First? I haven’t the slightest idea, and most of their other statements are similarly cryptic. I might agree with everything they say; I might be horrified by their positions – I have no idea. I want to support an explicitly secular candidate – but unless they explain their positions, these guys aren’t ever going to be the ones I’ll vote for.

I’ll probably preference them after the Greens and Labor, but before the Coalition.

* That's repubican in the Australian sense; ie "opposed to the monarchy". Not to be confused with the American political party.

Comments

Senate campaign costs vs HOR campaign costs.

[sener4senate.livejournal.com]

and generally dozens on the senate ballots, but none of them ever seem to do any campaigning. You’d think if you’ve gone to the trouble to get enough supporters to be listed on the ballot paper you’d make some effort to – if not win the election – at least get enough votes that the major parties notice your ideas.

Dear David,

Unlike House of Rep's campaigning, where the candidate is basically trying to reach ~ 100,000 voters, the senate candidates have to campaign to an entire state (~ 4 Million for Vic). Or at least a major metropolitan city like Melbourne. Whether that be door knocking, letter box drops (mailouts), newspaper ads, TV 0r Radio ads, it's an order or magnitude more costlier.

I can't speak for every independent candidate, or small group, but a quarter page ad buried deep within local newspapers such as the leader and distributed to just the Melbourne metropolitan area will cost ~$30,000. That's black and white, and just one run. Radio & TV ads throughout a state mean network ads that will be played across the states various big and small stations of that network etc. I haven't enquired because I can't personally afford newspaper ads let alone TV/radio. And since most of us cannot afford to get our message across, the odds of us obtaining donations is also reduced. Chicken and egg.

Even the established parties senate candidates rarely advertise and campaign separately. That is, their candidacy is usually carried by the House of Reps, or main party national campaign. Eg Greens, Labor.

Only the liberal party with access to tax payers money can access those sort of funds (average $4 million per day, for months now) under the guise of new policies of the incumbent government (eg Internet Safety).

Thanks for writing about this.

Re: Senate campaign costs vs HOR campaign costs.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

I probably am being a bit hard on Independents, especially since I've also complained about my local Liberal candidate's constant barrage of advertising. ;)

Still, some of the independents don't even seem to have a web page, and of those that do, many don't offer much information on their positions on... well, anything. I prefer to vote below the line rather than rely on someone else's preferencing, but if I can't get information on the candidates, I can't vote in an informed fashion either way.

Re: Senate campaign costs vs HOR campaign costs.

[sener4senate.livejournal.com]

I've put up a journal entry of all the Victorian senate candidates links that I know of to help 'Below the line voters' in learning about their platforms, policies. There's a few I don't know either.

I guess one can distribute their votes based on what information is available, then preference those that have no information towards the end.

Tejay