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I quite enjoy the chaos of minor party Senate preferencing, and I think it's an overall good for democracy.  Voters can check the party preference lists (which are submitted to the election commission), or vote below the line and avoid the lists entirely.  And as far as I can tell, many of the proposed improvements to Senate voting seem to me likely to further entrench the major  parties and decrease political diversity.  

As for the Wikileaks party, it seems to me that (a) Assange isn't really suited to lead a party with a democratic governing structure and (b) wikileaks was infected with the absolutely incendiary hatred some Australians have for the Greens.  (Greg Barns is no friend to the Greens.  Eg: "The court action by Gunns is not about silencing protesters, writes Greg Barns"  http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/20/1103391697956.html )  

The Pirate Party offered a really marked contrast of transparent and democratic political processes.   (See:  http://pirateparty.org.au/2013/08/18/preferencing-statement-for-federal-election-2013/ )
They've even got their pairwise comparison table up.  (And their window into the soap opera of the Australian Democrats)

(disclosure - I am a member of no political party)

by External Student on Sun Sep 8th, 2013 at 10:34:33 PM EST
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