From Lower House Disappointment to Senate Hope to Senate Horror

That was the story of the past two days while votes for Federal Parliament's Upper House were still being counted. The senate seats, to be taken by their elected candidates in July of next year, were the last bastion of hope for those who were still in shock and despair over the reality of an Abbott-led coalition government.

From late Saturday night when all doubt had been removed over the question of who would retain or form government, the focus shifted to the senate results, something a lot more important considering that The Greens have had the balance of power there for quite some time. Questions were being asked and some unknown variables were coming into play: Would this balance of power be retained, strengthened or lost, and who were these 'other' candidates and their respective parties of which the general public knows absolutely nothing about, including this writer?

From articles that were read early on Monday morning and discussions had with numerous colleagues which really only amounted to speculation and hearsay, I gathered quite quickly that these unknowns, mainly this Liberal Democratic Party, Motoring Enthusiasts Party and Sports Party are, in fact, quite right-leaning, the most dangerous of which is the LDC candidate, David Leyonhjelm, a hardcore libertarian who opposes taxes and supports gun rights, and the most shocking and potentially comedy-laden is the Motoring Enthusiasts Party's, Ricky Muir - the typical Aussie rev head (see, bogan).

Let's start with Australia's very own Tea Party Republican David Leyonhjelm. A former member of both the ALP and the Liberal party, he left the latter during the mid 1990's after John Howard's gun reforms and buy-back scheme following the devastation of the Port Arthur Massacre. A gun enthusiast, libertarian and all-round ass hat, Leyonhjelm opposes big government, income taxes, arms regulation and just about any other sane measure that civil societies actually need in order to be civil. He loves him some corporate freedom, so he is definitely also opposed to the Carbon Tax as well as the Mining Tax. In fact, he's taken his book of policies right out of Ayn Rand's cold, dead hands.

The fact that this man has been able to make his way into public office, not to mention the Senate, is a result of two possible things; People in NSW are starting to find the American Tea Party appealing or, the distribution of preferences to micro parties with so many micro parties on the ticket for one election has meant that these types of candidates have won seats without even picking up 1% of the primary vote.

I've said it before and I will always repeat myself: "You need to vote BELOW the line". Yes, I agree, voting above does save time and if you have researched and studied where each party's preferences will fall in each state and your happy with them, then do it. However, you don't know where every single of the 50 to 60 preferences will go if you haven't. Sometimes you may not even be happy where the preferences are even if you've researched it. For example, I myself found out that The Greens (who I always vote for first in both houses) were giving their second preferences to the Palmer United Party. (a party that has also won 2 seats in the senate and will probably make the difference on much legislation from next year). While I agreed with the PUP's policies on asylum seekers (treating them like human beings and letting them in our country) I disliked the fact that they support coal mining and opposed the carbon and mining taxes. So, being the responsible voter that I am, I decided to give my second preference to a party that was more in line with the core ideas that The Greens SHOULD be sticking to.

Next up, set to join our esteemed Upper House in Canberra next year is the discerning gentleman by the name of Ricky Muir.

Now Ricky enjoys the finer things in life - he is an advocate of the fine arts, a keen cello player, a cigar enthusiast who doesn't mind attending the opera each weekend.

Jokes.

He's a dead set bogan.

Ricky enjoys, among other things, throwing kangaroo faeces, doing up his '78 Monaro, wearing black all the time, and doing mainies in his Pulsar... probably.

Yes, motoring enthusiasts. So, I guess if it came down to it, this guy would surely block any extra funding for public transport or emissions regulations on vehicles, not with a simple 'no', but it would most likely be by driving his '76 Falcon GT crashing through the walls of the chamber before finishing a series of donuts by the Senate President's seat and throwing Kangaroo droppings at the clerk before exiting.

That's how you leave your mark on Australian politics.

Sigh.