NSW Federal Senate ballot guide

I noticed that there are 83 candidates on the senate ballot paper in NSW this year. Yes - 83. So, for those who can be bothered to number below the line, here's your handy guide to the positions of those on the ballot paper in NSW.


Group A: Socialist Alliance
A broad electoral church of eight different socialist groups who formed under the one banner in 2001. They’ve become quite popular on university campuses and you can barely attend any left wing protest without them drowning out the crowd with signs. They describe themselves as “anti-capitalist” and for “a democratic society run by and for working people, not the greedy, destructive elite that now rules”.
http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

Group B – Independents: Robert Hodges and Bob Frier
Very little information can be found online about these guys or their policies. They both seem to be involved on the board of the Glenorie RSL club. Make of that what you will.

Group C – Independents: Tony Robinson, Noel Selby
Nick Selby is a truckie who ran as an Independent in the recent State Penrith By-election. He was accused by the liberals as being a Labor supporter, because he supported building a roundabout up the mountains somewhere. Whatever the merits or stupidity of that claim, it was denied by Mr Selby, who stated he has been a “swinging voter”. His Penrith campaign was centered around providing better public services to the area. Given Selby’s profile, it’s a bit baffling he is second in the group. Tony Robinson is also a truck driver and a Penrith local.
Noel Selby profile: http://penrith-press.whereilive.com.au/news/story/independent-noel-selby-steps-forward-for-penrith-by-election/
http://www.penrithstar.com.au/news/local/news/general/noel-selby-independent-nepean-river-and-penrith-valley-sports-stadium/1854196.aspx

Group D – Independents: Darrin Hodges and Nick Folkes:
These two have a campaign website, not that it’s all that pleasant to read. They seem to want to stop all immigration, bash “third world masses”, end the mining tax, and build up the manufacturing industry. They seem to hate socialism, multiculturalism, and globalization. Maybe they should have run for One Nation - oh wait, hang on, they oppose the internet filter.
http://www.darrinhodges.com/

Group E – Building Australia Party
This seems to be a building industry-based party that supports loosening planning and local council regulations to assist the building industry build more homes.
http://www.buildingaustralia.org.au/

Group F – Senator On-Line
A party that promises to raise any policy in the senate put to them by any voter around the country through online submissions. Their first candidate is Wes Bas, a Surry Hills police officer and community activist. Their second candidate is Brianna Roach, a law student from the north shore.
http://senatoronline.org.au/

Group G – Communist Alliance
The reds are out from under the bed. The Communist Alliance incorporates the old Communist Party of Australia (CPA) and a few other disparate communist groups. Geoff Lawler is a trade union official with the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union in the Riverina area. Brenda-Anne Kellaway is a teacher and single mum. They are also running a candidate in the lower house seat of Sydney.
http://www.communist-alliance.org.au/

Group H – Independents Nadia Bloom and Bede Ireland
Nothing can be found anywhere about either of these candidates apart from the AEC website. They are apparently retirees.

Group I – Citizens Electoral Council of Australia
These guys are the Australian followers of the wacky conspiracy theorist and former US democratic party congressman, Lyndon LaRouche. If you’re someone who thinks that the US government brought down the twin towers in a controlled explosion, and that we should renationalize the banks so the Jews won’t get hold of them, this party could be for you.
http://www.cecaust.com.au/

Group J - Australian Democrats
They’re barely alive, but still around. Originally a breakaway progressive liberal party, the democrats now claim that they are “returning to their roots”. Apparently this involves a rejection of the Mining Tax for reasons of “states rights”. Ah, ever the small-L liberals.
http://www.democrats.org.au/

Group K - Independents – Meg Sampson, J Hinchcliffe
They at least have a twitter account. They both describe themselves as old – 65 and 75. Meg Sampson says she was an ex-member of the Australian democrats, and there seems to be a record of a Megan Sampson as a previous candidate for the dems in the 1980’s and 1990’s. They even have a twitter account!
http://msmegansampson.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/meg4sensampson

Group L – Independents – Leon Adrian Belgrave, Janos Beregszaszi
Leon Adrian Belgrave appears to have previously run as a candidate for the “Outdoor Recreation Party”, who are a libertarian group now allied to the Liberal Democratic Party. I’m not sure whether these guys are running as ODP candidates or just on their own.
http://www.orp.org.au/

Group M – The Climate Skeptics
This is a party devoted to advancing the cause of Climate Change skepticism – the first such party in the world (so they claim). If you’ve ever uttered the phrase “but it’s all just natural cycles”, or “the science isn’t settled”, maybe these guys are up your alley. .
http://www.landshape.org/news/

Group N – Secular Party of Australia
These guys are a party of humanists and atheists who are committed to advancing policies that strengthen the separation of church and state and advance the cause of reason and strict secularism. They also want to attack the influence of religion in politics. Amongst their policies is a commitment to end state money to religious schools. I’m guessing that approximately 70% of voters will hate them, while the rest stand up and cheer.
http://www.secular.org.au/

Group O – Shooters and Fishers Party
They catch things, then shoot them. Combining guns and fish may sound like a weird concept, but they actually do quite well in the NSW state upper house, where they currently hold the balance of power. These guys are a largely rural-based party that aims to protect the rights of fisherman and gun owners. They describe themselves as strong “family values” social conservative types, which is probably the reason why they are distinct from the more libertarian Outdoor Recreation Party/LDP.
http://www.shootersandfishers.org.au/

Group P – Democratic Labor Party (DLP) of Australia
Originally formed out of the labor party split in the 1950’s before dying in the mid 1970’s, the DLP have had something of a minor resurgence in recent years, particularly in Victoria where they have state upper house representation. On economic issues they would be mostly centrist with a pro-union slant, and on social issues they are very conservative (against same-sex marriage, stem cells, abortion, etc).
http://www.dlp.org.au/

Group Q - Australian Sex Party
A new party that has attracted attention for it’s name alone. The Australian Sex party rails against censorship and “wowserism”. It supports an R rating for videogames and the abolition of the internet censorship filter. They actually have some detailed policy proposals on sex education, health, preventing sex slavery, immigration, protecting the rights of sex workers, and legal-no fault abortion. And even a bit of religion bashing thrown in for good measure.
http://www.sexparty.org.au/

Group R – Independents – David Barker and S G Zureik
David Barker was the bible-bashing liberal candidate for Chifley, who was disendorsed. Why? Because he posted anti-Muslim messages on his Facebook page and tried to claim that labor wanted to take a Christian Australia in a muslim direction. Not the smartest idea, especially when your main opponent, Ed Husic, is a “non practicing muslim”. He was also a former member of Fred Nile’s Christian Democrats.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/anti-muslim-liberal-candidate-david-barker-to-be-dumped-says-joe-hockey/story-e6frf7jx-1225896596514

Group S – Socialist Equality Party
These guys are the official followers of Leon Trotsky and the Fourth International. Yes, real live trots.
http://www.sep.org.au/website/

Group T – Sustainable Population Party
These guys are listed as Independents on the ballot because they didn’t get their ballot in on time. The Sustainable Population Party want to limit Australia’s population growth to a maximum of 26 million by 2050. They stress they aren’t racist and the reasons are purely environmental, and they want to maintain out current refugee intake of 13,000 a year. Their website proudly boasts the endorsement of Dick Smith. An immigration party endorsed by Dick Smith – you’d think they’d be popular enough to get their name on the ballot. Maybe their missing ingredient was blatant racism.
http://www.populationparty.com/Home/About-Us

Group U – Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting)
This group wants to change Australia’s Family Law and Child Support policies so that there is more room for equal custodianship of children when in divorce. They also have other policy proposals.
http://www.ncpp.xisle.info/

Group V – Family First
A conservative Christian political party backed by Pentacostal Churches like Hillsong. They are one of the fastest growing minor parties in Australia, although they are likely to be left with no federal senate representation now that Steve Fielding’s senate term has expired.
http://www.familyfirst.org.au/

Group W – Australian Labor Party
Australia’s oldest political party, started by the Union movement, Labor is a social democratic party committed to collective bargaining, a multilateral approach to foreign policy, utilizing the role of government to provide services, and progressive social policy. They have been in government since 2007.
http://www.alp.org.au/

Group X – Reconcile Australia Party
Listed as Independents on the ballot, this is a party that advocates policies around Aboriginal reconciliation and living standards.
http://www.reconcileaustraliaparty.org/

Group Y – The Carers Alliance
This party runs on a platform of advancing the rights and living standards of the disabled and their carers. Amongst their proposals is a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
http://www.carers.org.au/

Group Z – Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)
Why vote for family first when you could vote for The Original Bible Bashers™? Formed out of Fred Nile’s Call to Australia party, this party “Promotes Christian values in Parliament and evaluates all legislation on Biblical principles.” This is code for bashing gays, arguing against abortion, and promoting ultra-conservative Christian values.
http://www.cdp.org.au/

Group AA – Liberal Party of Australia/National Party of Australia
The Liberal Party are Australia’s major Liberal Conservative party. Formed by Robert Menzies in 1944, they promote policies that support free enterprise, individual liberty, and conservative values. The National Party of Australia (formerly the Country Party) are a rural-based conservative party that advocates policies that benefit rural and regional Australia. The Liberal and National Parties govern in coalition, and have been in opposition since 2007. They are running a joint ticket in NSW, with the first two candidates being liberals and the third candidate a national.
http://www.liberal.org.au/
http://www.nationals.org.au/

Group AB – The Republican Democrats
Listed as independents on the ballot, this party is a centrist/progressive liberal party along similar lines as the British Liberal Democrats. I guess you could call them “small L Liberals”, but with a firm progressive streak. In QLD they are running a noted anti-corruption campaigner for the Senate. Their two NSW candidates are local activists from the central coast. They do have an impressively long list of detailed policies and a professional looking website. They’re obviously trying to start something.
http://republicandemocrats.org.au/

Group AC – One Nation
Australia’s favourite hillbilly party. Founded by Pauline Hanson in 1997, One Nation is the main Australian political party advocating for racism, nationalism, xenophobia, lower immigration and aboriginal-bashing.
http://www.onenation.com.au/

Group AD – The Greens
Australia’s largest Third party by some distance, the Greens are a party that was founded primarily to advocate policies related to environmentalism. Now they are the vanguard for left-wing politics, with a long list of policy proposals for all areas of policy. To the left of Labor, the greens seek to make big inroads in an election where both major parties have abandoned action on climate change. They stand a real chance of holding the balance of power in the senate and winning their first lower house seat.
http://www.greens.org.au/

Group AE – Independents – Cheryl Kernot, Simon Cant
Cheryl Kernot is a former leader of the Australia democrats, who defected to the Labor Party in 1998 and was briefly the member for Dixon until 2001, until she lost to Peter Dutton. She is running on a platform of “change politics”, whatever we expect that to mean. Simon Cant is a former independent councillor on Manly Council.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/kernot-sets-her-sights-on-senate-seat-20100730-10zwv.html

Group AF – Liberal Democratic Party
A libertarian party, advocating for free-market economic policies, small government and social policies based on individual liberty. Although they are economically right wing, they also oppose internet censorship and advocate for policies like same-sex marriage and gun law deregulation.
http://www.ldp.org.au/

Ungrouped:

Hamish Richardson – Very little can be found about him, apart from the fact that he’s a Journalist.

Norman H Joseph Hooper – Described as a Pensioner and Economics Researcher.

Stewart Scott-Irving
Ran as an Independent in the 2008 Lyne By-election (for Mark Vaile’s old seat, won by Independent Rob Oakshott. After the election he tried to get the by-election result disputed because he claimed the ABC had not provided him with equal time as a candidate, despite only receiving 4% of the vote. perhaps a bit loopy, he is an education consultant.
http://www.wauchopegazette.com.au/news/local/news/general/scottirving-will-contest-election/259773.aspx

Bryan Pape
Bryan Pape is a law lecturer at the University of Armidale and a former member of the National Party. His main claim to fame was a constitutional challenge he brought against the $900 payments in the Rudd government’s economic stimulus package in 2008. It got a good run in the Murdoch press.
http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/bonus-payment-finally-ready-to-roll/story-e6frfmd9-1225699613528

Andrew Whelan – There are many Andrew Whelans around, including a lecturer in politics and policy at University of Armidale. However, this Andrew Whelan is a Software Engineer. Amazingly, I can’t find a website for him.