Voter Notes

Polling day Tickets and preferences I hope ticket voting is, or will be, a thing of the past (though I fear for Victoria in November, 2026). In ticket voting the parties may make deals between themselves and control how your vote's preferences are allocated. The parties encourage a simple and quick "1". They want you to leave the rest to them. Preferences are vital if no candidate for a lower house seat has over 50% of the valid votes. (Then the lowest scoring candidate's votes get to be transferred to the other candidates.) Parties hand out "how-to-vote" material. They tell you how to number your boxes. That is called allocating preferences. The parties may have made deals but you still decide. To number or not to number Is it hard to know how to fill the boxes? You might use the "how-to-vote" of the candidate you most do NOT want. (Never!) Then, just number in exactly the opposite order to their idea. They have helped you. (They end up with your ...

  Website capture of the Australian Parliament House (unable to locate an official image)   Lots of reports in the news I see of switching of jobs up there. It follows that some pay-packets change (increase or decrease).

At the moment the Australian Senate has extra prominence. The Government (based always in the House of Representatives) wants its Bill passed in the week ahead. That can only happen with support of sufficient Senators. (The Government do not have sufficient of their own party to pass the legislation.)