Candide, if you vote above the line Labor and the Greens have a preference deal. Liberals I don't know I assume in Victoria they would be supporting Fielding Family First Party.

I agree Ludwig.

I personally find the 'first past the post' system to be very UN_democratic because it means that the government has a mandate of only a minority- I would suggest compulsory coalition governments consisting of every elected representative, or at least, as many parties merged as it takes till an actual majority or representation is reached. Most West-European countries do this and it means there is more balanced governance and better-quality elections that Australia's big-two scare hysteria.

But on preferencing, I totally agree- having my ballot DIScounted if I don't vote for all the candidates is completely and utterly undemocratic.

Anyway, I would also like to thank Andrew for clarifying this to the public and hope to see it in the papers.

Thanks Paul1405 - but do you know where the full details of the Parties' Senate preferences can be found? When I saw them in 2007 there were some shockers lurking not far from the top.

candide
If you want to see where the various parties have directed their preferences go to
https://www.belowtheline.org.au
Not only will you see where they have directed their preferences but you will also be able to 'tweak' the preference flow so that it suits your particular situation.
The other feature available on the site is that you can check the credentials of all the candidates.
So for example if you check out Senator on line you find that they do not have any policies BUT when it comes to their preference flow you find that voting above the line for them in NSW will result in your vote eventually flowing to the Liberals (there is a strong conservative bias in their ticket) The problem is of course that given that all parties have to allocate preferences their preference flow may not reflect their political philosophy.

Candide,

The senate ticket lists are on the Australian Electoral Commission site....though it's not that easy to find.

http://www.aec.gov.au/

1. On the top page, go to "Voting in" under the heading "Saturday 21 August, 2010 Federal Election"
2. Select your state
3. Scroll down to "Senate candidates and Group Voting Tickets..."
4. And click on "Group Voting Tickets (Senate preference flows) for xxx"

There you can see all the lodged tickets and also see which candidates/parties have lodged more than one ticket.

Hope that helps.

http://www.currentglobalperceptions.blogspot.com/

Thanks BAYGON and Jorge. I did look on the AEC site but didn't see where it was, so rang them - and was told in no uncertain terms that nothing so party political would be available from them and to ask the Parties in question. What idiots. I then emailed my local member (Liberal) and the NSW Office of the Liberals - no reply - and my local Labor Senator and NSW ALP - no reply - and NSW Greens office (as linked to by Green Senate candidate Lee Rhiannon) - reply within 2 minutes. Apparently all the info is on the ABC election site too - according to Greens.