It seems to me that preferential voting is another term for rigged voting. Few people even know where their second and tertiary vote is headed when they go to the polling booth. So how can it be called voluntary or democratic? Most people ofcourse don't even care. They just vote for the least scary looking party machine and hope for the best. How to vote cards are designed by secret handshakes and plots to destroy opposition parties that pose a threat. Often the person or party that receives the biggest primary vote comes last after all the number juggling is finished.

How do we get rid of this abomination of a voting system?

An interesting thought.
Seems I have seen it some place.
You have won me I agree.
Read upper house thread.
Some interesting thoughts on the issue.

I also agree, the preferential system is designed to assist the two major parties simply because it is one or the other of the majors that end up with your vote.

My little protest is to vote for a minor party or indpendant so as to stop a major from getting the $2+ for the vote. My delimma then is which major to put last.

Ditto, Banjo, except that I actually vote for a minor party, not just as a protest, and given this unfair mandatory preferential system I have to block my nose and place one of the major parties in the second-to-last place (third-to-last if you include the Greens), just so my vote is not rendered informal.

I think that it should be the voter that decides where his vote and preference goes, and that he should indicate which. If he puts no preference, then it expires, similarly if he indicates one, two or more, then they should go as he directs and expires otherwise.

Letting a party decide your preferences and essentially voting for you is crazy.

Parallel Universes, there are two very different preferential voting systems in use in Australia: CPV and OPV.

They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Optional preferential voting, which is used in some states, is democratic. It lets the voter declare preferences as they see fit. They may number only one box or all boxes or anything in between. This voting system is entirely in line with democracy.

Compulsory preferential voting, as used in federal elections and in some states, is the most disgusting rort of a voting system that you could ever imagine! You are compelled to number every square or else your vote is void, even if your intention is perfectly clear. If you wish to not vote for either of the two big parties and put them last and second last, your vote will usually end up counting for the one you put second last!

Your vote can get STOLEN and made to count for a candidate / party that you specifically wish to vote against!!

It is amazingly antidemocratic! And I can't for the life of me understand how the Australian people, the minor parties, political analysts and academics, etc, etc, can let it go uncondemned election after election, decade after decade!

As far as preference deals go, they are only a suggestion. For example, if the Greens say they are going to preference Labor, it is just a guide to voters as to how to mark their ballot papers. It is still entirely up to the voter to mark their preferences accordingly or otherwise.