search for your electorate here:

http://www.aec.gov.au/esearch/searchb/main.htm

view a map of you electorate here:

http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/Who/profiles/2004/index.htm

If you are near an electorate boundary then check the streets listed as boundaries on the map and compare to a map of your area here here:

http://www.whereis.com.au/whereis/home.jsp

Find the candidates for your electorate and the senate here:

http://www.aec.gov.au/election2004/candidates/index.htm

Then, do a google search for the parties and independents so you know who you are voting for this time. If you find out anything about the smaller parties and independents post it here.

That last link also contains the 'group ticket' which explains how your party will distribute your Senate votes if you vote with a 1 above the line.

collections of links:

http://dkd.net/mag/politics.html

http://ao.com.au/ddf/repdemlinks.htm

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/si-party.htm

http://www.vogue.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=99162&forum=16

http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/pol/polparti.htm

http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/Who/party_reg/reg_parties.htm





Registered Electoral Parties

- Advance Australia Party

http://campaign.democrats.org.au/index.asp

http://www.greens.org.au/

http://www.alp.org.au/

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/s-8u4.htm - Australian Progressive Alliance (Meg Lees)

http://www.digitaltermpapers.com/view.php/d/3210.htm - Australians Against Further Immigration

http://www.christiandemocratic.org.au/

http://www.cecaust.com.au/ Citizen's Electoral Council

- Country Labor Party

- Curtin Labor Alliance

http://www.geocities.com/pwhce/dlp.html - Democratic Labor Party

http://www.esvp.asn.au/ - Ex-Service, Service and Veterans Party

http://www.familyfirst.org.au/

http://www.hempembassy.net/hp2/ - Help End Marijuana Prohibition

- Hope Party ethics equality ecology

http://www.liberalsfor.forests.org.au/

http://www.liberal.org.au/default.cfm

- Lower Excise Fuel and Beer Party

http://www.nationals.org.au/

http://www.newcountryparty.org.au/

- No Goods Services Tax Party

http://ncpp.xisle.info/index1.htm - Non-custodial Parents Party

http://www.clp.org.au/ - Northern Territory Country Liberal Party

http://www.nucleardisarmament.org/NuclearDisarmament/

http://www.orp.org.au/index1.html - Outdoor Recreation Party

http://www.australianpolitics.com/parties/onenation/

http://www.progressivelabour.org/

http://www.republic.org.au/homepagehtml.htm - Republican Party of Australia?

http://www.savetheadisite.bmt.com.au/ - Save The ADI Site Party

http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

- Tasmania First Party

- Tasmanian Independent Senator Brian Harradine Group

- The Aged and Disability Pensioners Party

http://www.thefishingparty.info - The Fishing Party

http://www.greataustralians.org/

http://www.youngnationals.org.au/


http://www.onenation.com.au/

thanks bugman:

all the group tickets for every party in every state (how they order their senate prefences):

http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2004/guide/groupvotingtickets.htm#gtvlink-QLD

guide to ordering your peferences below the line in the senate - this 'bot' orders all the parties based on your approval/disapproval of a few parties and how they ranked the other parties - very helpful for all those parties you don't have a clue about:

http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~jfletch1/resnik/senate.cgi

This is how some of the parties have distributed their preferences in the Senate in QLD. It gives a good indication of where the minor parties sit in the political spectrum (left/right). Hetty Johnston is the only person I have found who is placed before the major parties by both left and right wing parties.

The Fishing Party:

The Fishing Party
New Country Party
One Nation
The Nationals
Pauline Hanson and Judy Smith
Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott
Family First
Liberal
Labor
Non-Custodial Parents Party
Selwyn Johnston and Susan Harvey
Terry Rushton and Emon Coll
Citizens Electoral Council
Gail Duncan and Kim McIntosh
Daryl Angus McArthur
Hassan Ghulam
The Great Australians
Socialist Alliance
Liberals For Forests
HEMP
Australian Progressive Alliance
Australian Democrats
The Greens

For some reason all the ones from Socialist alliance down are in reverse order. This is a purely meaningless gesture whose only possible impact would be to slow down the vote counting. They are basically giving their immediate preference to someone whose own party acknowledges that they are not up for the job of being a senator.



The Greens:

The Greens
Hassan Ghulam
HEMP
Socialist Alliance
Liberals For Forests
Australian Progressive Alliance
The Great Australians
Non-Custodial Parents Party
Australian Democrats
Labor
Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott
Gail Duncan and Kim McIntosh
Daryl Angus McArthur
Terry Rushton and Emon Coll
Selwyn Johnston and Susan Harvey
Liberal
The Nationals
The Fishing Party
Pauline Hanson and Judy Smith
Citizens Electoral Council
New Country Party
Family First
One Nation


Every party that the Greens listed before Labor, The Fishing Party listed after both major parties. With the exception of Citizens Electoral Council, every party that the Greens listed after Liberal, The Fishing Party Listed before both major parties. The Greens listed a few beteen the major parties. Of these, only Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott were listed by The Fishing Party before the major parties. Thus they are the only group that seem to transcend the left/right divide. The Greens have effectively 'sold out' on this pair by putting them after Labor. Hetty has a good chance of winning a seat, although the Greens' preference deal with Labor may cause Labor to get it instead. Otherwise The Greens, The Fishing Party and The Democrats would have all placed them before the major parties. Hetty Johnston is a child advocate and is generally considered to be good senator material who will keep both parties in check. This pair is listed second by the Democrats:


Australian Democrats:

Australian Democrats
Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott
Australian Progressive Alliance
Hassan Ghulam
Family First
New Country Party
Liberals For Forests
The Great Australians
The Greens
HEMP
Socialist Alliance
The Fishing Party
Selwyn Johnston and Susan Harvey
Labor/Liberal
The Nationals
Terry Rushton and Emon Coll
Non-Custodial Parents Party
Citizens Electoral Council
Gail Duncan and Kim McIntosh
Daryl Angus McArthur
One Nation
Pauline Hanson and Judy Smith


The Democrats have split their preferences evenly between Labor and Liberal (two tickets). The Democrats also differ from the Greens in putting the following parties before both major parties:

The Fishing Party!!!! (Greens list after Liberal and Nationals)
Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott (Greens list between major parties)
Family First (Greens list second last)
New Country Party (Greens list third last)
Selwyn Johnston and Susan Harvey (Greens list between major parties)


Comparing the Democrats and The Fishing Party, the following parties have been listed before both major parties:

Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott
Family First
New Country Party
The Fishing Party





The Nationals:

The Nationals
Liberal
Family First
The Fishing Party
Terry Rushton and Emon Coll
New Country Party
Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott
Non-Custodial Parents Party
The Great Australians
Gail Duncan and Kim McIntosh
Australian Progressive Alliance
Liberals For Forests
Australian Democrats
Citizens Electoral Council
Selwyn Johnston and Susan Harvey
Socialist Alliance
Daryl Angus McArthur
Hassan Ghulam
HEMP
The Greens
Labor
Pauline Hanson and Judy Smith
One Nation

Unfortunately this doesn't tell us much as the Nationals have listed Liberal second and Labor third last (only Pauline Hanson and One Nation Came after - must be bad blood there).


Hetty Johnston:

Hetty Johnston and Diana Scott
Australian Democrats
Family First
New Country Party
The Fishing Party
Gail Duncan and Kim McIntosh
Australian Progressive Alliance
Liberals For Forests
Pauline Hanson and Judy Smith
One Nation
HEMP
The Greens
Labor
Liberal
The Nationals
Socialist Alliance
Selwyn Johnston and Susan Harvey
Hassan Ghulam
Daryl Angus McArthur
The Great Australians
Non-Custodial Parents Party
Citizens Electoral Council
Terry Rushton and Emon Coll

Hetty has also done that trick with putting the candidates from Liberal down in reverse order.

How come the democrats have put the fishing party before the major parties but the fishing party have put them second last? If these things are all based on deals then the fishing party got a very good deal. Maybe the democrats don't do any deals and base their preferences on judgement which is why they distributed their preferences evenly between labor and liberal.