ALECOMM

• Senate could be a dysfunctional madhouse
• Oddball Senate still on the cards
• Albo expected to challenge Shorten if Labor is defeated

The Australian Electoral Commission has been telling people they must number their six favourites above the line for their vote to be counted, under the first major overhaul in the Senate voting system in over 30 years.

But now they’ve conceded that voters can place a single preference next to one party and their vote will still be counted.

Political experts warned voters to make sure they put down preferences to avoid dangerous parties, with sensible sounding names, holding the balance of power in the Senate.

The reforms were introduced this year in an effort to stop micro-parties harvesting preferences and distorting the results, leaving the nation with an unworkable parliament.

Fears are growing within the Coalition that the new Senate could be more chaotic than the previous parliament because voters might choose to simply vote “1” in the box to a party they like the sound of but have no idea what they stand for.

So today, The Daily Telegraph explains every single party to prevent you from making this mistake.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday made an election eve plea to voters not to vote for minor parties if they do not understand their policies or do not know who the leaders are.

He said there was a real risk the nation would end up with an unworkable parliament if the public did not take their vote seriously.

“The threat is real,’’ he said.

“So when it comes to the minor parties, be they Lambie, Xenophon or Hanson, Australians need to consider very carefully the impact on practical policy outcomes and the workability of the parliament.

“If you don’t know the candidates and you don’t know their policies, then don’t vote for them. ‘Australians won’t want to end up next week with a result they didn’t see coming.”

There are worries the Health Australia Party, which has the No. 1 spot on the NSW ballot paper, could win a Senate spot despite being anti-vaccination.

The Daily Telegraph understands strategists from both sides are more concerned about the impact the minor parties could have on the overall outcome of the Senate and lower house than the major parties.

Long time Labor Party strategist Bruce Hawker, who was instrumental in Kevin Rudd’s rise to the nation’s top job in 2007, said there was a “good chance” the Health Party could win NSW’s final spot because of their name and prime ballot paper position — despite the Australian Medical Association warning they are “anti-vaccine” and a “misleading and dangerous” party.

“I think it’s a real worry,’’ Mr Hawker said. “You’ll see people voting for parties with names that sound appealing or funny.

“I remember that guy Godfrey Bigot was elected to Manly Council once on a policy of straightening the curves on the northern beaches.”

An AEC spokesman said it was “not their job” to inform people about the single vote option. “From our perspective, the voting rules are as they are on the ballot paper,” he said, explaining the option was there to capture votes in case people weren’t aware of the new system.

University of NSW professor George Williams said he had strongly argued against the permanent Senate loophole because it

could be exploited, and urged people to put their preferences down.

“The integrity of the system really does rely on getting a broader spectrum of preferences,” he said.

“It’s anyone’s guess on how it will work out; it does open the potential for people to game the system and breach the instructions.”

He also warned voters to beware of fringe parties with radical agendas who are hiding behind mainstream names, such as the Health Party.

The party believes fluoride in the water is a “toxic chemical” that breaches accepted medical codes and parents should have a choice on whether they vaccinate their kids and receive more information on side effects like autism.

And the Science Party might sound like it wants to invest in innovation, but it also wants to decriminalise drugs, while Sustainable Australia is not about the environment but cutting immigration.

“You can end up with people wielding enormous power in the Senate or the lower house on a set of policies that may actually be at odds with their sponsor,” Prof Williams said. He also cautioned against voting for a minor party because the leader sounds good, such as a Nick Xenophon Team candidate.

“You only have to look at the (Palmer United Party) to realise that in fact these sort of entities where you have politically inexperienced candidates can breakdown,” he said.

Mr Hawker said while only the brave would attempt to predict the election verdict, he expected Nick Xenophon to do “very well” in South Australia and hold the balance of power in the Senate, making him a “very, very powerful man”.

He said major parties were often criticised for forcing members to toe the party line, but minor parties were often a good reminder of the need for party discipline.

“In the case of parties like the (Nick Xenophon Team) you will most likely see the same sort of things happen as happened with Palmer United Party senators who pledged they would be loyal and disciplined in the way in which they went representing the PUP and then just went off on frolics of their own and started splintering all over the place,” he said.

There are fears within the Coalition that if minor parties control the Senate much of Mr Turnbull’s budget saving measures will be unable to pass, leaving the nation with no path to surplus.

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