Sex Party could help Pauline slip into senate

"Now, if you would please tell me where your Senate above-the-line preferences go, I will be far more comfortable. But, be honest - you haven't a clue".

He points out the irony of socialists and Greens benefiting from preference deals with Palmer and Katter.

"Indeed, Clive's preferences are a wild ride. In Queensland, if you vote for Clive Palmer, your votes go to Family First, then to the Socialists, then to the Greens, Fishing and Lifestyle, Katter, the LNP, One Nation, Democrats and finally to the Australian Christians, presumably to ask forgiveness…

"The Katter party, which ostensibly is opposed to everything Green, is preferencing the Greens ahead of the Liberals in the ACT, and ahead of Nick Xenophon in South Australia. Bob Katter may be instrumental in helping the Greens keep the balance of power by helping a Green senator to be elected in the ACT.

"Bob has also done a deal with the Labor Party in Queensland. Bob represents a conservative electorate where more than 60 per cent of voters preferred the LNP to Labor at the last election. Bob has been preparing the ground. He needs Labor's preferences, and he needs the money of the trade unions. He has been voting accordingly…."

The ABC points out that the list of Senate Group Voting Tickets shows how preferences are distributed. Group ticket voting works by each group lodging a full ticket of preferences to all candidates on the ballot paper. When a voter selects a party using the group ticket voting square, the vote is deemed to have the full list of preferences lodged by that group.

"More than 95% of voters use the group ticket voting square, effectively meaning that the distribution of preferences in the Senate is determined largely by deals between political parties".

Green and Joyce are right. The present system of preferential voting has been stretched to ridiculous limits and in future it should be changed. Many Australians would be happy with one vote, one value to the party of their choice. Or at least, in taking a leaf from the Queensland State electoral book where preferential voting is optional – vote for your preferred candidate or fill in all the squares, simple as that.

Meanwhile most voters seem to have already made up their mind on how they will cast their primary vote. Last week's final debate between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott at Rooty Hill in Sydney won't affect the outcome, with some commentators declaring it a dead heat. Some viewers who gave the nod to Abbott are obviously sick of the exaggerated hand gestures and daily verbose speeches which remain a hallmark of the reincarnated Rudd.

Sportsbet has already paid out more than $1.5 million on a Coalition win http://www.sportsbet.com.au/blog/home/sportsbet-pays-out-early-on-coalition-to-win-2013-election#sthash.ViFTLZno.dpuf/

Abbott seems to have settled in cruise control mode and the week ahead is unlikely to deliver a major upset or provide Rudd with a magic Christmas Pudding - GST moment which lost the so-called unloseable election in 1993 for John Hewson.