Will fewer political brands matter?

Are these voters automatically “micro” or “minor” party voters? Are they “protest” voters who wouldn’t vote for Labor or the Liberals in a fit? Are they voters who only make up their minds when they see the ballot paper?

In June 2006, the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2006 passed the Senate on the Coalition numbers, duly making R20 law. (That bill covered a number of hotly contested topics. Someone in the government must have had a good sense of irony - electoral integrity was not what the Coalition really had in mind.)

Keeping the numbers down that contest elections can be achieved in a myriad of ways. That bill had another change that may act to reduce the number of political contestants.

One of the barriers to entry any party or candidate faces in contesting elections is the nomination fee. The purpose of a nomination deposit is primarily to deter frivolous candidates. There was no evidence that the nomination deposits then current were too low. There was no evidence either that existing nomination deposits were so high as to deter serious candidates.

Notwithstanding, the Electoral Integrity bill raised the candidate nomination fee for the House of Representatives from $350 to $500, and the Senate candidate nomination fee from $700 to $1,000.

For minor political parties seeking to contest elections nationally, the cumulative cost of nomination fees represents a high barrier to participation. If a political party stands 150 Lower House candidates that will now cost them $75,000 in nomination deposits. If they stand three candidates for every Senate ticket in eight territories and states, that will now cost them $24,000. Adding those two together, if a party completely covered the national election, it would cost $99,000. This is refunded if a party achieves 4 per cent, but there is no way every minor party and every group of independents will get 4 per cent in every electorate they stand in.

Interestingly, Family First apparently did not see the danger. In a Senate division called on that vote, the Liberal, National, Labor and Family First parties voted for these higher nomination deposits and the Australian Democrats and Australian Greens voted against.

On the December 22, 2006, the Australian Electoral Commission announced its decision on registered political parties. Nineteen political parties were deregistered, but effectively this was 16 because a number of registered names were divisional repeats.

These were: Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group); Citizens Electoral Council of Australia; Citizens Electoral Council of Australia (NSW Division); Help End Marijuana Prohibition; Hope Party - ethics equality ecology; liberals for forests; New Country Party; No Goods and Services Tax Party; Non-Custodial Parents Party; One Nation Queensland Division; One Nation Western Australia; People Power; Progressive Labour Party; Queensland Greens; Republican Party of Australia; Socialist Alliance; The Australian Shooters Party; The Fishing Party; and The Great Australians.

Any political party that is deregistered may re-apply for registration, and must comply with the current requirements in the Electoral Act, including the naming provisions.

My expectation is that most of these parties will not re-register, and of those that do and are successful, they are not going to contest elections across every state or territory. Of course new parties may still be formed and successfully registered, even just as preference harvesting mechanisms.

In theory 35 political parties were left registered, but in practice (because of separate registrations of state and territory divisions of the same federal party), there are only nine separate federal political parties left at present. These are: Australian Greens; Australian Democrats; Australian Labor Party (and Country Labor Party); Democratic Labor Party; Family First; Nuclear Disarmament Party of Australia; Liberal Party; National Party (and Northern Territory Country Liberal Party); Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (NSW Division).