Wrangling the Senate ballot paper this election can be a big ask, with cryptic names for many of the minor parties. What is the Australian Values Party? What separates the two socialist groups?
All the senators currently representing Victoria in the federal parliament belong to the Coalition, Labor, or the Greens. However, minor party candidates have been elected as Victorian senators in recent elections, including former radio personality Derryn Hinch and the Family First Party’s Steven Fielding.
On Saturday, there is a ragtag fleet of minor parties vying for your vote.
Victorian fringe party candidates: (L-R) Monica Smit, Ralph Babet, Damien Richardson and Aran Mylvaganam.
We have created a cheat sheet of the names, the characters, and what they represent.
You may notice some Senate groups don’t have a party title, just a letter of the alphabet. In those cases, independents have teamed up together but don’t have enough members to register as a party. The Australian Electoral Commission has given them a letter of the alphabet depending on where they fall on the ballot paper.
There are also ungrouped independent candidates who are running on their own. You can only vote for them below the line.
If you’re voting above the line, you need to number from 1 to 6. To vote below the line, number from 1 to 12.
Group B
Former Neighbours actor Damien Richardson is campaigning against a cashless society as his first policy agenda, claiming we’re at risk of losing the tooth fairy, piggy banks and garage sales. He’s anti-vaccination and anti-mask mandates.
Melbourne actor Damien Richardson is seen speaking to police at a #reclaimtheline anti-lockdown protest in Moonee Ponds.Credit:Chris Hopkins
His running mate John McBride describes himself as disaffected from the Labor movement, which he believes has been hijacked by leftists. In a podcast, McBride questioned whether elements of the pandemic response were “orchestrated” and falsely claimed people who did not get vaccinated would be at a lower risk during COVID-19, because of adverse effects from the jab. It’s not his first time contesting an election. McBride previously contested for the Victorian parliament’s upper house with the Democratic Labour Party, which is not connected to the Labor Party. He was state treasurer of the DLP until 2018.
Australian Values Party
Lead candidate Chris Burson was celebrated by far-right outfits like Rebel News earlier this year after quitting the police force because he would not enforce COVID-19 rules.
The party hopes to better support veterans and provide them with pathways for employment and also wants a review into the ABC.
Victorian Socialists
There are two socialist parties running in Victoria. Aran Mylvaganam, who came to Australia as an unaccompanied child refugee, leads the ticket for the Victorian Socialists. As the founder of the Tamil Refugee Council, he’s known for his advocacy for the Biloela family fighting their deportation to Sri Lanka.
Aran Mylvaganam from the Tamil Refugee Council speaks to the media during Federal Court hearings related to the Biloela family.Credit:Chris Hopkins
The Victorian Socialists want to hike taxes on the rich and nationalise banks and energy companies as well as strengthen union laws and protections for asylum seekers, and recognise Aboriginal sovereignty.
Socialist Alliance
The Socialist Alliance, a smaller party with a similar policy platform, split from the Victorian Socialists in 2020 because of disagreements on how to progress. They want to introduce a wealth tax, to repeal the GST, nationalise banks and mines, ramp up renewables, and greater protections for refugees.
Group Y
This is a third grouping of socialists whose party, the Socialist Equality Party, did not have enough members to register with the Australian Electoral Commission. The candidates say they oppose all other parties, including the “pseudo-left” Victorian Socialists and Socialist Alliance because they are not sufficiently anti-capitalist. They want more climate action, protection for asylum seekers and stricter pandemic measures.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.33 per cent as Socialist Equality Party
Group R
You may remember Monica Smit from her 22 day-stint in prison last year, after refusing to agree to bail conditions when she was charged for inciting “freedom” protests against COVID-19 restrictions. Smit, who founded the Reignite Democracy Australia, has pleaded not guilty.
Monica Smit in her ‘Australian Survivor’ audition tape on YouTube.Credit:YouTube
She spent part of her last day campaigning on Friday making an appearance in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court via video link over other charges of attending a public gathering in October 2020 when told not to, and failing to wear a face mark when told to by an authorised officer. She told a judicial registrar she planned to plead not guilty and her case was adjourned to June 27.
Smit is running as the second candidate behind her fiancé and podcaster Morgan Jonas. He split from the United Australia Party earlier this year to free himself from the confines of a party.
They are against jab mandates. They also want to end all COVID-19 testing, stop vaccinating anyone under 18 and for the government to stop reporting COVID-19 deaths.
United Australia Party’s Craig Kelly (right) with Morgan Jonas, who has since quit the party.Credit:Twitter
Australian Federation Party
This is the latest in a long line of groups founded by Vern Hughes. He convenes the Sensible Centre, which has argued that everyone over the age of 70 should be separated from the public during the pandemic. He is the director of Civil Society Australia and has been involved with the People Power Party, Democratic Labour Party, the Australian Democrats, Parents Families and Carers Party, and the former Voice for the West.
Vern Hughes from the Sensible Centre.
The party believes Australia has been overzealous in its handling of COVID-19. They want harsher penalties for rape, a bill of rights, a royal commission into family law, and argues against “sexual theory” being taught in schools.
Citizens Party
This group fundraises more than any other minor party, raking in $2.3 million in donations in 2020-21. The Citizens Party is inspired by the LaRouche movement, an international political and social fringe movement based on the sovereignty of states rather than globalisation.
The party hopes to start a public bank through Australia Post and to de-escalate tensions with China. Lead Senate candidate Robbie Barwick has been dismissive of China’s human rights abuses against the Uighur minority and in January, before the invasion of Ukraine, said Russia was provoked and targeted by a West-backed misinformation campaign.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.09 per cent as Citizens Electoral Council
The Great Australian Party
This was established by former One Nation Senator Rod Culleton, from Western Australia, who left Pauline Hanson’s party to sit as an independent before he was booted from Parliament for bankruptcy (after avoiding a criminal conviction for larceny). Lead Victorian candidate Darryl O’Bryan formerly worked at Culleton’s office in Canberra. The candidates believe the courts are acting outside constitutional law.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.14 per cent
Informed Medical Options Party
This fringe party wants to remove all “no jab, no play” policies and mandates, cut all remaining pandemic restrictions, establish a royal commission into vaccine deaths, and remove fluoride from water supplies.
Legalise Cannabis Australia
Pretty self-explanatory, this party wants cannabis legalised in Australia. The party says personal use should be free from restrictions, but also says the sale of cannabis should require a licence.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 1.5 per cent as the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party
Group T
Susan Benedyka, a founding member of the Voices for Indi campaign that saw Cathy McGowan and Dr Helen Haines elected to Parliament, is running alongside former Frankston mayor Christine Richards. Political integrity and the environment are key to their campaign.
Susan Benedyka is running as an independent Senate candidate for Victoria, part of a growing movement to get independents elected and shake up “politics as usual” in Canberra.Credit:Jason Robins
FUSION: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency
This ticket is a merging of some former, single-issue minor parties. They want to transition to negative carbon emissions within 10 years and a universal basic income.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.4 per cent as the Pirate Party, and 0.11 per cent as the Secular Party
United Australia Party
You’ve heard a lot about this party and its Queensland-based founder Clive Palmer, who has espoused misinformation on COVID-19. They have a raft of policies, including capping interest rates for all home loans at 3 per cent, which economists say do not stack up to scrutiny.
Real estate agent Ralph Babet is the UAP’s No.1 Senate candidate in Victoria. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal damage on Christmas Day in 2014, which was later withdrawn in 2015. In 2017, a criminal damage charge was recorded with no conviction because Babet accepted responsibility without pleading guilty. He pleaded guilty to unlawful assault in 2018 before a magistrate dismissed the charge when he complied with an undertaking.
Ralph Babet, the United Australia Party’s No.1 candidate for the Victorian Senate.
The Liberal Party is preferencing the UAP at No.2 on its Senate how-to-vote card. Should the Liberal Party fail to gain three Senate quotas, it is likely its preferences will help elect Babet.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 2.48 per cent
Sustainable Australia Party – Stop Overdevelopment / Corruption
This group focuses on stopping development and population growth, which they say will protect the environment. They want to limit immigration (as well as natural births) but reject claims it is a racist policy and state Australia’s refugee intake should not be limited.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.38 per cent as Sustainable Australia
Australian Progressives
This group’s focus is the environment, pushing for Australia to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030, as well as establishing a federal integrity commission. The party wants to end poverty, raise the income tax-free threshold, review the goods and services tax and to recoup GST from private schools.
Reason Australia
Founded by Victorian upper house MP Fiona Patten, they want to decriminalise all drugs, so drug use is treated as a health issue. Reason also wants to legalise cannabis, and to trial a four-day working week.
Patten, a crossbench MP in Victoria’s upper house, previously led the former Sex Party. She has driven state-based reforms such as the decriminalisation of sex work, and the medical supervised injecting room in North Richmond.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
The party believes farmers should be free to clear vegetation on their land. It also wants to clamp down on foreign investment, expand the live export trade, expand recreational fishing, and expand mining. The second candidate on the ticket, Nicole Bourman, is the wife of Jeff Bourman who represents the party in the Victorian parliament in the upper house.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 1.85 per cent
Animal Justice Party
The Animal Justice Party is against any lethal methods for controlling animal populations, opposes scientific testing on animals (unless it can be done without causing harm) and wants to ban animal entertainment, including greyhound racing.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 1.53 per cent
Australian Democrats
The centrist party says it acts on merit without partisan or vested interests. They want transparency and accountability. The party was founded in the 1970s by the late Don Chipp, who had defected from the Liberal Party. Having previously held the balance of power in the Senate, the party was deregistered in 2016 for not having enough members before merging with Country Minded and registering again.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.26 per cent
Liberal Democrats
David Limbrick has vacated his upper house seat in Victoria (at least temporarily) to run as the lead Senate candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Victoria. He is running with Krystle Mitchell, the former police officer who quit the force over discomfort she felt enforcing public health orders.
David Limbrick has vacated his upper house seat in the Victorian Parliament to run for the Senate for the Liberal Democrats.Credit:Eddie Jim
The party believes Australia has overreacted to COVID-19; the public should have the power to haul governments back before an election; and wants to allow people to veto legislation. They want to defund the ABC and SBS and also flatten the tax rate.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 0.96 per cent
One Nation
Founded by Pauline Hanson, this party wants to limit migration to net-zero; reduce the intake of refugees and remove Australia from the United Nations Refugee Convention; quit the Paris climate agreement; have a time-limit to welfare support; subsidise apprentices and limit abortions. Victorian candidate Warren Pickering says he was stood down from his job over the vaccine mandate.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 2.85 per cent
Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party
The party believes the courts are overly lenient in sentencing, bail and parole.
Hinch, a former radio personality, who left the Senate in 2019, has spent time in prison and served home detention for identifying paedophiles and rapists whose names were suppressed. He was convicted of contempt of court.
2019 Victorian Senate vote: 2.82 per cent
With Paul Sakkal
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