TAS

They want to cap Australia's population at about 30 million, and significantly reduce Australia's immigration intake to achieve that. But they're not an anti-immigration party! Their policies in general are vaguely left wing, but the kind of left wing that your nimby aunt and uncle would get behind (as long as it didn't affect their real estate value).

The original right wing racist party, in recent years Pauline Hanson has branched out into other forms of far-right populism. Her most recent efforts include complaining about vaccinations, lockdowns, and spreading misinformation about voter fraud. Attempted to run candidates in all 150 lower house seats only to be called out by the AEC for several of these candidates living in other states.

Representing people is hard, so they represent animals instead. Despite representing a non-voting, non-human constituency, they have actually managed to get elected to two state parliaments. They want to make it illegal to sell processed meats to people under the age of 18 (good thing bacon-loving teens can't vote). If you're a cottagecore cat lover, your vote doesn't get any more on-brand than this.

Australia's main centre left party and current opposition. Focused on higher wages, cheaper child care and... oh look, you know who these guys are. It's a bunch of mostly inoffensive politicians, a tad left of centre. Will they win and do something useful this time? Who knows.

Formerly known as the HEMP party, Legalise Cannabis Australia are seeking to tap into a mood amongst the Australian people that after the last 3 years, we badly need to get high without getting arrested. Let's face it, after our respiratory systems have already been destroyed by bushfire smoke and a pandemic, what further harm could a little marijuana smoke do?

Fans of Shooting, Fishing, and Farming, as the name implies. Have somehow come to the conclusion that Libertarianism will deal with all rural issues. They dislike mining on environmental grounds, but wouldn't phrase it that way because they also hate the Greens. During lockdowns they were vigorously campaigning that Firearms Dealers were essential services, because of course they were.

After a brief stint being named The Australia Party/Give It Back (yikes), the newly renamed AFP is a loose collection of conspiracy theorists and people who spend too much time on the internet. They want Australia to be neutral but demand China withdraw from Hong Kong. They hate vaccines, want to abolish superannuation, and think we should revert to the Gold Standard. Whackadoodles.

What do you get when an independent, a former Green, and Jacqui Lambie's media advisor walk into a bar? The Local Party! (Local as long as you live in Tasmania or South Australia anyway.) Their policies are a mix of green/nimby/community consultation. But it doesn't matter, because they're not really a political party, they're all local independents! Not beholden to anyone, not even each other.

The third largest party in Australia, after Labor and the Liberals. (Yes they get twice as many votes as the Nats, yes they want you to know that.) Their policies include dealing with climate change, expanding medicare, and solving the housing crisis. But they don't take donations from big corporations, so you can guess how well *that's* going.

Picture small government. Smaller. Smaller. Even smaller than that. That's what the Liberal Democrats are trying to achieve. They want to sell everything - education, health, the post office, ABC, SBS, our National Parks... all in the name of personal freedom and lower taxes. Well known for running candidates who used to be part of one of the two main parties, this year it's QLD's former Premier Campbell Newman. Amusingly their website features the Eureka flag, which will almost certainly result in them being shortly "paid a visit" by the Victorian CFMEU.

Populist bastards who will say and do anything to get elected. Clive Palmer and Craig Kelly's right wing libertarian United Australia Party is promising to give you back your freedom. They are vehemently opposed to lockdowns that already ended, to vaccinations which 97% of people already got, to border closures that Mark McGowan already lifted, and to debt that both parties racked up. Proposing a mining tax on iron ore, which won't hurt Clive's coal mining businesses, but will probably hurt them in Western Australia.

The current government. You should already know about them. If you don't, well, they're a fairly boring set of white conservatives that have presided over corruption, incompetence, economic damage and natural disasters of biblical proportions yet are not doing (and will never do) anything useful about it.

After winning a senate seat for Clive Palmer, Lambie realised he was the physical manifestation of capitalist greed, and quit. Since then she's shown the rare ability in politicians to adjust her views, mellowing a lot from her previous far right positions. But she hasn't gotten rid of all of them yet, which is why she thinks we can solve Climate Change with National Service. Jacqui's senate spot isn't up until next election, so this time her candidate is Tammy Tyrell, whose website opens with "Hello Beautiful!"

Originally a single issue party on vaccinations, they've now spread out to be anti fluoride, 5G, abortion, GMO, and the UN. They should probably have checked what 'imo' is short for before picking a name with that acronym, but honestly, the "in my opinion" Party is surprisingly apt.

Miscellaneous independent candidates. Only really relevant if you're voting below the line and if you are then I salute you.