QLD
A
Socialist Alliance
Keen to hijack any vaguely left wing political movement with their signs, this perpetually hopeful makeshift revolutionary party formed from your local university socialist study group is determined to enact the glorious Marxist-Leninist future - if only they could convince the rest of the country that it wasn't going to end in bread lines.
Political leaning: Far-left
Likes: Marxist-Leninist policies
Dislikes: The incredibly predictable outcomes of Marxist-Leninist policies.
"You can't fight Coke with Diet Coke"
- Socialist Alliance national co-convenor Sam Wainwright, on beverage-based warfare
B
Trumpet of Patriots
General far-right populist sludge with racism included. The 'Trump' in the name isn't an accident - policies are copy-pasted from the US, including a 'Department of Govt Efficiency'. The only positive thing that you can say about them is that Clive Palmer might solve the legacy Australian media's budget crisis through sheer weight of unrestricted campaign ad spending. This time, when his own party coudn't get registered, he joined and took over another micro party.
Political leaning: Right wing populist
Likes: Candidates with criminal records, Tucker Carlson
Dislikes: Candidate vetting
"The Trumpet of Patriots will preference Labor and the Liberals last in the 2025 Federal Election to end the two-party duopoly and make Australia great."
- Clive Palmer
C
Indigenous - Aboriginal Party of Australia
Instead of a Voice to Parliament, how about a Voice in Parliament? One that comes with actual power? Arguably it's a lot easier to achieve, and makes it more likely that Aboriginal issues are prioritised in a way which doesn't involve half the country explicitly voting against them.
Political leaning: Indigenous left
Likes: The Uluru Statement from the Heart
Dislikes: Mining Companies being allowed to blow up their art and poison their water
"We are river people, I am a river man. When our river is in trouble, we all are in trouble."
- Uncle Owen Whyman, Convenor of the Indigenous - Aboriginal Party of Australia.
D
FUSION | Planet Rescue | Whistleblower Protection | Innovation
Accidentally put its entire campaign platform in the "name of party" box when it registered with the AEC. A voltron-like combination of the Secular, Pirate, Science, Climate Change Justice and Vote Planet parties, it has a grab bag of centre-left and left-libertarian policies.
Political leaning: Centre-Left
Likes: Science. Captain Planet. See party name for further info.
Dislikes: Brevity
"Stand back, I'm about to try SCIENCE!"
- Xkcd
E
Australia's Voice
Fatima Payman's new party, has a mix of vaguely left populist policies. Completely unrelated to the Voice referendum but happy to co-opt the name. Party members enjoy a conscience vote on every policy so what they'll actually vote for is anyone's guess.
Political leaning: Left
Likes: Palestinian statehood, Skibiki memes
Dislikes: "Greater" Israel
"To the sigmas of Australia, I say that this goofy ahh government have been capping, not just now but for a long time."
- Fatima Payman
F
Jacqui Lambie Network
A "big tent" political party with only one member, circus ringleader Jacqui Lambie. The party acts as her mood ring, one minute she's a welfare warrior, the next she rails against 'dangerous' progressives under the banner of social conservatism. Good luck figuring out what policies she'll support next year.
Political leaning: Centre-Right
Likes: Veterans
Dislikes: People quitting her party immediately after getting elected
"They'd like us to go live back in caves with candles and eat tofu."
- Jacqui Lambie (on the Greens)
G
Gerard Rennick People First | Katter's Australian Party
Gerrard Rennick "resigned" from the liberals in 2024 over his controversial views on Vaccines, Russia and climate change denial. It's really saying something when you're considered too extreme on these things for the QLD LNP. He's teamed up with Katter's Australian Party, who are right-leaning populists whose key election policy seems to be legislating that you can kill people on your own property.
Political leaning: Right wing populist
Likes: Akubra Hats
Dislikes: Spending time on it when every three months a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland
"Maybe I know nothing about politics, but if this is getting you votes, I am a Martian astronaut!"
- Bob Katter
H
Australian Democrats
After a series of existential crises, what's left of the Democrats now style themselves as a broadly progressive party, with policies on promoting women's leadership, reducing ocean plastic, and evidence-based governance. They held a bunch of senate seats between 1977 and 2007, at which point they lost them all in a game of cards by supporting John Howard. Since then they've tried to make several comebacks, much the same way someone might pull the starter cord of a motor out of fuel. Will they sputter to life this time? *shakes magic 8 ball* Don't count on it.
Political leaning: Centre-left
Likes: The old days when there were only three parties, and they were one of them.
Dislikes: The new days where there are lots of parties, and they aren't any of them.
"Keep the bastards honest."
- Their 1977 tagline is still relevant, unlike their party.
I
Liberal
You know who these guys are. The Liberal Party was founded to oppose the labour movement and socialism, and to champion the ideas of liberalism such as relying on individual freedoms to make a better society for everyone. These days they typically promote harsher jail sentencing for youth offenders and making trips across the country to appear at billionaire iron ore magnate birthday parties. Much irony.
Political leaning: Right
Likes: Cuts, Gina Rinehart, Gas Nuclear Power, Forgetting to switch accounts when they compliment themselves on Facebook
Dislikes: Boats, Taxes, Height limits on trucks
"He is not a monster."
- A stirring endorsement from Ms Dutton
J
Australian Labor Party
It's Labor. You know, the ones currently in power. Love talking about Medicare. Represent the interests of workers and their trade unions, except the CFMEU union which can just stand in the corner and think about what it did for a while.
Political leaning: Centre-Left
Likes: Medicare
Dislikes: People remembering what the CFMEU did
"Look at this, I've got lollies here for some reason. Here you go. Don't say I've never given you anything."
- Albo, addressing the press gallery
K
Great Australian Party & HEART Party
HEART are anti-vaccination, anti-flouride, pro-conspiracy whackadoodles. The Great Australian Party are sovereign citizens who believe the Constitution is invalid, personal income tax is illegal, and that flouride is banned in international law. Their QLD candidate, William Bay, quit the party before the election even happened due to "concerns over misuse of members' money" and is now running as a disendorsed candidate.
Political leaning: Right wing populist
Likes: Long conspiracy theory videos
Dislikes: Experts
"Eight laws of health - sunshine, pure air, water, rest, good diet, temperance, exercise and trust in divine power"
- Lead HEART NSW candidate Michael O'Neill
L
Citizens Party
A venerable crackpot party that's been saying odd things since 1988, though they seem far less conspiracy-minded than they used to be. Imagine someone wearing a tinfoit hat in a suit talking about the Glass-Steagall Act. They want to abolish oligarchical things like the big 4 banks, AUKUS, the monarchy, ColesWorth and private energy companies. Keen on turning Australia Post into a people's bank. Climate change conspiracy theorists. Want a royal comission into the COVID-19 response. Have a strong policy focus on, of all things, banking reform.
Political leaning: Mixed
Likes: Local Post Offices
Dislikes: Duopolies, the US military
"John Lander...represented Australia at UNESCO, under Gough Whitlam, and has many funny stories."
- (party founder Craig Isherwood)
M
Animal Justice Party
The only party to mandate that all candidates must be vegan, after a massive controversy in which a former AJP MP was seen eating fish once in a Sydney sushi restaurant. They're campaigning for animal welfare, afforable housing, animal welfare, fairer taxation, and animal welfare. They're even proposing the introduction of Veticare, which is like Medicare, but for pets and wildlife. Luckily our marsupials have pockets so they can carry their Veticare card.
Political leaning: Animal Left
Likes: Animals
Dislikes: Being photoshopped to look sexier by Channel 9
"I strayed for that moment; for that morsel."
- Former MP Mark Pearson, on eating fish that one time
N
Family First
Not huge fans of the separation of Church and State. Huge fans of religious freedom, in the context of using religion to freely complain about abortions and drag queens.
Political leaning: Far-right
Likes: Families (as long as they're good Christian heterosexual nuclear families)
Dislikes: Preferred pronouns in public servant email signatures
"I was sued for "hate speech" in 2020 after I wrote a series of blogs critical of drag queen story time (DQST) - an initiative of the LGBTIQA+ global political movement designed to indoctrinate little children into harmful gender fluid ideology and radical LGBTIQA+ sexual expressionism."
- Lyle Shelton
O
Legalise Cannabis Party
Single issue party that does what it says on the tin. Jeremy Buckingham, their NSW MP, was kicked out of the Greens for sexual harassment and joined after stumbling on the party while "googling how to grow really massive dope plants" (yes that is an actual quote).
Political leaning: Chill left
Likes: I think you can guess
Dislikes: The NSW Police
"You never see anyone at a McDonald's carpark get in a punch-on because they've had too many bongs."
- Jeremy Buckingham, Legalise Cannabis Party MP
P
The Greens
Either the smallest major party or the largest minor party, depending on your viewpoint. During the last term of parliament they've fought for renters, refugees, and endangered stingrays*. How much have they achieved? Good question, but either way they're definitely not getting paid for it, as none of those groups have disposable income and/or pockets. *Technically it's a skate, not a ray, and if you knew that already you're probably a greens voter.
Political leaning: Left
Likes: Spending way too much time writing fully costed policies.
Dislikes: Someone else implementing their policies and getting all the credit.
"Labor has excellent values when they're in opposition."
- Christine Milne, former leader of the Australian Greens
Q
Pauline Hanson's One Nation
Still a bunch of racists, but now more broadly right-wing populist. Deny climate change, anti-LGBT, anti-abortion, anti-immigration, etc etc. In a major twist, Pauline Hanson's daughter is running in Tasmania - where you're considered to be an immigrant if you weren't born there.
Political leaning: Far-right
Likes: Racism.
Dislikes: When you turn my voice about.
"I don't like it."
- Pauline Hanson
R
Sustainable Australia Party - Universal Basic Income
An odd mix of progressive policies and anti-immigration dogwhistling. Progressive parties are like cake recipes - if you want them to rise you have to add ingredients that make sense. A bunch of leftish flavour on evidence-based decision making, environment, housing, but unfortunately they've thrown in a big cup of fairly rancid immigration policies. Had to get rid of their Tasmanian candidate for being a transphobe, because they only have room for one kind of prejudice thank you very much.
Political leaning: Left sliding right
Likes: The first half of old sci fi movies where everything *seems* lovely.
Dislikes: Intersectionality, Kiwis (they want to abolish the open borders Trans Tasman Travel Arrangement with New Zealand)
"For those who've come across the seas We've boundless plains to share"
- Australia's National Anthem, but from the second verse which *doesn't count*
S
Libertarian
Libertarianism is supposed to be about having a small government with the individual having more control over their personal lives. So their policy of selling off the ABC and SBS, privatising schools, and relaxing gun laws makes perfect sense. Their opposition to people transitioning to a different gender on the other hand makes them look like conservative hypocrites who just want to pay less tax. Renamed themselves from the Liberal Democrats to align themselves better with their new stronger antivax positions.
Political leaning: Far-right
Likes: Personal freedoms (theirs)
Dislikes: Personal freedoms (other people's)
"You should be able to pay 99c for a litre of petrol, and 99c for a can of Tooheys New or VB."
- Libertarian party twitter