I love the Senate races, because the single transferable vote system means that occasionally a candidate with very little personal support will get elected via preference flows. So it's a bit of a lottery for the sixth spot, which tends to bring out the nutters and chancers. Labor and the LNP will likely pick up five seats between them, and most likely the sixth will go to the Greens - but this is far from a certainty.
This is my guide to QLD Senate parties, listed in the order they appear on Wikipedia, not the order on the ballot paper. Voters must choose at least six parties/groups, or at least twelve individual candidates. Six candidates will be elected, of the 83 who are standing.
The first column shows the number of candidates standing for each group; The second identifies my personal 'red flags' for each group:
M - Monomaniacs lacking policies on areas other than their specific focus
F - Fascists
P - Personality cultists, aligned behind a narcisistic leader
R - Religious nutters
6 Labor - Main opposition party. Centre left. Current leader is former trade union boss.
6 Liberal National Party - Current government. Centre right, austerity/neoliberal economics, anti-immigrant. Current leader is a religious nutter.
6 Greens - Eco lefties, strongly oppose nuclear power, even though they claim to care about climate change.
5 FP Conservative National - Fraser Anning's mob, too fascist for One Nation.
2 FP One Nation - Pauline Hanson's fascist cunts.
3 M Better Families - Men's Rights activists, sad sack monomaniacs fighting a non-existent problem.
3 P Katter's Australian Party - Right wing personality cultists, too rural focused even for the National Party, wearers of large hats.
2 Liberal Democrats - Libertarians, oppose social welfare and the very existence of government, support nuclear power in Australia but that's their only non-insane policy.
2 FR Rise Up Australia - fascist religious nutters
2 M Shooters Fishers and Farmers - Gun nuts.
2 MP Group R - Hetty Johnston on her usual one woman campaign to elect Hetty Johnston to something, anything. Appears to have no other objective or policies - usually campaigns on a 'think of the children' platform. This time she has a friend, though there's practically zero chance of her second list member getting a seat. They apparently couldn't agree on a name for their 'party'.
3 FPR Conservatives - Cory Bernardi's mob. Left the LNP because they weren't racist enough, nor sufficiently religious.
2 MFR Love Australia or Leave - Crazy fascists trying to out fascist the other fascists.
3 M Independents for Climate Action Now - Eco nutters, strongly oppose nuclear power, even though they claim to care about climate change. The Greens for people who dislike socialism.
2 MF Sustainable Australia - Population control nutters. Fascists with a left-wing twist, the anti-immigration party you choose if you are pretending not to be a racist.
2 M Involuntary Medication Objectors - Anti-vaccination loons team up with anti-fluoride loons to maximise lunacy and minimise life expectancy.
3 FP United Australia Party - Clive Palmer's personality cult. Clive wants to be Donald Trump, but lacks the intelligence, charisma and subtlety.
3 M Animal Justice - Vegan activists.
2 FPR Group X - Father/Daughter team of religious right-wing narcissists.
2 M Climate Action! Immigration Action! Accountable Politicians! - Direct democracy advocates. Have no policies at all other than to have referenda online on every issue. Very fond of exclamation marks!
2 Pirate Party - Civil liberty activists, opposed to copyright abuses by large corporations, in favour of media piracy/liberalization. Despite the name, they have a broad left/secularist platform, and are not apparently crazy.
2 MP Great Australian Party - Rod Cullerton's mob. Batshit crazy anti-income tax, 'sovereign citizen' types who constantly bring cases to courts that do not have jurisdiction, and then cry foul when they don't win.
2 Australian Workers Party - Centre left, anti-neoliberalists. Want to configure the economy for full employment, and subscribe to Modern Monetary Theory.
2 M HEMP - Marijuana legalisation monomaniacs. Probably left/green, but no clear policies other than legalising weed.
2 R Democratic Labor Party - Centre-right Christians, anti-abortion, anti homosexual. Not labor, nor particularly democratic.
2 F Citizens Electoral Council - National Socialists and crazy conspiracy theorists. Would feel at home in the NSDAP of the early 1930s.
Ungrouped:
M Mental Health Party - only one candidate (Paul Stevenson), so listed with the 'Ungrouped'. Advocates for better psychiatric care - essentially a patient advocacy group turned political party.
M Debby Lo-Dean - Small business advocate
Gary Sharpe - Mystery candidate, insufficient online presence to assess.
Paul Larcombe - Crowdfunded independent. Policies seem well intentioned but a bit lacking in specifics. Pro-renewable enrgy, strong advocate for the disabled.
Jane Hasler - Sociologist, mental health nurse. Claims to stand for social justice, but no policy specifics are readily available online.
John Woodward - Mystery candidate, insufficient online presence to assess.
Nicholas McArthur-Williams - Mystery candidate, insufficient online presence to assess. May be vegan activist?
Hassan Ghulam - Mystery candidate, insufficient online presence to assess.
M Wayne Wharton - Aboriginal rights activist
M Amanda Murphy - Eco-warrior. Cares about the environment, doesn't appear to have any other policies.
With eight fascist parties on the ballot, I am expecting to see them perform poorly. In principle, a person can vote for all of them and have their vote transfer to whichever is closest to making a quota; But in practice, most of their supporters have trouble counting above five while holding a pencil in the other hand.
"
Ok, then, crikey, or whatever.