If I understand how the Australian Election System works…

Your technical explanation here, but let’s shove it aside…

… you have your major parties.  Vote for them and you’re pretty much assured that your vote will go to them.

Then you have a whole slew of “micro-parties”.  Vote for them, and your vote will jump about.

And here’s how the Sports Party and the Motoring Enthusiast Party gets elected…

All the left of center parties are advocating for their second, third, and fourth choices different left of center parties.  All your right of center parties are advocating for their second, third, and fourth choices different right of center parties.

It’s interesting, because in America you would assume that, maybe your Green Party vote would jump eventually to the Democratic Party, or that your Constitution Party vote would jump eventually to your Republican vote.  But not necessarily… your Green Party might still hold off against the Democrats as a group of career opportunists only interested, and not want to go there.

Instead we have this bandy about of innocuous political parties of non ideological stripes.  Hobby and Activity Parties.

So your fifth choice of both the Right wing parties and left parties is … your Motoring Enthusiast party and your Sports Party.

The Lowest Common Denominator.  In a way, it’s how your broad-based major party system works in enthusing a bunch of political aims into one general mesh of compromises.  And in  a way, it’s just as well…

Because the vote for both the Socialist and Equality Party and the Palmer United Party ended up going to advancing Motor Enthusiasm.

Because maybe they’re not enthusiastic about Motoring, but they’re at least not hostile toward it.

Or… hugs.

And now today Australia is trying to figure out how to stop the Motoring Enthusiast Party.  The Motoring Backlash has commenced.  While the Party itself takes on a populist note of your “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” rhetorical trope.  (And he will buy a suit.)

Hm.

The man responsible for the helping several of the micro-parties to electoral success is political consultant Glen Drury. 
Mr Drury has told the ABC the current system is designed to keep the balance of power with the major parties but there is a way to manipulate the preferences to advantage smaller parties. 
“Initially I explained to them how the system worked. The system that was imposed upon all of us by the major parties many years ago. The system that was imposed on us to keep minor parties out, by the way. And I showed these people that there is a way through. I don’t think they ever really figured out that somebody would learn how to use the system”. 

I assume he was consulting the rich tycoon of the Palmer Uniteds… somehow I doubt it for the others.

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