Yesterday we submitted a list of 1,650 of our members to the Australian Electoral Commission under new rules that trebled the number of members required for registration as a political party. Phew!
Once the list is verified, we will be free contest the Federal Election under our own name.
A big thank you to the team: Elana, Andrew and John for pulling together the data, Scott and Frank for the big job of checking against the electoral roll, Craig for finding the geniuses at VizWisdom and Darren for the final lodging.
And a huge thank you to those who joined, tweeted, retweeted, liked, loved and gave us the encouragement to make it happen.
It also means we have enough members to qualify for registration in a number of State and Territory elections so in many ways the Parliament has done us a favour.
Nonetheless, it should not be so hard to contest elections. The major parties use these tactics to stop new players. They make the rules and give themselves all the advantages.
So, here’s a thought. Why not require parties already in parliament to have member thresholds relative to their number of seats and the great benefits they already enjoy. This would create a more level playing field, stop branch stacking and make politics a lot more democratic.