When Noosa residents go to vote in the federal election on Saturday 3 May, if they haven’t already done so, they will have to choose from seven candidates for Noosa’s Wide Bay House of Representatives electorate and select Senators.
To vote for a Member of the House of Representatives, the Australian Electoral Commission advise you are required to write the number ‘1’ in the box next to the candidate who is your first choice, and the numbers ‘2’, ‘3’ and so on against all the other candidates until all the boxes have been numbered, in order of your preference.
On the white Senate ballot paper, you need to either number at least six boxes above the line for the parties or groups of your choice, or number at least 12 boxes below the line for individual candidates of your choice.
It is the voters who decide the preferences on their ballot papers.
While political parties and candidates often recommend how to number a ballot paper as was noted this week at Noosa’s early voting booth, it is entirely up to each voter if they want to follow that advice or not.
Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party, which has openly modelled its policies on those of Donald Trump, is recommending preference votes go to Greens and Labor ahead of the LNP and urges voters to give their second preference to pro-Labor Independent Casey Iddon.
On its Wide Bay How to Vote leaflet, it then recommends Family First, One Nation, Greens and Labor, ahead of the LNP in last place.
And despite Greens and Labor appearing to campaign against each other, with strong mutual attacks in recent weeks, the two parties recommend each other for Number Two position.
Both are backing Mr Iddon for third place.
However, they are both more generous to the LNP than Trumpet of Patriots, giving it fourth preference, ahead of Family First, Trumpet of Patriots and One Nation.
Those are the bigger surprises from How to Vote leaflets for Wide Bay electorate.
Less surprising is that Family First and One Nation have similar, though not identical recommendations.
The difference is that Family First has given its second preference to One Nation, followed by Trumpet of Patriots, while One Nation has given second place to Trumpet of Patriots, followed by Family First.
Both then list, in order of preference, the LNP, Mr Iddon, Labor and Greens.
The LNP has asked its supporters to give second preference to One Nation, followed by Family First, Trumpet of Patriots, Mr Iddon, Labor and Greens.
Mr Iddon on Tuesday was not distributing How to Vote leaflets at Noosa’s early voting booth, Noosa Baptist Church.
