This is a party without policy. Quite simply, Senator Online (SOL) want to introduce a system whereby regular voters will be able to vote securely online on every bill that comes before the Australian parliament. Should a certain threshold be reached, SOL’s Senator will cast their vote in accordance with the result; should that threshold not be reached, the Senator will not vote at all. Although this has hints of direct democracy, what it really does is takes the idea of MPs as delegates – rather than trustees – to an extreme.

What do they offer the progressive voter?

If you like their idea, you like their idea. They don’t offer anything else to any group of voters, let alone progressives specifically.

What problematic policies do they have?

I’m honestly sceptical of SOL’s entire plan. Firstly, I believe they are over-confident in the security of the system. Secondly, I am not convinced that the outcome will reflect the will of the people; hot-button issues are likely to be swamped by Internet campaigning in what will turn out to be little more than a popularity contest – i.e. who can mobilise their social media followers most effectively to vote a certain way. Thirdly, literally hundreds of bills go before parliament. Most are routine or mundane; most are also dense and complicated, designed by and for legislators rather than the consumption of the general public. I think most bills will fail to excite much interest, thus leading the SOL Senator to spend most of their time not casting a vote, while those that do excite interest will be voted upon in an uncritical manner without a proper understanding of the bill’s provisions.

Given very few people can be bothered to vote below the line in the Senate, is it reasonable to expect that most people, in voting for a bill, will have properly read it and noted any unusual clauses or amendments? I just don’t think this is workable. We have legislators for a reason – so that the rest of the population doesn’t have to possess specialised political knowledge or devote their time to understanding arcane legislation. SOL say they will provide summaries of bills, but that raises a plethora of its own issues.

Where are their preferences going in Victoria?

SOL are pretty open that they want minor parties to succeed and consequently preference the three major parties last. They give the usual minor party blather that “we’re oh so non-partisan but soz lol we have to give preferences under Aussie electoral law”. At least they openly state that their preferences are based on nothing more than cynical political strategy: they will give high preferences to whatever other parties preference them highly. Hence in Victoria their preferences first flow to most of the single-issue parties with no substantial policy platform. Most peculiar is that the Sex Party is right next to Family First. As for the majors? Well, in Victoria it’s Greens then ALP then Liberal, but they explain on their website that this varies by state. NSW is ALP first, Liberal second, Greens last; Queensland is Liberal first, Greens second, ALP last; Tasmania is the same as Victoria. This was based on some half-baked principle of “balancing” preferences between the main parties. So progressive voters, be wary voting above the line for SOL; your vote may end up helping to elect a nutty micro-party, or if you’re in Queensland – and to a lesser extent NSW – you might just help the Liberals.