This Saturday, 3 May 2025, is federal election day in Australia. If you are unsure who all these parties are on your ballot, I’m here for you. I’ve reviewed all parties registered with the Australian Electoral Commission except for the most widely known ones: Labor, Greens, and the Liberal/National coalition parties. I have also reviewed the teal independents, a couple of unregistered parties who are endorsing independent candidacies, and two independent Senate candidates in Western Australia.

What you will find below: an index to all my reviews, a classification of parties by broad categories of recommendation, recommendations of other sites reviewing the parties, and some voting tips and advice. It should be obvious but these are my personal views and should not be construed as reflecting those of my employer or anyone else. I write from a left-wing perspective sympathetic to democratic socialism and green politics, mixed economies and urbanism. If you have even halfway similar political perspectives to me, I hope this might be useful. Please feel free to share with anybody whom you think will also be interested.

Index to all my reviews for 2025

Read the list below as: party name (ideology / where running). For the locations, a plain state abbreviation means the party is running a Senate ticket in this state; check with the AEC here to see if they also have a candidate in your electorate of the House of Representatives. A state abbreviation with an asterisk (*) indicates that in this state, the party is running only for an electorate or electorates in the House of Representatives; again, check the AEC here to see if it is yours. In some instances, though, I have listed the specific seat.

Animal Justice Party (animal rights / all states + ACT)

Australia First, who are unregistered (neo-Nazi scum / Division of Lindsay)

Australian Christians (Christian fundamentalism / NSW, WA)

Australian Citizens Party (conspiracy theorists / all states + NT)

Australian Democrats (centre-left / NSW*, QLD, VIC, WA)

Australia’s Voice (centre-left / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Centre Alliance (centrism / Division of Mayo)

Dai Le and Frank Carbone W.S.C. (centre-right / Division of Fowler)

David Pocock (green social liberalism / ACT)

Family First (Christian fundamentalism / ACT*, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC)

FUSION | Planet Rescue | Whistleblower Protection | Innovation (centre-left-ish hodgepodge / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Gerard Rennick People First (far-right cult of personality / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Good Party, who are unregistered (centre-left / Divisions of Kingsford-Smith and Page)

Great Australian Party (sovereign citizens / QLD, WA)

Health Environment Accountability Rights Transparency (HEART) (antivax far-right woo / ACT, NSW, QLD, VIC)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights / NSW, NT*, QLD, VIC, WA*)

Jacqui Lambie Network (centre-right cult of personality / NSW, QLD, SA, TAS)

Katter’s Australian Party (right-wing cult of personality / QLD)

Legalise Cannabis Australia (single issue / all states + NT)

Libertarian Party (far-right libertarianism / all states and territories)

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (xenophobic far-right populism / all states + NT)

Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers (anti-environmentalist gun nuts / NSW*, TAS, VIC)

Socialist Alliance (socialism / NSW, QLD, VIC*, WA)

Socialist Equality Party, who are unregistered (antisocial socialism for cantankerous people / NSW as Group B, VIC as Group G, and indies in seats of Calwell, Newcastle, Oxley)

Sustainable Australia–Universal Basic Income (anti-immigration NIMBYs / all states and territories)

Teal independents (centrism / assortment of lower-house seats in all states and territories)

Trumpet of Patriots (lunar right / all states)

Ungrouped independent candidates for the Senate in WA (right-wing or plain odd personalities who should receive a low preference)

Victorian Socialists (socialism / VIC)

Classification of all parties by broad category of recommendation

At the end of each review is a recommendation of how positively or negatively you should preference each party. Let’s see how all the parties have shaken out. Within each category, I am presenting parties alphabetically rather than suggesting an order for your preferences. I have written a separate entry on how I decide the ranking of unpalatable parties.

Good preference: David Pocock, Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia, Socialist Alliance, Victorian Socialists

The parties above have a positive overall platform that has few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter.

Decent to good preference: Australian Democrats; Australia’s Voice

The parties above have a positive overall platform, but I have minor reservations.

Decent preference: Animal Justice Party, Good Party, teal independents

The parties (or independents) above have a generally positive overall platform, but I have reservations.

Middling preference: Centre Alliance, Legalise Cannabis

The parties above have a balance of positive and negative qualities, or a decent platform undermined by a notably terrible policy or characteristic.

Note on Legalise Cannabis: middling is a generalisation as candidate quality varies. In Victoria, for instance, give Fiona Patten (lead Senate candidate) a decent to good preference; in Queensland, give Belinda Jones (lead Senate candidate) a weak preference.

Weak to middling preference: Dai Le & Frank Carbone W.S.C., Fusion Party, Jacqui Lambie Network, Socialist Equality Party, Sustainable Australia

The parties above are problematic, but better than what comes below.

Weak or no preference: Australia First, Australian Christians, Australian Citizens Party, Family First, Gerard Rennick People First, Great Australian Party, HEART, Katter’s Australian Party, Libertarian Party, One Nation, Shooters, Trumpet of Patriots

The parties above have more negatives than positives (usually many more!). In the House of Representatives, where you must give full preferences, put these parties as low as possible. In the Senate, I recommend you do likewise to maximise the potential power of your vote; but I recognise that some of you prefer not to express preferences between varying gradations of undesirability or prefer not to rank the most odious parties.

Other good reviewers

For further opinions, b_auspol has reviewed parties and independents contesting NSW, Kevin Bonham has summarised those contesting Tasmania, Notionoriety has concise left-wing overviews for QLD, NSW, and VIC, Anthony Zougras has overviews of all registered parties (more concise than me, less than Notionoriety), and Something for Cate is very comprehensive, with a Victorian emphasis, continuing the tradition of much-missed Cate Speaks.

Voting tips and advice

When you go to vote, you will receive two ballots. The smaller green one is for the House of Representatives, the lower house; whichever party/ies command a majority on the floor of the House forms government. You must number EVERY SQUARE on the small green ballot for the House. Many seats have independent candidates; make sure you look into them as they vary substantially in their platforms and competence.

The larger white ballot is for the Senate, the upper house. This is the house of review. We are voting for roughly half the Senate, as state senators serve six-year terms. This means each state elects six senators, requiring 14.3% of the vote to be elected; each territory elects just two (who serve terms aligned with the House), requiring 33.3% of the vote to be elected. On the Senate ballot you can vote above the line for PARTIES or below the line for INDIVIDUALS. Above the line you must give at least six preferences; below the line you must give at least twelve; beyond this point, you can do what you like. You can stop preferencing entirely or you give as many more preferences as you want. I strongly recommend you preference as far as possible because this increases the potential power of your vote.

If you want something more visual (and humorous), Patrick Alexander has two handy cartoon explainers: you can’t waste your vote for the House of Representatives and what’s the go with voting for the Senate?

If you want to vote below the line in the Senate, you can make your own custom how-to-vote card using Cluey Voter. It is the only site of which I am aware that allows you to construct a below-the-line vote (Donkey Votie and Build a Ballot can only make above-the-line cards). Print it off and take it into the booth with you! And do you need to find your nearest democracy sausage or cake stall? This website has you covered.

There are plenty of parties contesting this year’s Victorian state election—indeed, the number of candidates is a state record. Interestingly, this has been achieved despite the fact that about a third of the parties who contested the 2018 election are no longer registered. Ballots will feature a bumper crop of cookers and other assorted micro-parties.

Here is my cheat sheet to summarise the recommendations in my reviews. I write from a left-wing perspective sympathetic to democratic socialism and green politics, and readers of this blog will have noticed that at the end of each entry I give a loose recommendation of what sort of preference I would give to that party. Here are almost all* of this election's parties categorised according to how good a preference I think they deserve. If you have even halfway similar political perspectives to me, I hope this might be useful.

*I do not review Labor, Liberal/National, Greens, or One Nation, on the principle that most people reading this blog have already formed views on those parties.

Before I begin, please remember to vote below the line for the Legislative Council (the larger ballot). If you vote above the line, your vote will be sent on a strange and discomfiting journey through the list of preferences registered by the party for which you vote 1. These preferences are typically determined by backroom deals and never reflect how voters would vote if they had control over preferences.

If you put any numbers other than 1 above the line, they will be ignored. THIS IS OPPOSITE TO THE SENATE SYSTEM: at the federal election in May, you could give preferences above the line and they were respected, but for state elections Victoria uses anti-democratic Group Ticket Voting (the only state to still use this loathsome system) and any preferences you mark beyond 1 will be ignored. The only way to ensure your preferences go exactly where you want them to go is to vote below the line. To cast a valid vote below the line, you must distribute at least 5 preferences, numbering 1–5. You can number as far as you want—and the more you number, the stronger your vote will be.

So, here is how I would categorise the parties. The links below lead to my reviews of each party.

Good preference: a party with a positive overall platform that has few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter.

Fiona Patten’s Reason Party (left-wing civil libertarian)

Fusion: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency (centre-left pragmatist; unregistered party endorsing three independents)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights; unregistered party endorsing three independents)

Socialist Alliance (socialism; unregistered party endorsing four independents)

Victorian Socialists (socialism)

Decent preference: a single-issue party with a good objective but by definition too limited in their scope to encompass the fullness of parliamentary business.

Legalise Cannabis Victoria (single issue: blaze it)

Middling to decent: a party with a generally positive overall platform but some significant reservations

Animal Justice Party (animal rights)

Transport Matters Party (centre-left taxi industry front)

Weak to middling preference: problematic, but not as bad as what is below

Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party (tough-on-crime centrism)

New Democrats (centre-right)

Weak or no preference: a party with more negatives than positives. In the Legislative Assembly, you must number all squares, and these parties should receive as bad a preference as possible. In the Legislative Council, you should vote below the line and either give this party a poor preference or let your vote exhaust before reaching it. I recommend preferencing fully to maximise the power of your vote, but you may wish to stop rather than express preferences between varying gradations of undesirability.

Angry Victorians Party (covid conspiracists)

Australia One (unregistered covid conspiracists endorsing six independents)

Companions and Pets Party (animal breeding and racing industry front)

Democratic Labour Party (Catholic conservatism)

Family First Victoria (Protestant extreme right)

Freedom Party of Victoria (covid conspiracists)

Health Australia Party (anti-vaxxers who were anti-vax before covid made it the trendy thing for conspiracists)

Independent candidates for the Legislative Council

Liberal Democratic Party (far-right libertarians)

Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews (personal grudge and/or preference-harvesting front)

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (anti-environmentalist gun nuts)

Sustainable Australia—Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption (anti-immigration NIMBYs)

United Australia Party (covid grievance-mongers floating in a policy-free zone)

Not categorised: general entry for a spectrum of candidates

Tomorrow, 21 May, is election day. If you are unsure who all these parties are on your ballot, I’m here for you. I’ve reviewed all parties registered with the Australian Electoral Commission except for the most widely known ones: Labor, Greens, One Nation, and the Liberal/National coalition parties. I have also reviewed all independent candidates in Western Australia and a selection of others from around the country, including a number who represent unregistered parties.

You will get two ballots. The smaller green one is for the House of Representatives, the lower house; whichever party/ies command a majority on the floor of the House forms government. You must number EVERY SQUARE on the small green ballot for the House. Ignore the “no preference” in the recommendations below; that applies only to the Senate.Many seats have independent candidates; make sure you look into them as they vary substantially in their platforms and competence. View your candidates here.

The larger white ballot is for the Senate, the upper house. This is the house of review. We are voting for roughly half the Senate, as state senators serve six-year terms. This means each state elects six senators, requiring 14.3% of the vote to be elected; each territory elects just two (who serve terms aligned with the House), requiring 33.3% of the vote to be elected. On the Senate ballot you can vote above the line for PARTIES or below the line for INDIVIDUALS. Above the line you must give at least six preferences; below the line you must give at least twelve; beyond this point, you can do what you like. You can stop preferencing entirely or you give as many more preferences as you want. I recommend you preference as far as possible because this increases the power of your vote.

I posted a cheat sheet with my recommended preference categories earlier. If you want to vote below the line in the Senate, you can make your own custom How to Vote card by using this site. Print it off and take it into the booth with you! And do you need to find your nearest democracy sausage? This website has you covered.

If you want my pithy takes rather than full reviews, see this Twitter thread. If you want NSW-focused reviews, see b_auspol; if you want Victorian-focused reviews, see Something for Cate; if you want a Tasmanian overview, see this blog entry by Kevin Bonham.

The index below is alphabetised and ignores “the” at the start of a name (the AEC’s party register alphabetises parties without ignoring “the”). If a party has a Senate candidate in a state, I have named that state—i.e. wherever you live in the state, you can preference this party on your Senate ballot. It might or might not have lower-house candidates in that state too. I have only named a lower-house electorate if a party is standing a candidate there but has no Senate candidates in that state. If the party name is in the form of “party name—state Group XYZ”, this means it is an unregistered party that you will find in column XYZ of that state’s Senate ballot.

Key: party name (ideology / where running)

Animal Justice Party (animal rights / all states + ACT)

Australian Christians (Christian fundamentalism / WA)

Australian Citizens Party (conspiracy theorists / NSW, NT, QLD, SA, WA, VIC)

Australian Democrats (centre-left / NSW, QLD, SA, WA, VIC)

Australian Family Party—SA Group E (Christian fundamentalism / SA)

Australian Federation Party (antivax lunar right / all states)

Australia One (antivax lunar right / see entry for seats in NSW, QLD, SA, VIC)

Australian Progressives (centre-left / ACT, VIC, Ryan [QLD], Sturt [SA])

Australian Values Party (right-wing veterans’ rights / NSW, QLD, VIC, WA)

Centre Alliance (centrism / Mayo [SA])

David Pocock (green social liberalism / ACT)

Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party (tough-on-crime cult of personality / VIC)

Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance (Sinophobic centre-left stupol / QLD, SA, Bennelong [NSW])

Federal ICAC Now (single issue / NSW, QLD, WA)

FUSION: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency (centre-left / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

The Great Australian Party (sovereign citizens / NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights / NSW, QLD)

Informed Medical Options Party (antivax / all states + ACT)

James Bond (left-leaning joke candidate / VIC)

Jacqui Lambie Network (centre-right populism / TAS)

Katter’s Australian Party (cult of personality / QLD)

Kim for Canberra (left-leaning social progressivism / ACT)

Legalise Cannabis Australia (single issue / all states and territories)

Liberal Democratic Party (right-libertarian / all states and territories)

The Liberty Party of Australia—ungrouped independent Glenn Floyd (fringe antivax even by antivaxxer standards / VIC)

The Local Party (centrism / SA and TAS)

Max Dicks (left-wing / VIC)

Nick Xenophon—SA Group O (centrism / SA)

No Mandatory Vaccination Party—WA Group P (antivax / WA)

Reason Australia (centre-left civil libertarian / NSW, QLD, VIC)

Reignite Democracy Australia—VIC Group R (antivax far-right / VIC and see entry for sympathetic indies in all states)

Rex Patrick Team (centrism / SA)

Seniors United Party of Australia (right-wing seniors’ rights / NSW, WA)

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (anti-environmentalist gun nuts / NSW, TAS, VIC, Maranoa [QLD])

The Silent Majority—QLD Group A (really niche right-wing / QLD)

Social Justice Independents—WA Group K (left-wing / WA)

Socialist Alliance (socialism / NSW, QLD, VIC, WA)

Socialist Equality Party—NSW Group F, QLD Group I, VIC Group Y (cantankerous socialists / NSW, QLD, VIC)

Sustainable Australia Party–Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption (anti-immigration NIMBYism / all states and territories)

Teal Independents (mostly centre but variation / NSW, SA, VIC, TAS, WA)

TNL aka The New Liberals (social liberalism and Modern Monetary Theory / NSW, QLD, Sturt [SA], Aston and Hawke [VIC])

United Australia Party (antivax far-right populism / all states and territories)

Victorian Socialists (socialism / VIC)

Ungrouped independent candidates for the Senate in Western Australia (too little info or antivax or otherwise problematic)

Tomorrow, Saturday 18 May, is federal election day. Pour out one for Hawkey and get to your polling booth. And if you’re a little befuddled by all the weird parties seeking election, I’ve got you covered. It’s not too late to look through my party reviews.

You will get two ballots. The smaller one is for the House of Representatives, the lower house; whichever party/ies command a majority on the floor of the House forms government. You must number EVERY SQUARE on the small ballot for the House. Ignore the “no preference” in the recommendations below; that applies only to the Senate. Many seats have independents running for election—if your seat does, look them up because you might be surprised. Some of them are really good candidates. Some are hilariously awful.

The second, larger, ballot is for the Senate, the upper house. This is the house of review. We are voting for half the Senate (as senators serve six-year terms). Each state elects six senators, requiring 14.3% of the vote to be elected. On the Senate ballot you can vote above the line for PARTIES or below the line for INDIVIDUALS. Above the line you must give at least six preferences; below the line you must give at least twelve; beyond this point, you can do what you like. You can stop preferencing entirely or you give as many more preferences as you want.

I posted a cheat sheet with my recommended preference categories yesterday. If you want to make your own custom below-the-line How to Vote card for the Senate, I recommend using this site. Print it off and take it into the booth with you! Need to find your local democracy sausage? This website has you covered.

Now, who the hell are these parties anyway? Note that I do not review the ALP, the Greens, or the members that comprise the Liberal/National coalition. You probably have an opinion on them. Here you can dig into the rest:

(Key: ideology / where running)

#Sustainable Australia (anti-immigration environmentalism / all states, ACT)

Animal Justice Party (single issue / all states)

Australia First (neo-Nazi scum / four lower house seats)

Australian Affordable Housing Party (single issue / NSW)

Australian Better Families (men’s rights activists / NSW, QLD, TAS)

Australian Christians (Christian fundamentalism / WA)

Australian Conservatives (Christian right-wing reactionaries / all states)

Australian Democrats (centrism / NSW, SA, VIC)

Australian People’s Party (right-wing nativism / NSW)

Australian Progressives (centre-left progressivism / Bean [ACT], Canberra [ACT], Fenner [ACT], Longman [QLD], Sturt [SA])

Australian Workers Party (labourism and workers’ rights / NSW, QLD, VIC)

Centre Alliance (centrism / SA)

Child Protection Party (single issue / Sturt [SA])

Christian Democratic Party (Christian fundamentalism / ACT, NSW, VIC)

Citizens Electoral Council (conspiracy theorists / all states, NT)

Climate Action! Immigration Action! Accountable Politicians! (no policy / NSW, QLD, VIC)

Democratic Labour Party aka Labour DLP (Catholic conservative / NSW, QLD, VIC)

Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party (cult of personality / VIC)

Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party (white nationalism / all states and territories)

Health Australia (single issue paranoiacs / NSW, VIC, WA)

Help End Marijuana Prohibition (single issue / all states, NT)

Independents for Climate Action Now (single issue / NSW, QLD, VIC)

Involuntary Medication Objectors (Vaccination/Fluoride) Party (single issue mega-paranoiacs / NSW, QLD, WA)

Jacqui Lambie Network (cult of personality / TAS)

Katter’s Australian Party (cult of personality / QLD)

Liberal Democratic Party (right-libertarian / all six states, Bean [ACT])

Love Australia or Leave (xenophobia / NSW, QLD, TAS)

Non-Custodial Parents Party (single issue / Cunningham [NSW])

Pirate Party (civil and digital libertarian / NSW, QLD, VIC, WA)

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (xenophobia / all states)

Reason Australia (civil libertarian / Cooper, Melbourne, Menzies [all VIC])

Republican Party of Australia (single issue / VIC)

Rise Up Australia Party (Christian fundamentalism / NSW, NT, QLD, VIC, Boothby [SA])

Science Party (technophile futurism / NSW, Mallee [VIC], Perth [WA])

Secular Party (secular humanism / VIC)

Seniors United (right-wing seniors’ rights / NSW)

Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers (anti-environmentalist / all states)

Socialist Alliance (socialism / NSW, WA, Brisbane [QLD], Lilley [QLD])

Socialist Equality Party (niche socialism / NSW, VIC, Oxley [QLD])

The Australian Mental Health Party (single issue / QLD, WA)

The Great Australian Party (white nationalist conspiracy theorists / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA, Bean [ACT])

The Small Business Party (single issue / NSW, VIC)

The Together Party (social democracy / NSW)

The Women’s Party (women’s rights / NSW)

United Australia Party (cult of personality / all states and territories

Victorian Socialists (socialism / Cooper, Calwell, Wills [all VIC])

Voteflux.org | Upgrade Democracy! (no policy / NSW, VIC, WA)

Western Australia Party (right-wing parochialism / WA)

Yellow Vest Australia (xenophobia / VIC, WA)

Ungrouped independents in NSW: part one, part two, and No Tax Free Electricity.Com

I had said I might review the ungrouped independents in VIC and SA but I ran out of time. I had a quick glance at the three SA candidates and they are all weak or middling. Cate of Cate Speaks has covered the VIC independents as part of her own (somewhat less snarky) reviews of the parties. Kevin Bonham has taken a TAS slant here.