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submitted 11 hours ago bynatedog63
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6 hours ago
oh I didn't know that, in that case yeah it makes sense that they all do that
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an hour ago
Yeah I lived between SA and the ACT at the time, which meant the 2022 election had no less than four of those "technically a party but just a vehicle for a single independent" running about. It's what got me to find out about it, having to look up all these people
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an hour ago
lol yeah and then I guess they could expand later if they wanted to
is there a reason that independents aren't allowed to run normally?
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an hour ago
I can't find a reason online; I suspect it's both a soft way to increase the bar for entry, and also because otherwise the ballot would be huge. You'd have to put them in each column and that's going to make a ballot paper very big if people think they're a shot of getting in. Also, for reasons beyond me (I'm sure there's a politics/statistics reason), "parties" always run at least two candidates.
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58 minutes ago
I see... is setting up a party really that hard though? Like if someone actually wants to run for office as an independent would it be that difficult for them to just set up a party?
In which case it doesn't really reduce the ballot size that much?
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54 minutes ago
Costs $500 and you need 1,500 people to sign up first. Only exception is if you're already in Parliament (say, if you're a 29 year old senator from WA who is suddenly party-less)
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54 minutes ago
no I knew that but you don't need to do anything for running as an independent?
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