Originally published in The Australian Financial Review on September 10, 2013

Small reforms to Senate preference voting could deliver a better and more stable system for everyone.

A simple solution would be to ensure that parties which polled below a threshold, say 2 per cent, could disburse but not receive preferential votes. Such an approach would ensure no votes were “wasted” but at the same time it would provide an incentive for micro parties to work together to campaign for votes rather than divide again and again in the hope of improving their chances in the Senate preference lottery.

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