Well the election is over, the public has spoken and we can settle down/resign ourselves to another 3-4 years of Liberal Party rule.

The federal election is an opportunity for Australians to have a voice and there are some interesting things that were said. We all know about the Liberal/Labor bit. They were the booming voices that dominated the campaign but there were also tiny little squeaky mouse-like voices that contributed small sounds amidst the cacophany. The Green Man chooses to look at the "also rans".

Bottom of the barrel is "Nuclear Disarmament Party of Australia". Out of 13,021,230 voters only 1,617 were inspired by their message. Single issue parties usually end up looking like fringe loonies and it seems that this is the fate of the NDP. (I was going to link to their website but it looks like they don't have one.) Sadly there is not much hope for the "Hope Party" either which came in second last and could only scrape together 2,145 votes.

To attract a broader range of votes you need a broader support base and embracing this little gem of wisdom was the "Lower Excise Fuel and Beer Party". They received a whopping 14,420 votes and am I displaying a sexist bias by speculating that they were probably predominately male voters.

In some instances being specific is better than being general. "Outdoor Recreation Party" (10,456) trailed well behind the "The Fishing Party" at 39,417 votes. We know, of course, that fishing is the most popular sport in Australia so it is hardly surprising that 39,417 people thought it was worth giving them the big thumbs up. Using fishing as our benchmark we may like to speculate on the relative popularity of smoking Marijuana with the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) party remarkably close to The Fishing Party, attracting 32,930 votes. The Green Man observes that its postal address is PO 177, NIMBIN NSW 2480, where else? Sadly, being a Victorian, The Green Man was not presented with the opportunity to vote for Guy FreeMarijuana, who lead their ticket in Queensland.

Of course these are parties are all largely harmless, their share of the vote is not sufficient to gain any seats in the senate. The ones we really have to worry about are the extremists who look normal enough for a significant percentage of the populus to vote for them. The scariest seems to be Family First and even scarier still they may have balance of power in the senate. If you want to know more about them The Green Man suggests Crikey.com . The Green Man is extremely uncomfortable with a party that appears to be a front for a fundamentalist Christian Church having control of the senate.