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It took me about ten minutes to classify all of the minor parties on a rough political spectrum

Check out the policies of the Australian Independents Party. How would you classify them on a rough political spectrum?

Now go to belowtheline.org.au and see which parties they preference (AEC has now disabled their "below the line preferences" data?!) Does this affect how you would classify them on a rough political spectrum?

Now try to search news stories to understand how those preferences came to be. Now how would you classify them?

Repeat 45 times.

Below The Line is a great resource to remember next time around too.

It took me two or so hours to decide on my preferences and then I used Belowtheline.org.au to order them. Senate.io is also good though.
FYI given the small margins that some of the preferences were decided by, below the line votes could very well make a difference in this election. For example it could change the order of elimination of one or two minor parties which would change the flow of preferences.

Did you use senate.io? Really great tool.

Nope, I used belowtheline.org.au.

The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of voters will not take the 10-15mins it takes to vote below the line, let alone the hours of studying the policies AND the registered preferences of the 45 odd parties vying for election. I think perhaps the most egregious outcome is the probable election of a WA Senator who received less the 0.25% of the primary vote!

I *almost* considered voting above the line, but none of the parties put their preferences quite the way I liked them. It must be frustrating for the candidates who did well in the primary votes to be pipped at the post by preference deals.

As much as I like exhaustive preferential voting on principle, the time has come to give voters the right to vote optionally preferentially above the line (if not also below it), so that votes are not cast against the voters actual preferences.

I actually think the time has come for the idea of true democracy - where everyone gets to vote in parliament on every thing - a large percentage of the population carries a smart phone and would be able to install an app to vote in federal issues. I think that's what the Senator Online party were aiming for. If the time hasn't come already for this style of democracy, it will soon...

If the voter isn't a lazy idiot, they DO decide their own preferences for the Senate, and ALWAYS decide their own preferences for the house.

http://www.belowtheline.org.au/

I'm voting No1 Australian sex party. The two major parties are both shit house it's time to help someone else have a go. And at least when it all goes to hell I won't be to blame.

Good for you mate just a quick question- do you know who their preferences are going to? According to http://www.belowtheline.org.au/ (region QLD) and their preferences in order- Australian Sex Party, Secular Party Of Australia, Carers Alliance, Liberal Democrats, Australian Democrats, Senator On-Line, The Greens, Australian Labour Party.. I humbly thankyou on behalf of Gillard for your ALP preferential vote

Your link is broken, where you looking for this: http://www.belowtheline.org.au/?

Someone posted this link higher up the thread, it lets you easily work out a below the line voting order: belowtheline.org.au

so go to http://www.belowtheline.org.au/ and sort out who you're going to vote for. Print out the PDF and take it with you on voting day.

If you're in QLD, vote for the Greens above the line: https://www.belowtheline.org.au/qld/group_r.html

Here's why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhd1I7adhzM

I expect this will be the best year for the Greens in a long time.

Is this really the best timing for this? We're having an election in a few weeks time, and who knows whether we'll even have the same government after that?

Also, Victorians, remember to vote below the line and put Conroy last if you want to make a statement about the Internet Censorship Plan. Sites like http://www.belowtheline.org.au/ will help you prepare your below the line vote with a minimum of work.

Below The Line - How To Vote In South Australia

If Internet Censorship is your main concern this coming election, the following guide has been created online via BelowTheLine.org.au and using the different parties websites and statements on policies to order them.

While they are ordered in preference of internet censorship, the top 2 are ordered based on their ability to influence. The rest are ordered within their preference (against/unknown/for) relatively randomly, except with the Australian Labour Party being given a dead last position, to reduce their influence.

This ballot will result in your vote being against internet censorship, as much as possible.

If you want to change some of the ordering around a bit, feel free to edit the ticket here...
Edit Below The Line - How To Vote In South Australia

Just make sure you keep them in their general positions.

Some information on what positions each party is taking can be found here, though it's good to go over their websites, news articles, and similar...
Australian Political Parties who oppose and support Internet Censorship

Below The Line - How To Vote In South Australia

If Internet Censorship is your main concern this coming election, the following guide has been created online via BelowTheLine.org.au and using the different parties websites and statements on policies to order them.

While they are ordered in preference of internet censorship, the top 2 are ordered based on their ability to influence. The rest are ordered within their preference (against/unknown/for) relatively randomly, except with the Australian Labour Party being given a dead last position, to reduce their influence.

This ballot will result in your vote being against internet censorship, as much as possible.

If you want to change some of the ordering around a bit, feel free to edit the ticket here...
Edit Below The Line - How To Vote In South Australia

Just make sure you keep them in their general positions.

Some information on what positions each party is taking can be found here, though it's good to go over their websites, news articles, and similar...
Australian Political Parties who oppose and support Internet Censorship

The link to the belowtheline website appears to be borked in the article.
A quick Google, finds https://www.belowtheline.org.au/ however.