Monday, November 05, 2007

Comic Relief/Election Trivia

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"Parachuting" - it's what members of local branches of the major parties bitch about when they find themselves saddled with a candidate who they've never met. Someone whose last job was as a staffer to a party big-wig. But minor parties do it too.

A quick check of the House of Reps candidates list (downloaded from the Australian Electoral Commission web-site), turned up no fewer than 19 minor party parachutists - 15 of them from the LDP. Victoria scores 5 of those, all with contact addresses in Queensland.

The other 4 parachutists? One Independent and one candidate each from the Australian Democrats, the Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group) and the Socialist Equity Party. No, never heard of that last lot before either.

(Cross-posted at Larvatus Prodeo in Exile)