Faulty fax machine blamed in Sex Party spat over Senate seat

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Published on Monday, 16 September 2013 00:31

Written by The Australian Financial Review | Mathew Dunckley

A malfunctioning fax machine might have cost the Sex Party its first seat in the Senate.

An argument has broken out between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Australia on one side and the Sex Party over a failure to lodge group voting tickets with the Australian Electoral Commission.

Liberal Democrat leader David Leyonhjelm said his party’s tickets for Victoria were not lodged by the required deadline because a wrong number was dialled on a fax machine.

The fax machine then chewed up the documents.

The list of preferences, known as the group voting ticket, needed to be lodged to allow the party to qualify for an above-the-line box on the ballot paper in Victoria.

Mr Leyonhjelm said the faulty fax also prevented the lodgement of tickets for the Smokers Rights Party and the Outdoor Recreation/Stop the Greens Party, for which he was responsible.

He said he did not have enough time to rescan and send the documents by the deadline. “Do you know how long it takes to scan those sorts of documents?” he said.

He blames the AEC for insisting on old technology, saying he would much rather have an email-based system.

“We are very frustrated by the ­outdated technology we have to use,” he said.

The failure likely had a crucial role in Victoria, where one of the micro-parties, the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party, looks set to win the final Senate position. The Motoring Enthusiasts want to reduce restrictions on recreational drivers. The Sex Party wants to legalise marijuana, allow same-sex marriage and reduce censorship. The Liberal Democrats want to reduce gun and drug controls and taxes.

In NSW, the Liberal Democrats ended up with 8 per cent of the primary vote, partly because it drew the first box on the left-hand side of the ballot paper.

The party’s successful candidate, Mr Leyonhjelm, joked he was “senator for the donkeys”.

‘A desperate man’

In Victoria, the Liberal Democrats scored only a fraction of 1 per cent, despite landing the second column from the left in the top corner of the ballot, but with no above-the-line box.

Sex Party lead Victorian Senate ­candidate Fiona Patten said the Liberal Democrats’ failure to lodge its ticket probably cost her party the last ­Senate seat.

“We really think there is no doubt we could have won that Victorian Senate seat with the preferences of the LDP,” she said.

Ms Patten said her party preferenced the Liberal Democrats in NSW and helped get Mr Leyonhjelm elected.

In return, the Sex Party, which eventually ran third for the last Senate spot, expected to benefit from Liberal Democrats preferences.

Ms Pattern said Mr Leyonhjelm rang her on the day the cards were due to be lodged to say there had been a problem with the Australian Electoral Commission’s fax machine.

The Sex Party then rang its lawyers, hoping to argue that failing technology at the AEC was unfair and the late lodgement of a card should be allowed.

Ms Patten said Mr Leyonhjlem’s fax records were then examined by the Sex Party’s lawyers and they found how-to-vote cards were successfully sent for every other state ahead of the deadline.

The records, seen by The Australian Financial Review, showed the wrong number was dialled and then the fax was stopped. The number was not tried again.

“It beggars belief. The correct number is written on the group voting ticket,” she said, adding there was still 20 minutes until the deadline when the fax was aborted.

“I think it shows that he was a ­desperate man.”

Ms Patten also said the fact that Mr Leyonhjelm had admitted helping arrange funding for the Republican Party to protect his preference deals amounted to cheating. News of the funding help was reported in AFR Weekend.

“He is now a senator, will be a senator of this country, and he is a man who effectively may have cheated his way into the Senate,” she said.

No reason to ‘dud’ Sex Party

Ms Patten admitted she did have a feeling of “sour grapes” over the fiasco. “It sits tough with me that his not ­lodging the tickets knocked me out and my preferences helped get him elected,” she said.

Mr Leyonhjelm said he had no ­reason to “dud” the Sex Party and believes the mistake may have cost him another Senate seat.

“Who are their friends if not us? The Sex Party are up themselves,” he said.

“We quite likely would have won in Victoria if we had lodged our GVT [group voting tickets].”

Mr Leyonhjelm said he did not understand why there would be public interest in the arrangements. “Haven’t you got better things to do than chase these silly ideas?” he said.

The Republican Party of Australia had a preference deal with the Sex Party and also failed to lodge a ticket.

Party founder Peter Consandine said there had been a problem with a fax but refused to say if Mr Leyonhjelm was responsible for lodging the Republican Party’s group voting tickets.

Mr Consandine would not discuss the details of what went wrong. He said he used an agent who then employed another “agent” to lodge his paperwork. He refused to name either agent.

The party also had its ticket refused in Tasmania and again Mr Consandine would not say why that had occurred.

“Big mistakes do happen in ­elections,” he said.

Mr Consandine said the Liberal Democrats had acted “100 per cent ­ethically”.

Mr Leyonhjelm said he would not discuss Republican Party “business”.

Source: The Australian Financial Review