Shouts from the desert

The Australian Democrats MLC, Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, has conceded defeat in the New South Wales Legislative Council, leaving the Democrats without any New South Wales legislators at either the State or Federal level. If they fail to get a seat in the Senate in this year, there is no doubt that this will be the end of the Democrats in New South Wales, and there is a good chance of the Democrats being wiped out nationally. In a survey of 504 Queensland voters this week, the Democrats scored zero.

When we look at the available options Federally, there are in order of electoral support:

• the ALP;
• the Liberal/National Coalition;
• The Greens;
• Family First;
• The Australian Democrats; and
• One Nation.

Family First, a political party with a policy platform and support base heavily influenced by religion, have more support than the Australian Democrats. In terms of the political beliefs of the voters I believe this is utter nonsense.

I suspect part of the problem is that the Australian Democrats have been trying to court the left of politics. That is a battleground they cannot win - it is the core territory of the Greens. A strategy that involves going after that ground is doomed to failure and impedes the ability of the Democrats to attract votes from people at the centre of the spectrum, which is the Democrats' natural territory.

Where in the list above is a party that represents people who prefer the Government to stay out of their private lives, and like cautious economic management? That is certainly neither Labor nor Liberal, which seem determined to outbid eachother in forcing us to live our lives according to a conservative cookie-cutter mould. Likewise Family First seems to be nothing more than the little brother (or perhaps, fittingly enough, the bastard child) of the far right of the Liberal Party. One Nation is the party for paranoid bigots, and while the Greens believe in staying out of the private lives of others, caution in economic matters is not one of their strong suits.

The only party in the above list that represents people who think Government has no role interfering in the private lives of citizens and who believe in cautious and responsible economic management is the Democrats. I believe that section of society is much, much larger than zero, and much, much larger than the 1.5% that the Australian Democrats polled in the New South Wales Election a week and a half ago. In fact I believe the percentage of voters for whom the Democrats are a natural fit would dwarf the 8% of voters who support the Greens.

The Democrats are not getting this vote now because they have been tarred with the "loser" brush. The voters who are their natural support base are largely avoiding them because they believe a vote for the Democrats is futile. In this way the belief that the Democrats are going to be history at the end of the year becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If the Democrats are wiped out in the Federal Election then the Greens will end up as the only viable option for people who want to ensure that neither major party holds an absolute majority in the Senate. This would leave a significant chunk of the electorate without any viable option that represents them. The only thing that could prevent this outcome is if voters in the Democrats' natural support base realise the disservice they are doing themselves and choose en masse to make a last-ditch effort to keep their option alive by giving their vote to the Democrats, no matter how futile it may seem.