Minor parties hit with how-to-vote card controversies in first week of pre-polling

Trumpet of Patriots and Fusion have both faced public scrutiny over preference recommendations.

Two minor parties fighting to win seats have changed their how-to-vote cards in just the first week of federal election polling.

Yesterday, the Trumpet of Patriots (TOP) released a statement claiming a number of their how-to-vote cards had been "tampered with", days after it emerged that the party was recommending preferencing Labor, the Greens, and teal independents in some key seats.

The claim of interference came just days after Trumpet of Patriots publicly defended its decision to recommend preferencing Labor candidate Renee Coffey second in the Queensland seat of Griffith, currently held by Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather (who was placed last). This has now been changed to place LNP candidate Anthony Bishop above both Coffey and Chandler-Mather.

On Friday, Rob McMullan, who was the United Australia Party (UAP) candidate for Griffith in 2022 and is now running second on TOP's Senate ticket in Queensland, urged people to "look at the bigger picture" and said "the reality of [Griffith] is that it's only going to be either Labor or Green".

The official TOP account on Twitter also said on Sunday the decision to have Labor ahead of the Greens was deliberate, with a decision to "deprive the Greens of any preference whatsoever and set up our preferences to install Labor in safe Green seats".

Griffith TOP candidate Aaron Hayes today posted the revised how-to-vote card, thanking people for "bringing this to our attention," and saying the party "rectified the preferences and appreciate feedback moving forward to this election".

In an exclusive interview with 6 News yesterday, Makin TOP candidate Mark Aldridge said he was "pretty unhappy" with the decision to preference non-conservative candidates in key seats but stopped short of withdrawing as a TOP candidate, as Flinders TOP candidate Jason Smart did on Easter Monday.

TOP has still promised to preference the incumbent Labor or Coalition member last in relevant seats, although in the marginal Sydney seat of Bennelong, Liberal candidate Scott Yung is last, behind Labor MP Jerome Laxale.

6 News has repeatedly requested an interview with TOP leader Suellen Wrightson since February, but have not received responses locking such an interview in.

Meanwhile, the Fusion Party has also faced backlash after revealing its how-to-vote cards in three Victorian electorates.

Of particular note was Labor-held McEwan, where the Family First Party was placed fourth, behind Animal Justice and Legalise Cannabis but above Labor and the Greens.

Fusion's Twitter account defended this as its candidate, Erin McGrath, putting "anyone vaguely reasonable above the majors".

But shortly after, the party deleted its original post and claimed a "pre-production [how-to-vote card] of Erin was published by mistake," saying the party is "NOT preferencing FF above Labor/Greens".

"In the first instance, we understood that people thought the guy was reasonable. Evidently they looked into things more and that changed - the design that got posted wasn’t the actual design file being used by the team, and it was posted incorrectly," Fusion tweeted.

Also getting attention was the party's decision to preference independent candidate Tim Smith (not the former state Liberal MP of the same name) second, and Liberal candidate Steph Hunt third, in the seat of Melbourne held by Greens leader Adam Bandt.

In Labor-held Wills, the Libertarian Party was preferenced above Labor and the Greens. The Fusion how-to-vote card for the Senate in Victoria also has the Libertarians fifth (behind Legalise Cannabis, Animal Justice, and Australia's Voice).

As reported by 6 News last week, Fusion has established an alliance with the deregistered Australian Progressives and the never-registered Democracy First (formerly known as The Conservative Party among other names), promising a "non-ideological, not left or right" centrist stance.

According to election analyst Dr Kevin Bonham, the rate of voters that follow how-to-vote cards in the House of Representatives is around "45% for [major parties], usually 15% or less for anyone else," and in the Senate it's even less: "[circa] 25-30 for majors, 10% or so for Greens, a few percent [for] most others".