TWO minor parties have thrown their hats in the ring to contest the next state election, one promising an app to bypass politicians and the other a review of firearm laws.
Flux Party Queensland and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party have applied to register their parties with the Electoral Commission of Queensland, with notices published in the latest government gazette.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers state chairman Clem Wheatley said its policies would focus on firearms, fishers, manufacturing, law and order and red tape issues for farmers.
"The firearm laws we've got at the moment, they're basically based on political posturing and appeasement and buying votes, rather than based on factual statistics, based on evidence," Mr Wheatley said.
"The licensed firearms users aren't the people causing problems - it's criminals."
Mr Wheatley said the party believed it had a high chance of winning a particular seat held by the LNP at present but he was not willing to disclose which one.
"We're hoping that between us and other minor parties such as the Katter party and One Nation, we can take several seats and actually hold the government accountable," he said.
"We're hoping it's an LNP government but we're hoping they'll also need the minor parties."
And while they would have a focus on regional and rural Queensland, the Shooters wanted to target Deputy Premier Jackie Trad's South Brisbane electorate because of her previous comments about the Adler shotgun.
Mr Wheatley said while they had not formalised any preference deals, the SFF would informally encourage people to put the Katters and One Nation ahead of Labor and the Greens.
Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas this week, Mr Wheatley did not agree firearms laws should be tightened in Australia.
"The type of laws against licensed shooters in Australia have been shown to be ineffective because we're not the ones that are causing the problem," he said.
"It is criminals who cause the problems.
"You can make all the laws you want, but that's not going to reduce crime - that wouldn't have stopped someone from running amok."
Flux proposes a direct democracy model, where Queenslanders would use an app to vote on every bill in Parliament, with MPs casting their vote based on the result in their electorate.
Flux Party Queensland committee member Aaron Whittaker said the platform would give the people the chance to voice their opinion.
"Not just when you vote and you never get to have an opinion for another three years until you vote the next person in or out," he said.
Mr Whittaker said Flux hoped to stand candidates in more than 10 seats, including Cairns and McConnel.
Independent member for Cairns Rob Pyne attended a Flux launch last month but said he was not joining the party.
However, if he was re-elected, Mr Pyne committed to do what he could to introduce the concept of Flux into the Queensland Parliament, stating there should be an inquiry into the technology.
"I think there's ways for the government to allow people to have their say," he said.
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However, Flux and the SFF parties could miss the registration deadline before the next state election, as people have until October 30 to make submissions, and the register cannot be changed from the day after the issue of the writ.
That would not stop them from running candidates as independents.
Labor, the Greens, Liberal National Party, One Nation, Katter's Australian Party and Civil Liberties, Consumer Rights, No-Tolls are already registered with the ECQ.
In July, Cory Bernardi flagged he had completed the paperwork to register his Australian Conservatives party in Queensland.
QUT political science expert Professor Clive Bean said the introduction of compulsory preferential voting could help smaller parties but may not make a big difference.
"People will know that they have to distribute all their preferences so it's not a waste to vote for that minor party because eventually a preference will count for a major, significant party," he said.
"So the sense of 'I better not vote for them because my vote might not count at all' is lessened a bit."
Candidates and registered political parties can claim reimbursement for electoral expenditure when they receive 6 per cent of the formal first preference vote, to cover their campaign spending, including advertising, mail-outs and opinion polls.
Professor Bean said it was unlikely the two minor parties would reach the 6 per cent cut-off.
More than $7 million in election funding was paid out to Queensland political parties following the 2015 state election.
- This story first appeared on the Brisbane Times.
