I ran for the Animal Justice Party in the electorate of Grayndler in the 2022 Australian Federal Election (also for Inner West Council last year). I received 1.2% of the first preference vote, which frankly I was very disappointed with, not least because the One Nation candidate, who doesn’t live in the area, did no campaigning, and who the media couldn’t even find any information on, received 1.5%. Perhaps the strong Greens presence in the area means they take all our potential votes.
I’d like to share two videos I made recently regarding the election. First is an explanation of why I was running, second is a discussion of what it’s like being a candidate (made after the election). The latter was quite a personal and candid account of the hard side of being a candidate, something I don’t hear a lot of people talk about.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3qHX5Ihw4]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W26qbnD5M-I]
Election results
Labor has formed government. For animals, things will be a little better. The new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has reiterated that Labor is committed to ending live sheep export (though have not produced a timeline yet). However, on many meaningful animal issues, Labor is only a little or not at all better than LNP.
A large influx of Greens and teal independent MPs in both the House of Representatives and Senate might lead to some improvements, but not as much as if Labor had formed a minority government and Greens and/or teal independents held the balance of power, or made a coalition with Labor (that would have been interesting). In the Senate, Greens + Labor is looking like 38 seats, which is half of 76 – 1 shy of a majority, which may hold some bargaining power.