Animal Justice Party Preferences

How-to-Vote Cards and Preferences: Why They Matter

How Preferential Voting Works

Australia uses a preferential voting system for federal elections. That means you must number every candidate on your ballot in the order you prefer them. Here's how it works:

1. Start with 1: Place a “1” next to your favourite candidate.

2. Number every box: Continue numbering the rest in your preferred order (2, 3, 4…).

3. If no one wins a majority: If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, the one with the least votes is eliminated, and their votes are passed to the next preferred candidate.

4. Your vote keeps counting: This process continues until one candidate gets over 50% of the vote.

💡 This means even if your top choice (obviously AJP!) doesn’t win, your vote can still make an impact through your preferences.

HOW TO VOTE CARDS ARE AVAILABLE ON EACH CANDIDATES PAGE

AJP’s 2025 Preference Recommendations

The Animal Justice Party takes preferences seriously. While we remain independent of all other parties, our preferences reflect a combination of our core values and strategic considerations.

For the Senate, we suggest preferencing:  #1 AJP, #2 Fusion, #3 Legalise Cannabis, #4 Victorian Socialists, #5 Greens, and lastly #6 Labor as the lesser of the 2 evil major parties.

These parties offered stronger commitments to animal welfare, environmental protection, and social justice than the others on the ballot. The Liberals and Nationals want to expand Live Export which is unfathomable to us!

It's important to note that NONE of these Parties are as determined to improve animal protection policy as AJP. We do not “endorse” other parties because they're as good as us, but we use our preferences to help deliver the best possible outcomes for animals, people, and the planet.

Why We’ve Taken This Approach

This election is critical. While no other party fully meets the standard we demand for animals or the environment, we must make strategic decisions to ensure the next Parliament is more compassionate and capable of delivering reforms.

Our how-to-vote guides are created for voters who want to:

✅ End animal cruelty
✅ Protect our environment
✅ Promote a fairer, more sustainable society

We acknowledge that some voters have strong loyalties or niche issues that may lead them to preference differently — and that’s okay. We encourage you to use your own judgement. Our guides are suggestions, not instructions.

Our Transparency Commitment

Unlike many parties, the Animal Justice Party is committed to being open and transparent about our preference decisions. We challenge others to do the same.

We know real change doesn’t come from playing politics as usual — it comes from putting values first. So we’ll always tell you exactly why we made the decisions we did, and we’ll continue to hold every party to account.

TL;DR:

• You control your preferences.

• AJP’s guides are suggestions, not mandates.

• We preference those who can deliver the best outcomes for animals, people, and the planet.

• Our #1 focus is ending cruelty — and we’re proud to say it.