There will be 11 lower-house candidates in the seat of Nicholls for the 2022 federal election after nominations were confirmed by the Australian Electoral Commission.
Candidates for the Liberal Democrats, Australian Citizens Party, Fusion Party and Australian Federation Party joined the seven candidates who had been widely publicised before the deadline.
The Liberal Democrats’ Tim Laird drew the first position on the ballot, followed by Nationals candidate Sam Birrell.
One Nation’s Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell was third, followed by Labor’s Bill Lodwick, and the Australian Citizens Party Jeff Davy in fifth.
United Australia Party candidate Rob Peterson is in sixth, with the Greens’ Ian Christoe in seventh.
The ballot order
1. Tim Laird, Liberal Democrats
2. Sam Birrell, Nationals
3. Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, One Nation
4. Bill Lodwick, Labor
5. Jeff Davy, Australian Citizens Party
6. Rob Peterson, United Australia Party
7. Ian Christoe, Greens
8. Andrea Otto, Fusion Party
9. Steve Brooks, Liberal
10. Eleonor Tabone, Australian Federation Party
11. Rob Priestly, Independent
Fusion Party candidate Andrea Otto is in eighth, Liberal Candidate Steve Brooks is ninth, Australian Federation Party’s Eleonor Tabone is in 10th and independent candidate Rob Priestly is last on the ballot paper.
The ballot was drawn on Friday at Oke’s Warehouse, which still bears the giant dog decoration it had in its former life as Oke’s Toy Warehouse and will be a voting station on election day.
Most candidates were in attendance, along with a small host of supporters for the formal tradition, which involves blindfolding a member of the AEC staff and drawing numbers out of a barrel.
Numbers are drawn out twice, the first time to randomly assign numbers to candidates, and the second time to determine the ballot order.
Most candidates were not too stressed by the actual order, with Nationals candidate Sam Birrell unperturbed by his position.
“I can assume that it’s probably better to be closer to the top, but I I think most voters will make their decision based on the quality of the candidate, the candidate and the proven delivery of the party,” he said.
Liberal candidate Steve Brooks, who was ninth on the ballot, said he had not paid too much attention to the positioning.
“I don’t think it matters too much, the people who are going to vote for me are going to take the second to find it,” he said.
Independent candidate Rob Priestly said he did not feel disadvantaged at the bottom of the ballot.
“The number one or the number two spot is obviously handy and then after that it really doesn’t make much difference — it’s almost probably better at the bottom of the ballot for clarity of messaging, but it’s not too different.”