“To be fair, just because they get a conscience vote doesn’t mean they will represent the will of the electorate.”

• This may be true, but it provides them with the freedom to be able to do that when members of most political parties cannot. The best way to analyse whether or not they actually do represent the best interests or the wishes of their electorate is by looking at historical votes, and it is very clear that Rebekha Sharkie of the Centre Alliance has done just that. https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/mayo/rebekha_sharkie

“The only way you get a holistic view on the views of everyone in the electorate is on election day, when people tell you explicitly what types of principles they believe in by voting for a party, and therefore their principles.”

• that is nice in theory but far from reality. A large portion of Australians place (or are said to intent to place) donkey votes. Excluding that, a large portion of Australias never research the views/values/or principles of the political parties before the day of the election and are largely influenced by what they read in the media, which I argue is not based on principles but largely from smear campaigns, fear mongering or scare tactics.

Currently, there is no legal requirement for the content of political advertising to be factually correct. Complainants are advised to raise their concerns with the advertiser directly and/or with their local Member of Parliament. Which is why I take issue at your comment that you get a holistic view of everyone in the electorate because they tell you their principles, largely votes are a reaction to whatever media campaigns had the biggest budget, very few Australians make a thoroughly informed vote and have researched the principles and policies of their parties. If they did, then there would be little need for your little summaries would there?

“Any work the member does after the election is not going to be a reflection of the whole electorate because there is physically no way for them to get that information.”

• also completely untrue. Many representatives conduct regular surveys with their electorate on a broad range of matters. This isn’t the majority, just the best of them. There is absolutely a mechanism to engage with the community/electorate and ask for their thoughts, obviously social media is another mechanism, and tools like the ones offered by Horizon State are coming online rapidly also.

“When you have a party that can pick and choose where they stand, you lose that ability to get that overview, because the majority of votes are going to someone without those strong ideological principles.”

• because there has been such a departure from these “ideological principles” your comment has become far less meaningful, especially with the younger generations who push away from the idea of ideology and instead favour practical policy outcomes and actions on the issues they care about.

‘Sure, you might not agree with a party with strong principles on every issue, but you at least know what to expect in terms of what they will support and not.”

• also not true. Technically, based on the “principles” of the Liberal party, you’d assume they would be supporting a transition to renewable energy based on the economic principles behind it. They do not, and Australians have come to expect that they simply cannot trust any of the major parties to stand true to whatever principles they might have stood for in the past. Many of us, especially the GenY’s, recognise the only thing the major parties stand for is their own self-interest and power.

“You don’t get that with a party like Centre Alliance who don’t have strong ideological leanings. Yes, conscience votes are good and should happen more, but having a rough idea of where that conscience leans principally means you can better decide who should represent you.”

• best way to determine whether the individual or party aligns with you is by reviewing how they have voted in the past. Again, if you look at Centre Alliance, I find it illogical that you could see how they have voted in the past and brand them as Centrist trash