Print

Mail

wiki links

Australian TV show uses phone vote to pick Senate hopeful

Who wants to be a senator? An Australian reality television contest is offering people the chance to become a celebrity candidate, but the prospect has scared major political parties.

Seven Network's planned contest Vote For Me has raised concerns that the power of TV celebrity could thrust political novices into crucial Senate seats where they could thwart the government's legislative agenda.

``The Senate is finely balanced as it is, and I don't think it would be in Australia's interests to potentially have a candidate elected by the power of a particular TV station making decisions on everything from taxation to national security,'' Special Minister of State Eric Abetz said yesterday.

Contestants will have a chance to appear on TV and campaign for an A$107,000 (US$73,830) a year job with a generous pension for six years as a senator. Federal elections are expected by year's end.

A panel of three judges will pick three finalists from each of Australia's six states after viewing videotaped campaign pitches. Viewers will then vote for a single winner for each state via mobile phone text messages.

The winners get A$10,000 (A$6,900) to fund their campaigns and something most independent candidates can only dream of: nationwide television coverage.

Candidates without the backing of the traditional political forces -- the Liberal, National and Labor Parties -- traditionally don't have much success in the House of Representatives, the lower house where governments are formed.

But because of a different voting system in parliament's upper house, independent candidates have a better chance of gaining a seat. A Senate candidate needs less than 15 percent of the total votes in a state to win a seat.

Governments rarely hold a majority in the Senate and have to haggle with independents and opposition parties to pass laws.

When the four independents currently among the 76 senators vote with the government, the government wins by a single vote.

Among lawmakers' concerns is that extremist groups could enter contestants as ``Trojan horses'' who will slip into the Senate before declaring their true agendas.

``That is undoubtedly a possibility and that is a matter of concern, I would have thought for all Australians, that they might end up with this type of person for six years,'' Abetz said.

The potential impact of the game on traditional politics dawned on some slower than others after it was announced last week.

Labor Party deputy president Barry Jones agreed to be one of the three judges but withdrew after Labor colleagues pointed out the contestants could take seats from his party.

University of Sydney lecturer Rod Smith, said the program raised conflict-of-interest questions.

``Channel Seven's motives are obviously ratings, so it seems a pretty dubious exercise for Channel Seven, which is on the one hand presenting itself presumably as a serious reporter of television news about the election and at the same time promoting a slate of candidates,'' Smith said.

Executive producer Adam Boland said all potential concerns had been examined by Seven's lawyers, executives and the Australian Electoral Commission before the program's launch.

Lawmakers say the program trivializes politics.

``If the networks want to trivialize television, they can,'' senior Labor lawmaker Bob McMullan said. ``But they shouldn't trivialize democracy.''
This story has been viewed 1897 times.