The recent Federal Election has resulted in some 'surprising' results in the senate. The Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party looks set to win a Victorian seat with only 0.51% of the primary vote, and the Australian Sports Party winning 0.22% of the vote and likely to win a WA seat. This is because of the preference system in the senate, where parties, once eliminated from the race, have their votes sent to other parties (based on their pre-election preference choices). Minor parties tend to preference each other before the major parties, and, as in this instance, they built up enough votes between each other to get a member elected. Supporters believe that this enables more voices to be heard in parliament, but opponents see them as getting disproportional power which detracts from groups which voters actually support. Having a minimum percentage of votes would ensue that members of the senate had some real public support. Many countries with completely proportional legislatures have this, with Germany and Iceland both having a 5% threshold.
It is proposed that parties should require at least 5% of the primary vote in the senate to win a seat.