Australia has a preferential voting system, as earlier explained. If you give your first preference to an independent and they are unsuccessful, your vote will transfer to the candidate to whom you gave your second preference. Therefore, there is no risk in giving your first preference to an independent.

Even if the Independent you vote for doesn’t get elected, your vote has not been wasted. An increase in competition in elections puts more pressure on the candidates to try and gain your vote. This means they will need to try to appeal to more voters, promising solutions, and actively work with community members to hear concerns. This encourages more productivity and effectiveness, or representatives risk being voted out at the next election.

Independents also have the power to turn safe seats, where the governing party is likely to hold power, into swing or marginal seats, which means the outcome could go either way. Politicians in safe seats are more likely to take their seats for granted and, therefore, won’t try as hard to win voters. Swing and marginal seats receive more attention and funding from major parties. A recent study found marginal electorates are 3.5 times more likely to get funds for projects compared to safe seats.<sup>[2]

[2]</sup> Medhora, S. (2019, May 1). Safe and swing seat. ABC Triple J. https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/safe-and-swing-seat/11063162.