Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has urged West Australian voters to consider party preferencing very carefully when they return to the polls.
On Thursday, the High Court declared the result of the state's Senate election void, as called for by the Australian Electoral Commission after it lost 1375 votes during a recount following the poll in September last year.
That declaration was expected, given Justice Kenneth Hayne determined on Tuesday that Senator Ludlam and the Australian Sports Party's Wayne Dropulich were not duly elected because the number of ballot papers lost far exceeded the margin between the candidates.
Next time around, voters should either take the time to vote below the line or carefully consider the ramifications of each party's preferencing deals, Senator Ludlam said.
Preferences wrangled by political consultant Glen Drury got micro-parties, including the Australian Sports Party, over the line at the last two polls.
Senator Ludlam, who retained his seat in the recount but missed out by a wafer-thin margin at the first poll, said the next election was unique and profoundly important.
"There is a balance-of-power Senate seat in play here," he told reporters.
"I look forward to this campaign.
"It's peculiar to be standing here five and a half months after the original election, but this is the strange circumstance that's been thrown up and we're ready for it."
He said the Greens' door-knocking teams were poised to pound Perth pavements.
While he didn't get involved in negotiating preferences, he believed discussions had started.
"I think diversity is great - the more parties that are involved the better - but people need to be very careful to make sure that they know where the preferences are going.
"Our system has been gamed in the past, it has been manipulated. Your vote is extremely powerful and if anything has underlined how powerful your vote is, the margin came down to 14 votes and then 12 votes here in WA.
"So all I would say to Western Australians is, don't let the back-room dealers decide your vote for you. You decide where your vote goes."
