Controversial political strategist Glenn Druery has turned his sights on next year's ACT election, preparing to advise minor-party and independent candidates on how to win the balance of power.
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Dubbed the "preference whisper" and credited with helping to create the Senate crossbench described by former prime minister Tony Abbott as obstructionist and "feral", Mr Druery has already fielded calls for help ahead of the territory poll set for October 15, 2016.
He will headline a December 3 event in Canberra designed to help community organisations, issues groups and individuals prepare to stand for the expanded 25-member Legislative Assembly, at which candidates will face the voters in five electorates.
Melbourne radio host Derryn Hinch will speak at the event, after declaring he will stand for the Senate as part of the new anti-paedophile Justice Party.
Mr Druery helped small parties construct complex preference deals before the 2013 election, working for a range of fringe candidates and parties under the banner of the Minor Party Alliance.
He has advised politicians including Clive Palmer, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir and the Shooters and Fishers and Sports Party. A one-time senior adviser to Senator Muir, Mr Druery has also worked with the Liberal Democrats, the HEMP Party and Family First.
Before the 2013 election, he reportedly told prospective candidates that success depended on "the numbers, not philosophy".
Mr Druery said the ACT's unusual Hare-Clark electoral system meant winning a seat was like kicking a goal in a football match. Candidates, like players, needed to learn how to "kick a goal from another angle".
Declining to give specifics on his advice, fees or potential clients, Mr Druery said he advised candidates on how to speak to the media and how to negotiate with major parties' deal-makers.
"The system that we have is one that has been put there by the major parties, and it benefits the major parties and has done for a long time," he said.
"Speaking across jurisdictions, like federally, the ACT and other state levels, my role for the past 20 years has been to help facilitate ordinary people, ordinary Australians enter the political process. That's exactly what I will try and do in the ACT."
He said independent and minor party candidates needed to be smart about how to go up against the might of Labor, the Liberals and the Greens.
"Voters get a lot more bang for their buck with minor parties and independents," Mr Druery said. "I've been involved in forming or giving direction to more than 40 minor parties since the mid-1990s."
Mr Druery's success in the 2013 federal election helped spark a push by the federal government to reform Senate voting to stop minor-party and independent candidates with tiny shares of the vote from winning seats in Parliament.
"I don't see why ordinary folks, be they from a service club or a sporting organisation or whatever, shouldn't have the opportunity to run and the benefits of my experience and others," he said.
He defended the role of crossbench senators in representing constituents and negotiating with the federal government and Labor opposition.
Participants at the How to be Heard 2016 event will be advised about how to formally establish minor parties, how to build organisations and volunteer bases, time frames for nominations and taxpayer-funded electoral payments.
Organiser Tim Bohm, who founded the Bullet Train Party and Like Canberra, will also be among other speakers at the Pavilion Hotel seminar.
Also on Friday, the ACT Sex Party will lodge its application to be registered in the ACT ahead of the 2016 poll.
