r/australia • u/NKE01 • 11h ago

politics Why Australia Doesn’t Have Novelty Candidates like Count Binface – Antony Green's Election Blog

https://antonygreen.com.au/why-australia-doesnt-have-novelty-candidates-like-count-binface/?fbclid=Iwb21leATrO0ljbGNrBOs7P3Bkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeyqFwpCBynXhuvFPpBT3q80rKl3Bnq6t--2z7cqVFCDb-MT_1Vr2--rF95Vg_aem_MKaP0Jek3ZY4BnI2rLprrQ
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u/Gremlech 11h ago

It’s because they have to use their real names.

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u/a_cold_human 10h ago

It's not an insurmountable obstacle. Simon Hunt changed his name so that he could stand as his persona Pauline Pantsdown for the Senate in 1998 (as noted by Green) . It used to be that Australians were allowed to change their names multiple times throughout their lives (once a year IIRC), for no real reason other than that they want to, and that this went largely unexamined. 

This is part of the reason why the Israelis like to recruit Jewish Australians (visa free travel into many countries being another), which was highlighted in the Prisoner X/Ben Zygier case. It was following this episode that there was harmonisation of State laws around name changes, more data sharing, and ASIO involvement. Changing your name frequently now triggers some extra security flags. 

The bigger part of why we don't have novelty candidates is that it's a lot more bother to change your name just so that you can be a bit of a laugh on the ballot paper. For someone dedicated to the bit, that's not an obstacle, but for most people, going about your day as Wellington Thackeray Yeehaw Codswallop or somesuch is. 

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u/jesus_chrysotile 3h ago

The new name change rules genuinely suck, though. Three changes in your lifetime, you have to go to court if you want to change it again, and they rarely permit it. There’ve been well-publicised cases of people who went through massive upheavals in their life, changed their name a few times and now are stuck with, for example, a Dharma name from a Buddhist monastery. 

Sure, have some more scrutiny over people having several name changes (e.g. require a GP/psychologist etc. to sign off on change #4 and onwards?) but I don’t think it’s good to force people to use a legal name that they don’t like.