Realpolitik, I suspect - the same strategising that had the Green swapping preferences with Labor. I was also disturbed by the preference swap; although Family First aren't quite as bad as the Greens painted them, we shouldn't be horse trading with a right-wing minor party at all. There is no point in having an Australian Democrats if we compromise our principles. We have a hell of a lot of work to do to earn back voters' confidence.

Do you know, it's only recently that I learned more about the party's history, and discovered they'd split off from the Libs when that party grew too right-wing. I joined because of their progressive social policies, particularly regarding gay rights and refugees. The difference between economically conservative and socially conservative has become more and more obvious to my unschooled political mind. As some disappointed Liberals pointed out to me, the government could be economically conservative without also crushing human rights.