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CANBERRA - This year the Australian election blasts into cyberspace.
In a massive swing to computers and the internet, politicians are talking directly to voters, and special sites are providing everything from instant campaign news to electronic lobbying and even advice on how to vote.
Betting agencies are
running electronic books on the election and reporting odds that predict specific outcomes, from individual electorates to nationwide results.
One new party is entirely internet-based and targeting the Senate.
And parties are amassing vast databanks on individual voters to help candidates target key concerns and issues.
For soldiers serving overseas and sight-impaired voters, the Australian Electoral Commission is trying out electronic voting.
The arrival of the internet is the latest step in the evolution of Australian political campaigning, moving beyond traditional newspaper, radio and television coverage, and the more recent emphasis on talkback radio.
While all still have an important role, the internet allows politicians to connect with the rise of young, computer-savvy voters, allowing them to talk directly to their constituencies without intermediaries.
"I recognise that this medium is not some sort of gimmick but can provide an uninterrupted, direct and open channel between decision-makers and voters," Prime Minister John Howard said at the launch of a new Google election site.
It also allows direct feedback - not always to politicians' advantage.
Relative youth is beating older and more established candidates; on MySpace, Coalition MPs had at last count managed a total of 1503 friends, against Labor's 26,868.
Labor Leader Kevin Rudd alone has amassed more than 18,500 friends.
Elsewhere, lobby groups are finding new support, new voices and new ways of making their views heard.
"This will probably be a Google election," Labor environment spokesman and former rock star Peter Garrett told reporters.
"I think its going to encourage a generation of Australians who have used online access as one of their major communications, education and socialisation tools from a very young age, to key into what I think will be a very exciting political campaign."
And, at a base level, hackers are plastering political sites with electronic graffiti.
The Liberal Party's site suffered when a hacker inserted a new, obscene, caption beneath a picture of Howard, hands spread wide for an audience of young boys.
Hackers attacked the Liberals during the 1998 election too, creating links on the party's official site that led to pornography.
The parties have not been deterred, gearing their sites up for the election. Rudd, in addition to Labor's official site, has his own - kevin07.com.au - which includes contributed snaps of supporters wearing Kevin07 T-shirts around Australia, as well as pushing the Labor message.
But the real innovation has been the eruption of sites allowing direct involvement in political campaigns.
The Queensland University of Technology's creative industries faculty has launched youdecide2007.org, which provides election news, articles and views contributed by the public, and conducts polls on campaign issues.
Ten Network has teamed with MySpace to create "meet the people", through which users can submit questions to be put to senior politicians during the Sunday Meet The Press programme.
MySpace also has its own MySpace Impact site that allows users to air their own views and beefs, as well as links to politicians and their blogs.
YouTube has similarly launched into the campaign, and Google has set up what it claims is the world's most powerful dedicated election website.
Google's site carries not only the standard run of news and views, but gives access to detailed electorate information and allows users to compare positions on major issues.
It also has a section called "On The Record", which enables users to check any politician's official campaign position against earlier statements in Parliament and on their personal websites.
The political website www.getup.org.au has jumped in with both feet, encouraging activism among users, alerting them to new campaigns and lobbying advice, and running online polls and petitions.
The most recent was a petition signed by 25,000 users opposing massive Government taxpayer-funded spending on pre-election advertising.
And now you can even run your own politician from home.
Businessman Berge Der Sarkissian has formed the Senator-On-Line party to contest Senate seats, divorcing itself from party politics and shaping its vote on issue-by-issue, internet-based polling.
Running two candidates in each state, Sarkissian said the party would offer everyone on the electoral roll with internet access the opportunity to vote on Senate bills and key issues.
Online votes would be tallied to determine the "clear majority voice", which would then automatically become the party line.
And if you are confused by all this, you can always click on www.news.com.au and use News Ltd's Vote-a-Matic site, offering a quiz on major issues, a comparative scoreboard, and a line on which party suits you best.
