I apologize for being lazy. Can any Australian HNers describe what privileges are afforded to registered parties? I thought the proportional voting scheme in Australia was based on a party system but I did a little research and it seems that the votes are cast for candidates and not parties. Thanks for indulging my curiosity and laziness.
IIRC once a minimum level of votes are cast for a party they are able to receive a certain amount of funding from the government to assist in future promotional activities.