Smear campaigns, election promises, preferences and more…

Stacey is wondering how effective the “smear campaigns” are in winning votes, and why it’s open season in politics when it comes to slagging off your opposition in a way that doesn’t apply to anyone else…

Virginia says the parties make billions of dollars of promises during the campaigns and she wants to know – is there any official requirement for them to deliver these if they win the election? Or is it up to the public to remember broken promises at the next election?

Kathryn is interested in the leaders’ debates – where do they take place, and how do they get organised?

And the final question… Helen is wondering if there’s any preference deals being done? For example, do we know where green preferences are likely to go as well as the independents?