Here is an idea that is good for the environment and just might help clean up a pretty grubby practice in Australian politics, too – ban "how to vote" cards on election day.

Anyone who has gone to a polling booth knows the gauntlet that must be run, past the thrusting hands of party volunteers with those annoying leaflets. The instructions they are presumed to convey treat voters with contempt, as if people are not discerning enough to judge for themselves the quality of candidates in the race. But this will not be the final election with these pesky cards. We can rely on political self-interest to ensure that. Even the usually environment-conscious Greens insist on distributing them, albeit on recycled paper.

Illustration: Rocco Fazzari Credit:rocco fazzari

So maybe a little people power is the next best thing. Just boycott the leaflets altogether, or if you feel compelled out of politeness to accept them, ignore the recommendations when filling out your ballot paper. Make a decision as an informed citizen. Democracy is founded on representing the will of the people, but the political parties are treating your vote as a commodity for trade. The misbegotten tradition of how-to-vote cards is fuelling cynicism about the political process, encouraging people to see what should be a nuanced system of preferential voting as a rubber stamp for backroom deals.

The early polling centres have opened before the July 2 election and the political fix is becoming clear. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has attempted to make a virtue of not distributing the Liberal Party's recommended preferences to the Greens, but this as much a tactical gesture to paint Labor as in thrall to the minor party, given Liberal powerbrokers in Victoria had been attempting to negotiate a deal. The Greens are also closing in on Higgins, which has previously been a blue-ribbon Liberal seat.