While Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten will test our bandwidth and our patience tonight in a Facebook debate, last night voters hoping to hear from outside voices braved the cold and turned up at Melbourne’s Kelvin Club to hear a debate of a different kind. The “Alternative Debate”, hosted by the Sex Party and the Equality Party and to be broadcast by LGBTI community broadcaster Joy FM, was set to feature nine of the minor parties from across the political spectrum, but ended up being a chorus of agreement, with just one person singing from a different song sheet.

MC Dean Beck began the night by reading out the list of apologies, which was almost as long as the list of those who actually turned up. Jacqui Lambie had decided to go with her slogan “putting Tasmania first” and hadn’t made it to the mainland. Derryn Hinch had decided not to show up, but could instead be found with Paul Murray on Sky News. Family First’s Peter Madden had found himself up against two gay men and pulled out (his tweets on Monday probably form part of the reason). The Democratic Labour Party’s Clara Geoghegan didn’t seem to have a reason for not showing up, leaving the Australian Christians’ Vickie Janson to fly the conservative flag on her own. She sat in the middle of a panel including the Sex Party’s Meredith Doig, the Liberal Democrats’ Duncan Spender, the Greens’ Jason Ball and the Equality Party’s Jason Tuazon-McCheyne. It went about as well as you’d expect.

On the issue of marriage equality, Janson spoke about being a child of the sexual revolution, and the pain that she has felt from never knowing her biological father. On Safe Schools, she said she was offended by the statement “OMG I’m Queer!” — not the queer bit, but using the word “god” in vain. On issues such as renewable energy and coal, she read from a prepared statement and faced uproar from the crowd. The discussion ranged from offshore detention to Medicare and voluntary euthanasia. At the end, Beck commended Janson for being brave enough to face the crowd, and she was given a round of applause from the same people who had heckled her throughout the hour.

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