Leyonhjelm, 61, just happens to have four cats at his home in Drummoyne but says the advent of a swag of minor party senators is no bad thing for Australian democracy. Well intentioned: Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm says minor parties want to help. Credit:James Alcock ''People like to think minor parties are a collection of nutters but, by and large, they are well-intentioned people who just want to do something for their country,'' he said. If predictions are correct, Leyonhjelm is on track to be joined by Victorian petrol head Ricky Muir (Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party), former NRL legend Glenn ''The Brick With Eyes'' Lazarus and Jacqui Lambie (Palmer United Party from Queensland and Tasmania), engineer and former West Australian gridiron representative Wayne Dropulich (Australian Sports Party), and South Australian Family First stalwart Bob Day as Senate neophytes. While it may prove difficult for Abbott to control the new chums, on paper, they do not seem of a mind to rock the boat.

Dropulich, whose main platform is children's sport, refused to say which Coalition policies he would support or oppose. ''But I've been a swinging voter in the past,'' he said. Illustration: Cathy Wilcox Little is known about Muir. His party's website says its core values include ''mateship'', small government, lower taxation and ''taking pride in our vehicles''. ''I have owned, maintained and modified a couple of street driven Commodores, nothing magazine worthy but they were safe, reliable and reflected my taste. My intention is to help educate the public that we are not hoons out to destroy the environment,'' Muir wrote on Facebook.

In May 2011, when Osama bin Laden was killed, Muir tweeted: ''Media is reporting that the person who ordfered [sic] the 911 terror attacks is dead … what a load of shit, george bush is still alive!'' Leyonhjelm said Liberal Democrats were libertarians opposed to government intervention, comfortable with same-sex marriage and, while he personally backed Abbott on the carbon and mining taxes, he opposed paid parental leave. ''Why should people without children's taxes be used to pay people with children?'' said Leyonhjelm, who has been involved with minor party politics for years. Previously, the Liberal Party had complained about the similarity of the Liberal Democrats' name and its potential to cause confusion among Liberal supporters. Perhaps they had good reason.

''I personally know of three Liberal workers who mistakenly voted for the Liberal Democrats because they confused the name and Leyonhjelm's position on the ballot paper,'' said Glenn Druery, the self-styled mastermind of small party preferences. Druery first surfaced in 1999 during the NSW upper house ''tablecloth ballot paper'' controversy. His prodigious mathematical skills have made him a fixture come election time. This year, through his company Independent Liaison, he organised a ''minor party alliance'', which stacked preference flows. Druery will not say which candidates he advised but relished Dropulich's possible election in WA. ''Dropulich is likely to get the lowest first-preference vote in history and get elected: this afternoon he had 1908 of the 896,345 votes counted in the West and preferences will get him across the line.''

Druery predicted the 76-member Senate chamber, after the changeover next year, would comprise 33 Coalition, 25 Labor, 10 Greens, one Democratic Labor Party, two Palmer United Party, one Liberal Democrats, one Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party, one Family First, one Australian Sports Party and independent Nick Xenophon. Loading The vote count for the Senate will not be finalised for days.