The preferences flow to Labor because you (and others) preferenced them above the Liberals and other candidates at high enough rates for them to be declared the winner.

The system is working exactly as intended, and while not perfect, is probably one of the best in the world. The parties you voted for didn’t gain enough votes to win, so your vote went to the next preference.

It’s important to note, you preferencing parties that didn’t win doesn’t do nothing.

1. Your first preference receives funding from the AEC, allowing them to campaign next time and otherwise be a force on issues you care about

www.aec.gov.au/…/index.htm

This is particularly important as you only receive funding if you receive at least 4% of the vote in the electorate (which I personally think is too high a threshold and should pay out at lower numbers than that). So make sure you preference your favourite first.

2. It does signal to those who won what the electorate wants. There’s a reason our parties are somewhat moderate, even the Liberals, because our voting system leads to candidates with the broadest appeal winning. The major party vote is at an all time low, and I would be surprised if this doesn’t change Australian politics for the better (as long as though minor parties aren’t One Nation, lol)

Now, in practice, it’s not working perfectly. But really, we keep electing Labor (and historically more so the LNP) because people keep preferencing them, not because the voting system doesn’t work well. It works great.

The voting system isn’t at fault there, it’s that we have a corporate media landscape, mostly owned by a far right foreign national (Murdoch), and lobbying like crazy.

What we can be hopeful for, though, is that we’re not handicapped in our voting system.

I get you, it feels like you can make little difference, but it’s not the voting system that’s to blame for this.