As an American political consultant, I have a few questions about the actual nuts and bolts of Australian elections.  My extreme ignorance of Australian politics is likely going to show with these questions, but I thank you all for your patience and replies!  For simplicity sake, let's limit these questions to your Federal House of Reps.

1)When an individual decides to run, what is their first step?  Is there simply a filing fee?  Do they need ballot signatures?  Party approval?

2)In very general terms, what are the individual/corporate contribution limits to individual political campaigns?  Are campaigns publicly funded to any degree?

3)How sophisticated are the campaigns for an individual seat?  Do most candidates employ consultants, pollsters, etc?  What is the structure of their campaign staff?

4)Do individual candidates do a lot of door-to-door canvassing along with their staff and volunteers?  Do Australian candidates do a lot of direct-mailing, radio ads, tv ads, etc?

5)Assuming a campaign has the funds, do they often commission their own internal polls or rely on the availability of 3rd party polling, from the media for example?