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Australian Democrats

April 28, 2023

The Australian Democrats is a centrist[5][6] political party in Australia.[9] Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time.[6]

Australian Democrats
AbbreviationAD
PresidentLyn Allison
Vice President
  • Elana Mitchell
  • Steve Baty
  • Grahame Elder
FounderDon Chipp[1][2]
FoundedMay 1977; 45 years ago (May 1977)
Registered7 April 2019[a]
Preceded by
HeadquartersNairne, South Australia[3]
Youth wingYoung Democrats
Ideology
Political positionCentre[5][6][1]
Colors    Gold and green
Slogan“Keep The Bastards Honest.”[7][8]
Website
Official website
Timeline of liberal parties

The Democrats' inaugural leader was Don Chipp, a former Liberal cabinet minister, who famously promised to "keep the bastards honest". At the 1977 federal election, the Democrats polled 11.1 percent of the Senate vote and secured two seats. The party would retain a presence in the Senate for the next 30 years, at its peak (between 1999 and 2002) holding nine out of 76 seats, though never securing a seat in the lower house. Due to the party's numbers in the Senate, both Liberal and Labor governments required the assistance of the Democrats to pass contentious legislation. Ideologically, the Democrats were usually regarded as centrists, occupying the political middle ground between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party.

Over three decades, the Australian Democrats achieved representation in the legislatures of the ACT, South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania as well as Senate seats in all six states. However, at the 2004 and 2007 federal elections, all seven of its Senate seats were lost. The party's share of the vote collapsed at these elections, which was largely attributed to party leader Meg Lees' decision to pass the Howard government's goods and services tax, which led to several years of popular recriminations and party infighting that destroyed the Democrats' reputation as competent overseers of legislation. The last remaining State parliamentarian, David Winderlich, left the party and was defeated as an independent in 2010.

The party was formally deregistered in 2016 for not having the required 500 members.[10] In 2018 the Democrats merged with CountryMinded, a small, also unregistered agrarian political party,[11] and later that year the party's constitution was radically rewritten to establish "top-down" governance and de-emphasize the principle of participatory democracy.[12] On 7 April 2019 the party regained registration with the Australian Electoral Commission.[13]

As of 2022, the national president of the party is former senator and parliamentary leader Lyn Allison.[14]

History

1977–1986: Foundation and Don Chipp's leadership

The Australian Democrats were formed in May 1977 from an amalgamation of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement. The two groups found a common basis for a new political movement in the widespread discontent with the two major parties. Former Liberal minister Don Chipp agreed to lead the new party.[6]

The party's broad aim was to achieve a balance of power in one or more parliaments and to exercise it responsibly in line with policies determined by membership.

The first Australian Democrat parliamentarian was Robin Millhouse, the sole New LM member of the South Australian House of Assembly, who joined the Democrats in 1977. Millhouse held his seat (Mitcham) at the 1977 and 1979 state elections. In 1982, Millhouse resigned to take up a senior judicial appointment, and Heather Southcott won the by-election for the Democrats, but lost the seat to the Liberals later that year at the 1982 state election. Mitcham was the only single-member lower-house seat anywhere in Australia to be won by the Democrats.

The first Democrat federal parliamentarian was Senator Janine Haines, who in 1977 was nominated by the South Australian Parliament to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Liberal Senator Steele Hall. Hall had been elected as a Liberal Movement senator, before rejoining the Liberal Party in 1976, and South Australian premier Don Dunstan nominated Haines on the basis that the Democrats was the successor party to the Liberal Movement.[15]

At the 1977 election, the Australian Democrats secured two seats in the Senate with the election of Colin Mason (NSW) and Don Chipp (VIC), though Haines lost her seat in South Australia. At the 1980 election, this increased to five seats with the election of Michael Macklin (QLD) and John Siddons (VIC) and the return of Janine Haines (SA). Thereafter they frequently held enough seats to give them the balance of power in the upper chamber.[16]

At a Melbourne media conference on 19 September 1980, in the midst of the 1980 election campaign, Chipp described his party's aim as to "keep the bastards honest"—the "bastards" being the major parties and/or politicians in general. This became a long-lived slogan for the Democrats.[6]

1986–1990: Janine Haines' leadership

 
Janine Haines and Don Chipp, the first two leaders of the Australian Democrats

Don Chipp resigned from the Senate on 18 August 1986, being succeeded as party leader by Janine Haines and replaced as a senator for Victoria by Janet Powell.

At the 1987 election following a double dissolution, the reduced quota of 7.7% necessary to win a seat assisted the election of three new senators. 6-year terms were won by Paul McLean (NSW) and incumbents Janine Haines (South Australia) and Janet Powell (Victoria). In South Australia, a second senator, John Coulter, was elected for a 3-year term, as were incumbent Michael Macklin (Queensland) and Jean Jenkins (Western Australia).

1990 saw the voluntary departure from the Senate of Janine Haines (a step with which not all Democrats agreed) and the failure of her strategic goal of winning the House of Representatives seat of Kingston. The casual vacancy was filled by Meg Lees several months before the election of Cheryl Kernot in place of retired deputy leader Michael Macklin. The ambitious Kernot immediately contested the party's national parliamentary deputy leadership. Being unemployed at the time, she requested and obtained party funds to pay for her travel to address members in all seven divisions.[17] In the event, Victorian Janet Powell was elected as leader and John Coulter was chosen as deputy leader.

1990–1993: Janet Powell and John Coulter

Despite the loss of Haines and the WA Senate seat (through an inconsistent national preference agreement with the ALP), the 1990 federal election heralded something of a rebirth for the party, with a dramatic rise in primary vote. This was at the same time as an economic recession was building, and events such as the Gulf War in Kuwait were beginning to shepherd issues of globalisation and transnational trade on to national government agendas.

Election Results
Senate – National

*Did not contest

^NSW, SA and VIC Only

The Australian Democrats had a long-standing policy to oppose war and so opposed Australia's support of, and participation in, the Gulf War. Whereas the House of Representatives was able to avoid any debate about the war and Australia's participation,[b][18] the Democrats took full advantage of the opportunity to move for a debate in the Senate.[19]

Because of the party's pacifist-based opposition to the Gulf War, there was mass-media antipathy and negative publicity which some construed as poor media performance by Janet Powell, the party's standing having stalled at about 10%. Before 12 months of her leadership had passed, the South Australian and Queensland divisions were circulating the party's first-ever petition to criticise and oust the parliamentary leader. The explicit grounds related to Powell's alleged responsibility for poor AD ratings in Gallup and other media surveys of potential voting support. When this charge was deemed insufficient, interested party officers and senators reinforced it with negative media 'leaks' concerning her openly established relationship with Sid Spindler[20] and exposure of administrative failings resulting in excessive overtime to a staff member. With National Executive blessing, the party room pre-empted the ballot by replacing the leader with deputy John Coulter. In the process, severe internal divisions were generated. One major collateral casualty was the party whip Paul McLean who resigned and quit the Senate in disgust at what he perceived as in-fighting between close friends. The casual NSW vacancy created by his resignation was filled by Karin Sowada. Powell duly left the party, along with many leading figures of the Victorian branch of the party, and unsuccessfully stood as an Independent candidate when her term expired. In later years, she campaigned for the Australian Greens.

1993–1997: Cheryl Kernot

The party's parliamentary influence was weakened in 1996 after the Howard government was elected, and a Labor senator, Mal Colston, resigned from the Labor Party. Since the Democrats now shared the parliamentary balance of power with two Independent senators, the Coalition government was able on occasion to pass legislation by negotiating with Colston and Brian Harradine.

In October 1997, party leader Cheryl Kernot resigned, announcing that she would be joining the Australian Labor Party.[21] (Five years later it was revealed that she had been in a sexual relationship with Labor deputy leader Gareth Evans).[22] Kernot resigned from the Senate and was replaced by Andrew Bartlett, while deputy Meg Lees became the new party leader.

1997–2004: Meg Lees, Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett

Under Lees' leadership, in the 1998 federal election, the Democrats' candidate John Schumann came within 2 per cent of taking Liberal Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's seat of Mayo in the Adelaide Hills under Australia's preferential voting system. The party's representation increased to nine senators, and they regained the balance of power, holding it until the Coalition gained a Senate majority at the 2004 election.

Internal conflict and leadership tensions from 2000 to 2002, blamed on the party's support for the Government's Goods and Services Tax, was damaging to the Democrats. Opposed by the Labor Party, the Australian Greens and independent Senator Harradine, the tax required Democrat support to pass. In an election fought on tax, the Democrats publicly stated that they liked neither the Liberal's nor the Labor's tax packages, but pledged to work with whichever party was elected to make theirs better. They campaigned with the slogan "No Goods and Services Tax on Food".[23]

In 1999, after negotiations with Prime Minister Howard, Meg Lees, Andrew Murray and the party room senators agreed to support the A New Tax System legislation[24] with exemptions from goods and services tax for most food and some medicines, as well as many environmental and social concessions.[25][26] Five Australian Democrats senators voted in favour.[27] However, two dissident senators on the party's left, Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett, voted against the goods and services tax.[28][29]

In 2001, a leadership spill saw Meg Lees replaced as leader[30] by Natasha Stott Despoja after a very public and bitter leadership battle.[31] Despite criticism of Stott Despoja's youth and lack of experience, the 2001 election saw the Democrats receive similar media coverage to the previous election.[32] Despite the internal divisions, the Australian Democrats' election result in 2001 was quite good. However, it was not enough to prevent the loss of Vicki Bourne's Senate seat in NSW.

The 2002 South Australian election was the last time an Australian Democrat would be elected to an Australian parliament. Sandra Kanck was re-elected to a second eight-year term from an upper house primary vote of 7.3 percent.

Resulting tensions between Stott Despoja and Lees led to Meg Lees leaving the party in 2002, becoming an independent and forming the Australian Progressive Alliance. Stott Despoja stood down from the leadership following a loss of confidence by her party room colleagues.[33] It led to a protracted leadership battle in 2002, which eventually led to the election of Senator Andrew Bartlett as leader. While the public fighting stopped, the public support for the party remained at record lows.

On 6 December 2003, Bartlett stepped aside temporarily as leader of the party, after an incident in which he swore at Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris on the floor of Parliament while intoxicated.[34] The party issued a statement stating that deputy leader Lyn Allison would serve as the acting leader of the party. Bartlett apologised to the Democrats, Jeannie Ferris and the Australian public for his behaviour and assured all concerned that it would never happen again. On 29 January 2004, after seeking medical treatment, Bartlett returned to the Australian Democrats leadership, vowing to abstain from alcohol.

Decline

Following internal conflict over the goods and services tax and resultant leadership changes, a dramatic decline occurred in the Democrats' membership and voting support in all states. Simultaneously, an increase was recorded in support for the Australian Greens who, by 2004, were supplanting the Democrats as a substantial third party. The trend was noted that year by political scientists Dean Jaensch et al.[35]

Support for the Australian Democrats fell significantly at the 2004 federal election in which they achieved only 2.4 per cent of the national vote. Nowhere was this more noticeable than in their key support base of suburban Adelaide in South Australia, where they received between 1 and 4 percent of the lower house vote; by comparison, they tallied between 7 and 31 per cent of the vote in 2001. No Democrat senators were elected, though four kept their seats due to being elected in 2001, thus their representation fell from eight senators to four. Three incumbent senators were defeated: Aden Ridgeway (NSW), Brian Greig (WA) and John Cherry (Qld). Following the loss, the customary post-election leadership ballot installed Allison as leader, with Bartlett as her deputy. From 1 July 2005 the Australian Democrats lost official parliamentary party status, being represented by only four senators while the governing Liberal-National Coalition gained a majority and potential control of the Senate—the first time this advantage had been enjoyed by any government since 1980.

On 28 August 2006, the founder of the Australian Democrats, Don Chipp, died. Former prime minister Bob Hawke said: "... there is a coincidental timing almost between the passing of Don Chipp and what I think is the death throes of the Democrats."[36] In November 2006, the Australian Democrats fared very poorly in the Victorian state election, receiving a Legislative Council vote tally of only 0.83%,[37] less than half of the party's result in 2002 (1.79 per cent).[38]

The Democrats again had no success at the 2007 federal election, and lost all four of their remaining Senate seats. Two incumbent senators, Lyn Allison (Victoria) and Andrew Bartlett (Queensland), were defeated, their seats both reverting to major parties. Their two remaining colleagues, Andrew Murray (WA) and Natasha Stott Despoja (SA), retired. All four senators' terms expired on 30 June 2008—leaving the Australian Democrats with no federal representation for the first time since its founding in 1977.[39] Later, in 2009, Jaensch suggested it was possible the Democrats could make a political comeback at the 2010 South Australian election,[40] but this did not occur.

State/territory losses

The Tasmanian division of the party was deregistered for having insufficient members in January 2006.[41]

At the 2006 South Australian election, the Australian Democrats were reduced to 1.7 per cent of the Legislative Council (upper house) vote. Their sole councillor up for re-election, Kate Reynolds, was defeated. In July 2006, Richard Pascoe, national and South Australian party president, resigned, citing slumping opinion polls and the poor result in the 2006 South Australian election as well as South Australian parliamentary leader Sandra Kanck's comments regarding the drug MDMA which he saw as damaging to the party.[42][43][44]

In the New South Wales state election of March 2007, the Australian Democrats lost their last remaining NSW Upper House representative, Arthur Chesterfield-Evans. The party fared poorly, gaining only 1.8 per cent of the Legislative Council vote.

On 13 September 2007, the ACT Democrats (Australian Capital Territory Division of the party) was deregistered[45] by the ACT Electoral Commissioner, being unable to demonstrate a minimum membership of 100 electors.

These losses left Sandra Kanck, in South Australia, as the party's only parliamentarian. She retired in 2009 and was replaced by David Winderlich, making him (as of 2020) the last Democrat to sit in any Australian parliament. The Democrats lost all representation when Winderlich resigned from the party in October 2009.[46] He sat the remainder of his term as an independent, and lost his seat at the 2010 South Australian election.

Post-parliamentary decline

Following the loss of all Democrats MP's in both federal and state parliaments, the party continued to be riven by factionalism. In 2009 a dispute arose between two factions, the "Christian Centrists" loyal to former leader Meg Lees, and a faction comprising the party's more progressive members. The dispute arose when the Christian Centrist controlled national executive removed a website for party members from the internet, stating that its operation was a violation of the party constitution. In response, the progressive faction accused the national executive of being undemocratic and of acting contrary to the party constitution themselves.[47] By 2012, this dispute had been superseded by another between members loyal to former Senator Brian Greig and members who were supporters of former South Australian MP Sandra Kanck. Brian Greig was elected the party's president, but resigned after less than a month due to frustration with the party's factionalism.[48]

Deregistration

On 16 April 2015, the Australian Electoral Commission deregistered the Australian Democrats as a political party for failure to demonstrate the requisite 500 members to maintain registration.[49] However, the party did run candidates and remain registered for a period of time thereafter in the New South Wales Democrats and Queensland Democrat divisions.

Renewed registration (2019–present)

In November 2018 there was a report that CountryMinded, a de-registered microparty, would merge with the Australian Democrats in a new bid to seek membership growth, electoral re-registration and financial support.[50] In February 2019, application for registration was submitted to the AEC and was upheld on 7 April 2019, despite an objection from the Australian Democrats (Queensland Division).[51]

The party unsuccessfully contested the lower-house seat of Adelaide and a total of six Senate seats (two in each state of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia)[52] at the 2019 federal election.[53] At the 2022 federal election one lower-house seat (Eden-Monaro) and three Senate seats were contested without success, polling fewer than 0.7% of first-preference votes.[54][55]

Overview

The party was founded on principles of honesty, tolerance, compassion and direct democracy through postal ballots of all members, so that "there should be no hierarchical structure ... by which a carefully engineered elite could make decisions for the members."[56]: p187  From the outset, members' participation was fiercely protected in national and divisional constitutions prescribing internal elections, regular meeting protocols, annual conferences—and monthly journals for open discussion and balloting. Dispute resolution procedures were established, with final recourse to a party ombudsman and membership ballot.

Policies determined by the unique participatory method promoted environmental awareness and sustainability, opposition to the primacy of economic rationalism (Australian neoliberalism), preventative approaches to human health and welfare, animal rights, rejection of nuclear technology and weapons.

The Australian Democrats were the first representatives of green politics at the federal level in Australia. They "were in the vanguard of environmentalism in Australia. From the early 1980s they were unequivocally opposed to the building of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania and they opposed the mining and export of uranium and the development of nuclear power plants in Australia."[6] In particular, leader Don Chipp, and Tasmanian state Democrat Norm Sanders, played crucial legislative roles in protecting the Franklin Dam.

The party's centrist role made it subject to criticism from both the right and left of the political spectrum. In particular, Chipp's former conservative affiliation was frequently recalled by opponents on the left.[c] This problem was to torment later leaders and strategists who, by 1991, were proclaiming "the electoral objective" as a higher priority than the rigorous participatory democracy espoused by the party's founders.[d]

Because of their numbers on the cross benches during the Hawke and Keating governments, the Democrats were sometimes regarded as exercising a balance of power—which attracted electoral support from a significant sector of the electorate which had been alienated by both Labor and Coalition policies and practices.

Electoral results

Senate
Election year # of
overall votes 		% of
overall vote 		# of
seats won 		# of
overall seats 		+/– Notes
1977 823,550 11.13 (#3)
2 / 34
2 / 64
   2
1980 711,805 9.25 (#3)
3 / 34
5 / 64
   2 Shared balance of power
1983
(D-D) 		764,911 9.57 (#3)
5 / 64
5 / 64
   0 Sole balance of power
1984 677,970 7.62 (#3)
5 / 46
7 / 76
   2 Sole balance of power
1987
(D-D) 		794,107 8.47 (#3)
7 / 76
7 / 76
   0 Sole balance of power
1990 1,253,807 12.63 (#3)
5 / 40
8 / 76
   1 Sole balance of power
1993 566,944 5.31 (#3)
2 / 40
7 / 76
   1 Shared balance of power
1996 1,179,357 10.82 (#3)
5 / 40
7 / 76
   0 Shared balance of power
1998 947,940 8.45 (#4)
4 / 40
9 / 76
   2 Sole balance of power
2001 843,130 7.25 (#3)
4 / 40
8 / 76
   1 Shared balance of power
2004 250,373 2.09 (#4)
0 / 40
4 / 76
   4
2007 162,975 1.29 (#5)
0 / 40
0 / 76
   4
2010 80,645 0.63 (#10)
0 / 40
0 / 76
   0
2013 33,907 0.25 (#23)
0 / 40
0 / 76
   0
2016
(D-D) 		0 N/A
0 / 76
0 / 76
   0 Did not contest
2019 24,992 0.17 (#32)
0 / 40
0 / 76
   0
2022 49,489 0.44 (#17)[57]
0 / 40
0 / 76
   0

Federal parliamentary leaders

# Leader State Start End Time in office Election(s)
1 Don Chipp[i] VIC 9 May 1977 18 August 1986 9 years, 101 days 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984
2 Janine Haines[ii] SA 18 August 1986 24 March 1990 3 years, 218 days 1987, 1990
– Michael Macklin[iii] QLD 24 March 1990 30 June 1990 0 years, 98 days none
3 Janet Powell[iv] VIC 1 July 1990 19 August 1991 1 year, 49 days none
4 John Coulter[v] SA 19 August 1991 29 April 1993 1 year, 209 days 1993
5 Cheryl Kernot[vi] QLD 29 April 1993 15 October 1997 4 years, 169 days 1996
6 Meg Lees[vii] SA 15 October 1997 6 April 2001 3 years, 173 days 1998
7 Natasha Stott Despoja[viii] SA 6 April 2001 21 August 2002 1 year, 137 days 2001
– Brian Greig[ix] WA 23 August 2002 5 October 2002 0 years, 43 days none
8 Andrew Bartlett[x] QLD 5 October 2002 3 November 2004 2 years, 29 days 2004
9 Lyn Allison[xi] VIC 3 November 2004 30 June 2008 3 years, 240 days 2007
Notes
  1. ^ Assumed the leadership following the party's creation, subsequently confirmed as leader via a postal ballot of party members.[58]
  2. ^ Elected leader following the retirement of Don Chipp, defeating John Siddons in a postal ballot of party members.[59]
  3. ^ Interim leader (elected by caucus) following the resignation of Janine Haines.[60] Haines relinquished leadership when she resigned from the Senate on 1 March 1990 to (unsuccessfully) contest the lower-house seat of Kingston at the 1990 federal election.[59]
  4. ^ Elected leader via a postal ballot of party members, defeating John Coulter.[61]
  5. ^ Initially interim leader (elected by caucus) following the removal of Janet Powell. Confirmed as leader on 2 October 1991 via a postal ballot of party members.[62]
  6. ^ Elected leader via a postal ballot of party members, replacing John Coulter in a mandatory vote following the 1993 election.[63]
  7. ^ Initially interim leader (elected by caucus) following the resignation of Cheryl Kernot. Confirmed as leader on 5 December 1997 via a postal ballot of party members, defeating Lyn Allison.[64] Kernot had resigned in order to join the Labor Party, and was subsequently elected to the House of Representatives.[63]
  8. ^ Elected leader via a postal ballot of party members, defeating Meg Lees.[65]
  9. ^ Interim leader (elected by caucus) following the resignation of Natasha Stott Despoja.[66]
  10. ^ Elected leader via a postal ballot of members, defeating interim leader Brian Greig.[67]
  11. ^ Elected leader unopposed following the resignation of Andrew Bartlett.[68]

Parliamentarians

Senators

Senator State Term
Janine Haines South Australia 1977–1978; 1981–1990
Don Chipp Victoria 1978–1986
Colin Mason New South Wales 1978–1987
Michael Macklin Queensland 1981–1990
John Siddons Victoria 1981–1983; 1985–1986 (1987)[e]
Jack Evans Western Australia 1983–1985
David Vigor South Australia 1985–1987[e]
Norm Sanders Tasmania 1985–1990
Janet Powell Victoria 1986–1992 (1993)[f]
John Coulter South Australia 1987–1995
Paul McLean New South Wales 1987–1991
Jean Jenkins Western Australia 1987–1990
Vicki Bourne New South Wales 1990–2002
Sid Spindler Victoria 1990–1996
Cheryl Kernot Queensland 1990–1997
Robert Bell Tasmania 1990–1996
Karin Sowada New South Wales 1991–1993
John Woodley Queensland 1993–2001
Meg Lees South Australia 1990–2002 (2005)[g]
Natasha Stott Despoja South Australia 1995–2008
Lyn Allison Victoria 1996–2008
Andrew Murray Western Australia 1996–2008
Andrew Bartlett Queensland 1997–2008
Aden Ridgeway New South Wales 1999–2005
Brian Greig Western Australia 1999–2005
John Cherry Queensland 2001–2005

State and territory members

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

South Australia

Tasmania

Western Australia

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b The party was de-registered in 2016.[3] The Democrats were re-registered to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) in 2019 after merging with CountryMinded.[1]
  2. ^ The sole independent member in the House, Ted Mack, was unable to launch his critical motion for lack of a seconder.
  3. ^ Such as the then Socialist Workers' Party and early green-left parties such as the United Tasmania Group.
  4. ^ The first substantive reason given by rebellious senators for deposing leader Janet Powell in 1991 was her alleged failure to develop a media profile which would attract more electoral support. The first conclusive constitutional abandonment of founding principles was probably the July 1993 decision of the party's national executive to terminate monthly publication of the members' National Journal and to replace it with less frequent publication of glossy promotional material.
  5. ^ a b Resigned from party in November 1986 and sat as an independent senator until defeat at the 1987 election as a Unite Australia Party candidate.
  6. ^ Resigned from party in July 1992 and sat as an independent senator until defeat at the 1993 election.
  7. ^ Resigned from party in July 2002 and sat as an independent senator until defeat at the 2004 election as an Australian Progressive Alliance candidate
  8. ^ Resigned from party in 1996 and sat as an independent MLC until retirement at the 2003 election.
  9. ^ Resigned from party on 7 October 2009 and sat as an independent MLC until 2010 election when was not re-elected.

References

  1. ^ a b c Eddie, Rachel (20 May 2022). "Socialists, separatists and splinter groups - your Victorian Senate ticket guide". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. ^ a b Watson, Joey (4 May 2019). "Minor parties are relatively new in Australian politics. This is how they became a big deal". ABC News.
  3. ^ a b "Registration of a political party Australian Democrats" (PDF). aec.gov.au. Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). 7 April 2019.
  4. ^ Butler, Josh (18 May 2022). "Australian election 2022: from anti-vaxxers to revolutionaries, what do the minor parties running for the Senate stand for?". Guardian Australia.
  5. ^ a b Rodney Smith; Ariadne Vromen; Ian Cook (2012). Contemporary Politics in Australia: Theories, Practices and Issues. Cambridge University Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-521-13753-9.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Madden, Cathy (March 2009). "Australian Democrats: the passing of an era". Parliamentary research paper No 25, 2008-09. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  7. ^ Pascoe, Michael (20 April 2016). "Australian Democrats would 'keep the bastards honest'". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  8. ^ Moore, Tony (6 October 2021). "Australian Democrats pledge to 'keep the bastards honest' one more time". Brisbane Times.
  9. ^ "Current register of political parties". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  10. ^ "The Australian Democrats". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  11. ^ Chan, Gabrielle (10 November 2018). "Alex Turnbull would fund moderate independents to fight Abbott and Joyce". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  12. ^ Australian Democrats Constitution (2019) as registered with the Australian Electoral Commission.
  13. ^ "Party registration decisions and changes". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  14. ^ "Our Team". Australian Democrats. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  15. ^ The Urge to merge - Family First and the Australian Conservatives, Antony Green, ABC, 20 March 2018
  16. ^ "Australian Democrats | political party, Australia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  17. ^ AD National Journal June 1990, p.5
  18. ^ "Ted Mack's speech on Gulf War". Parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  19. ^ . Parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  20. ^ Paas, Hans. A cautionary tale of hypocrisy and ambition. The Age, 5 July 2002. Accessed 22 December 2015
  21. ^ . AustralianPolitics.com. 15 October 1997. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  22. ^ Seccombe, Mike; Fray, Peter (4 July 2002). "Cheryl and Gareth – the consuming passion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  23. ^ . AustralianPolitics.com. 19 September 1998. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  24. ^ . Treasury.gov.au. 1 August 1998. Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  25. ^ Australian Democrats: The GST and the New Tax System Election 2004 Issue Sheet
  26. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
  27. ^ Kirk, Alexandra (19 June 1999). "Democrats make good on GST compromise deal". ABC PM, Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  28. ^ ABC TV: 7.30 Report: 7/6/1999: "GST deal sparks Democrat crisis" 11 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine]
  29. ^ John Kehoe "Lees has no regrets Democrats gave their support" Australian Financial Review 30 June 2010.
  30. ^ Phillip Coorey "Democrats in Denial" in David Solomon (ed) Howard's Race – Winning the Unwinnable Election, Harper Collins, 2002, p42-44
  31. ^ Alison Rogers, The Natasha Factor, Lothian Books, 2004, pp29ff
  32. ^ Phillip Coorey "Democrats Opt for Leadership" in David Solomon (ed) Howard's Race – Winning the Unwinnable Election, Harper Collins, 2002, p180
  33. ^ Stott Despoja resigns as Democrats leader 15 January 2005 at the Wayback Machine, ABC 7.30 Report, 21 August 2002
  34. ^ "Disgraced leader steps aside". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. 7 December 2003. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
  35. ^ Jaensch, Dean; Brent, Peter; Bowden, Brett (January 2005). (PDF). Democratic Audit of Australia. Australian National University. pp. 40–41. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2009. the Australian Democrats appear to be in decline, having performed very poorly at the 2004 federal election and look to be replaced by the Greens as the major 'minor' party
  36. ^ . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 29 August 2006. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  37. ^ . Vec.vic.gov.au. 1 January 1999. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  38. ^ . Vec.vic.gov.au. 1 January 1999. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  39. ^ Caldwell A Democrats to lose parliamentary representation 26 November 2007
  40. ^ Dean Jaensch radio interview, Last remaining Democrat MP could become independent, at ABC PM, 20 July 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009
  41. ^ . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 5 January 2006. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  42. ^ "Political analyst predicts Democrats' demise". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 July 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  43. ^ . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 July 2006. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  44. ^ Article no longer available online.
  45. ^ . Legislation.act.gov.au. 13 September 2007. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  46. ^ Emmerson, Russell (7 October 2009). "David Winderlich quits, Democrats are no more". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  47. ^ "Democrats' brave foray into 21st century hits a snag". Crikey. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  48. ^ Alexander, Cathy (19 October 2012). "Bell tolls for the Democrats: bastards got the better of them?". Crikey. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  49. ^ "The Australian Democrats". Funding, Disclosure and Political Parties: Political Party Registration: Deregistered/renamed political parties. Australian Electoral Commission. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  50. ^ Chan, Gabrielle. "Alex Turnbull would fund moderate independents to fight Abbott and Joyce". The Guardian, 11 November 2018
  51. ^ "Notice of Party Registration Decision" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. 7 April 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  52. ^ Our candidates. Australian Democrats website, Retrieved 26 May 2019
  53. ^ State and territory (Senate) results. Australian Electoral Commission, 2019
  54. ^ [1]. Australian Electoral Commission, 2022 Federal Election division of Eden-Monaro results
  55. ^ A.E.C. Tally Room figures. Australian Electoral Commission, 2022 Federal Election results
  56. ^ Chipp D and Larkin J The Third Man Rigby, Melbourne (1978) ISBN 0-7270-0827-7
  57. ^ "First preferences by Senate group". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  58. ^ "Chipp, Donald Leslie (1925–2006)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  59. ^ a b "Haines, Janine (1945–2004)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  60. ^ "Macklin, Michael John (1943– )". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  61. ^ "Powell, Janet Frances (1942–2013)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  62. ^ "Coulter, John Richard (1930–)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  63. ^ a b "Kernot, Cheryl (1948–)". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  64. ^ Life after Cheryl, The Age, 6 December 1997.
  65. ^ Honestly, who are the bastards now?, The Age, 23 August 2002.
  66. ^ Greig's leadership tilt starts with apology to sick Chipp, The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 August 2002.
  67. ^ Andrew Bartlett Elected Leader Of Australian Democrats, AustralianPolitics.com, 5 October 2002.
  68. ^ Victorian to lead ailing Democrats, The Age, 4 November 2004.

Further reading

  • Bennett D, Discord in the Democrats PWHCE article, Melbourne 2002
  • Beyond Our Expectations—Proceedings of the Australian Democrats First National Conference, Canberra, 16–17 February 1980. [Papers by: Don Chipp, Sir Mark Oliphant, Prof. Stephen Boyden, Bob Whan, Julian Cribb, Colin Mason, John Siddons, A. McDonald]
  • Chipp D (ed. Larkin J) Chipp, Methuen Haynes, North Ryde NSW, 1987 ISBN 0-454-01345-0
  • Gauja A Parliamentary Affairs (2010) 63(3): 486–503, 21 January 2010, at Oxford Journals. (Paid subscription, Athens or participating library membership required)
  • Paul A and Miller L The Third Team July 2007 A historical essay in 30 Years—Australian Democrats Melbourne 2007. (A 72-page anthology of historical and biographical monographs about the state and federal parliamentary experiences of the Democrats, for the party's 30th anniversary.)
  • Sugita H Challenging 'twopartism'—the contribution of the Australian Democrats to the Australian party system, PhD thesis, Flinders University of South Australia, July 1995
  • Warhurst J (ed.) Keeping the bastards honest Allen & Unwin Sydney 1997 ISBN 1-86448-420-9
  • Warhurst J, Canberra Times 7 September 2006
 
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April 28, 2023
australian, democrats, centrist, political, party, australia, founded, 1977, from, merger, australia, party, liberal, movement, both, which, were, descended, from, liberal, party, dissenting, splinter, groups, australia, largest, minor, party, from, formation,. The Australian Democrats is a centrist 5 6 political party in Australia 9 Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups it was Australia s largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time 6 Australian DemocratsAbbreviationADPresidentLyn AllisonVice PresidentElana Mitchell Steve Baty Grahame ElderFounderDon Chipp 1 2 FoundedMay 1977 45 years ago May 1977 Registered7 April 2019 a Preceded byAustralia PartyNew Liberal MovementCountryMinded 2018 a HeadquartersNairne South Australia 3 Youth wingYoung DemocratsIdeologyLiberalism Australian Social liberalism 4 Environmentalism 2 Political positionCentre 5 6 1 Colors Gold and greenSlogan Keep The Bastards Honest 7 8 WebsiteOfficial websitePolitics of AustraliaPolitical partiesElectionsTimeline of liberal partiesProtectionist 1887 1909 Free Trade 1887 1909 Liberal and Democratic Union 1906 1910 Liberal Fusion 1909 1917 Liberal Union 1910 1923 Nationalist 1917 1931 Liberal Federation 1923 1932 United Australia 1931 1945 Liberal since 1944 Liberal Reform Group 1966 1969 Australia Party 1969 1986 Liberal Movement 1973 1976 New Liberal Movement 1976 1977 Democrats since 1977 Liberal Democrats since 2001 New Liberals since 2019 The Democrats inaugural leader was Don Chipp a former Liberal cabinet minister who famously promised to keep the bastards honest At the 1977 federal election the Democrats polled 11 1 percent of the Senate vote and secured two seats The party would retain a presence in the Senate for the next 30 years at its peak between 1999 and 2002 holding nine out of 76 seats though never securing a seat in the lower house Due to the party s numbers in the Senate both Liberal and Labor governments required the assistance of the Democrats to pass contentious legislation Ideologically the Democrats were usually regarded as centrists occupying the political middle ground between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party Over three decades the Australian Democrats achieved representation in the legislatures of the ACT South Australia New South Wales Western Australia and Tasmania as well as Senate seats in all six states However at the 2004 and 2007 federal elections all seven of its Senate seats were lost The party s share of the vote collapsed at these elections which was largely attributed to party leader Meg Lees decision to pass the Howard government s goods and services tax which led to several years of popular recriminations and party infighting that destroyed the Democrats reputation as competent overseers of legislation The last remaining State parliamentarian David Winderlich left the party and was defeated as an independent in 2010 The party was formally deregistered in 2016 for not having the required 500 members 10 In 2018 the Democrats merged with CountryMinded a small also unregistered agrarian political party 11 and later that year the party s constitution was radically rewritten to establish top down governance and de emphasize the principle of participatory democracy 12 On 7 April 2019 the party regained registration with the Australian Electoral Commission 13 As of 2022 the national president of the party is former senator and parliamentary leader Lyn Allison 14 Contents 1 History 1 1 1977 1986 Foundation and Don Chipp s leadership 1 2 1986 1990 Janine Haines leadership 1 3 1990 1993 Janet Powell and John Coulter 1 4 1993 1997 Cheryl Kernot 1 5 1997 2004 Meg Lees Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett 1 6 Decline 1 6 1 State territory losses 1 6 2 Post parliamentary decline 1 6 3 Deregistration 1 7 Renewed registration 2019 present 2 Overview 3 Electoral results 4 Federal parliamentary leaders 5 Parliamentarians 5 1 Senators 5 2 State and territory members 5 2 1 Australian Capital Territory 5 2 2 New South Wales 5 2 3 South Australia 5 2 4 Tasmania 5 2 5 Western Australia 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further readingHistory Edit1977 1986 Foundation and Don Chipp s leadership Edit The Australian Democrats were formed in May 1977 from an amalgamation of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement The two groups found a common basis for a new political movement in the widespread discontent with the two major parties Former Liberal minister Don Chipp agreed to lead the new party 6 The party s broad aim was to achieve a balance of power in one or more parliaments and to exercise it responsibly in line with policies determined by membership The first Australian Democrat parliamentarian was Robin Millhouse the sole New LM member of the South Australian House of Assembly who joined the Democrats in 1977 Millhouse held his seat Mitcham at the 1977 and 1979 state elections In 1982 Millhouse resigned to take up a senior judicial appointment and Heather Southcott won the by election for the Democrats but lost the seat to the Liberals later that year at the 1982 state election Mitcham was the only single member lower house seat anywhere in Australia to be won by the Democrats The first Democrat federal parliamentarian was Senator Janine Haines who in 1977 was nominated by the South Australian Parliament to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Liberal Senator Steele Hall Hall had been elected as a Liberal Movement senator before rejoining the Liberal Party in 1976 and South Australian premier Don Dunstan nominated Haines on the basis that the Democrats was the successor party to the Liberal Movement 15 At the 1977 election the Australian Democrats secured two seats in the Senate with the election of Colin Mason NSW and Don Chipp VIC though Haines lost her seat in South Australia At the 1980 election this increased to five seats with the election of Michael Macklin QLD and John Siddons VIC and the return of Janine Haines SA Thereafter they frequently held enough seats to give them the balance of power in the upper chamber 16 At a Melbourne media conference on 19 September 1980 in the midst of the 1980 election campaign Chipp described his party s aim as to keep the bastards honest the bastards being the major parties and or politicians in general This became a long lived slogan for the Democrats 6 1986 1990 Janine Haines leadership Edit Janine Haines and Don Chipp the first two leaders of the Australian Democrats Don Chipp resigned from the Senate on 18 August 1986 being succeeded as party leader by Janine Haines and replaced as a senator for Victoria by Janet Powell At the 1987 election following a double dissolution the reduced quota of 7 7 necessary to win a seat assisted the election of three new senators 6 year terms were won by Paul McLean NSW and incumbents Janine Haines South Australia and Janet Powell Victoria In South Australia a second senator John Coulter was elected for a 3 year term as were incumbent Michael Macklin Queensland and Jean Jenkins Western Australia 1990 saw the voluntary departure from the Senate of Janine Haines a step with which not all Democrats agreed and the failure of her strategic goal of winning the House of Representatives seat of Kingston The casual vacancy was filled by Meg Lees several months before the election of Cheryl Kernot in place of retired deputy leader Michael Macklin The ambitious Kernot immediately contested the party s national parliamentary deputy leadership Being unemployed at the time she requested and obtained party funds to pay for her travel to address members in all seven divisions 17 In the event Victorian Janet Powell was elected as leader and John Coulter was chosen as deputy leader 1990 1993 Janet Powell and John Coulter Edit Despite the loss of Haines and the WA Senate seat through an inconsistent national preference agreement with the ALP the 1990 federal election heralded something of a rebirth for the party with a dramatic rise in primary vote This was at the same time as an economic recession was building and events such as the Gulf War in Kuwait were beginning to shepherd issues of globalisation and transnational trade on to national government agendas Election ResultsSenate National 1977 11 1 1980 0 9 3 1983 0 9 6 1984 0 7 6 1987 0 8 5 1990 12 6 1993 0 5 3 1996 10 8 1998 0 8 4 2001 0 7 3 2004 0 2 1 2007 0 1 3 2010 0 0 6 2013 0 0 3 2016 0 0 2019 0 2 Did not contest NSW SA and VIC OnlyThe Australian Democrats had a long standing policy to oppose war and so opposed Australia s support of and participation in the Gulf War Whereas the House of Representatives was able to avoid any debate about the war and Australia s participation b 18 the Democrats took full advantage of the opportunity to move for a debate in the Senate 19 Because of the party s pacifist based opposition to the Gulf War there was mass media antipathy and negative publicity which some construed as poor media performance by Janet Powell the party s standing having stalled at about 10 Before 12 months of her leadership had passed the South Australian and Queensland divisions were circulating the party s first ever petition to criticise and oust the parliamentary leader The explicit grounds related to Powell s alleged responsibility for poor AD ratings in Gallup and other media surveys of potential voting support When this charge was deemed insufficient interested party officers and senators reinforced it with negative media leaks concerning her openly established relationship with Sid Spindler 20 and exposure of administrative failings resulting in excessive overtime to a staff member With National Executive blessing the party room pre empted the ballot by replacing the leader with deputy John Coulter In the process severe internal divisions were generated One major collateral casualty was the party whip Paul McLean who resigned and quit the Senate in disgust at what he perceived as in fighting between close friends The casual NSW vacancy created by his resignation was filled by Karin Sowada Powell duly left the party along with many leading figures of the Victorian branch of the party and unsuccessfully stood as an Independent candidate when her term expired In later years she campaigned for the Australian Greens 1993 1997 Cheryl Kernot Edit The party s parliamentary influence was weakened in 1996 after the Howard government was elected and a Labor senator Mal Colston resigned from the Labor Party Since the Democrats now shared the parliamentary balance of power with two Independent senators the Coalition government was able on occasion to pass legislation by negotiating with Colston and Brian Harradine In October 1997 party leader Cheryl Kernot resigned announcing that she would be joining the Australian Labor Party 21 Five years later it was revealed that she had been in a sexual relationship with Labor deputy leader Gareth Evans 22 Kernot resigned from the Senate and was replaced by Andrew Bartlett while deputy Meg Lees became the new party leader 1997 2004 Meg Lees Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett Edit Under Lees leadership in the 1998 federal election the Democrats candidate John Schumann came within 2 per cent of taking Liberal Foreign Minister Alexander Downer s seat of Mayo in the Adelaide Hills under Australia s preferential voting system The party s representation increased to nine senators and they regained the balance of power holding it until the Coalition gained a Senate majority at the 2004 election Internal conflict and leadership tensions from 2000 to 2002 blamed on the party s support for the Government s Goods and Services Tax was damaging to the Democrats Opposed by the Labor Party the Australian Greens and independent Senator Harradine the tax required Democrat support to pass In an election fought on tax the Democrats publicly stated that they liked neither the Liberal s nor the Labor s tax packages but pledged to work with whichever party was elected to make theirs better They campaigned with the slogan No Goods and Services Tax on Food 23 In 1999 after negotiations with Prime Minister Howard Meg Lees Andrew Murray and the party room senators agreed to support the A New Tax System legislation 24 with exemptions from goods and services tax for most food and some medicines as well as many environmental and social concessions 25 26 Five Australian Democrats senators voted in favour 27 However two dissident senators on the party s left Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett voted against the goods and services tax 28 29 In 2001 a leadership spill saw Meg Lees replaced as leader 30 by Natasha Stott Despoja after a very public and bitter leadership battle 31 Despite criticism of Stott Despoja s youth and lack of experience the 2001 election saw the Democrats receive similar media coverage to the previous election 32 Despite the internal divisions the Australian Democrats election result in 2001 was quite good However it was not enough to prevent the loss of Vicki Bourne s Senate seat in NSW The 2002 South Australian election was the last time an Australian Democrat would be elected to an Australian parliament Sandra Kanck was re elected to a second eight year term from an upper house primary vote of 7 3 percent Resulting tensions between Stott Despoja and Lees led to Meg Lees leaving the party in 2002 becoming an independent and forming the Australian Progressive Alliance Stott Despoja stood down from the leadership following a loss of confidence by her party room colleagues 33 It led to a protracted leadership battle in 2002 which eventually led to the election of Senator Andrew Bartlett as leader While the public fighting stopped the public support for the party remained at record lows On 6 December 2003 Bartlett stepped aside temporarily as leader of the party after an incident in which he swore at Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris on the floor of Parliament while intoxicated 34 The party issued a statement stating that deputy leader Lyn Allison would serve as the acting leader of the party Bartlett apologised to the Democrats Jeannie Ferris and the Australian public for his behaviour and assured all concerned that it would never happen again On 29 January 2004 after seeking medical treatment Bartlett returned to the Australian Democrats leadership vowing to abstain from alcohol Decline Edit Following internal conflict over the goods and services tax and resultant leadership changes a dramatic decline occurred in the Democrats membership and voting support in all states Simultaneously an increase was recorded in support for the Australian Greens who by 2004 were supplanting the Democrats as a substantial third party The trend was noted that year by political scientists Dean Jaensch et al 35 Support for the Australian Democrats fell significantly at the 2004 federal election in which they achieved only 2 4 per cent of the national vote Nowhere was this more noticeable than in their key support base of suburban Adelaide in South Australia where they received between 1 and 4 percent of the lower house vote by comparison they tallied between 7 and 31 per cent of the vote in 2001 No Democrat senators were elected though four kept their seats due to being elected in 2001 thus their representation fell from eight senators to four Three incumbent senators were defeated Aden Ridgeway NSW Brian Greig WA and John Cherry Qld Following the loss the customary post election leadership ballot installed Allison as leader with Bartlett as her deputy From 1 July 2005 the Australian Democrats lost official parliamentary party status being represented by only four senators while the governing Liberal National Coalition gained a majority and potential control of the Senate the first time this advantage had been enjoyed by any government since 1980 On 28 August 2006 the founder of the Australian Democrats Don Chipp died Former prime minister Bob Hawke said there is a coincidental timing almost between the passing of Don Chipp and what I think is the death throes of the Democrats 36 In November 2006 the Australian Democrats fared very poorly in the Victorian state election receiving a Legislative Council vote tally of only 0 83 37 less than half of the party s result in 2002 1 79 per cent 38 The Democrats again had no success at the 2007 federal election and lost all four of their remaining Senate seats Two incumbent senators Lyn Allison Victoria and Andrew Bartlett Queensland were defeated their seats both reverting to major parties Their two remaining colleagues Andrew Murray WA and Natasha Stott Despoja SA retired All four senators terms expired on 30 June 2008 leaving the Australian Democrats with no federal representation for the first time since its founding in 1977 39 Later in 2009 Jaensch suggested it was possible the Democrats could make a political comeback at the 2010 South Australian election 40 but this did not occur State territory losses Edit The Tasmanian division of the party was deregistered for having insufficient members in January 2006 41 At the 2006 South Australian election the Australian Democrats were reduced to 1 7 per cent of the Legislative Council upper house vote Their sole councillor up for re election Kate Reynolds was defeated In July 2006 Richard Pascoe national and South Australian party president resigned citing slumping opinion polls and the poor result in the 2006 South Australian election as well as South Australian parliamentary leader Sandra Kanck s comments regarding the drug MDMA which he saw as damaging to the party 42 43 44 In the New South Wales state election of March 2007 the Australian Democrats lost their last remaining NSW Upper House representative Arthur Chesterfield Evans The party fared poorly gaining only 1 8 per cent of the Legislative Council vote On 13 September 2007 the ACT Democrats Australian Capital Territory Division of the party was deregistered 45 by the ACT Electoral Commissioner being unable to demonstrate a minimum membership of 100 electors These losses left Sandra Kanck in South Australia as the party s only parliamentarian She retired in 2009 and was replaced by David Winderlich making him as of 2020 the last Democrat to sit in any Australian parliament The Democrats lost all representation when Winderlich resigned from the party in October 2009 46 He sat the remainder of his term as an independent and lost his seat at the 2010 South Australian election Post parliamentary decline Edit Following the loss of all Democrats MP s in both federal and state parliaments the party continued to be riven by factionalism In 2009 a dispute arose between two factions the Christian Centrists loyal to former leader Meg Lees and a faction comprising the party s more progressive members The dispute arose when the Christian Centrist controlled national executive removed a website for party members from the internet stating that its operation was a violation of the party constitution In response the progressive faction accused the national executive of being undemocratic and of acting contrary to the party constitution themselves 47 By 2012 this dispute had been superseded by another between members loyal to former Senator Brian Greig and members who were supporters of former South Australian MP Sandra Kanck Brian Greig was elected the party s president but resigned after less than a month due to frustration with the party s factionalism 48 Deregistration Edit On 16 April 2015 the Australian Electoral Commission deregistered the Australian Democrats as a political party for failure to demonstrate the requisite 500 members to maintain registration 49 However the party did run candidates and remain registered for a period of time thereafter in the New South Wales Democrats and Queensland Democrat divisions Renewed registration 2019 present Edit In November 2018 there was a report that CountryMinded a de registered microparty would merge with the Australian Democrats in a new bid to seek membership growth electoral re registration and financial support 50 In February 2019 application for registration was submitted to the AEC and was upheld on 7 April 2019 despite an objection from the Australian Democrats Queensland Division 51 The party unsuccessfully contested the lower house seat of Adelaide and a total of six Senate seats two in each state of New South Wales Victoria and South Australia 52 at the 2019 federal election 53 At the 2022 federal election one lower house seat Eden Monaro and three Senate seats were contested without success polling fewer than 0 7 of first preference votes 54 55 Overview EditThe party was founded on principles of honesty tolerance compassion and direct democracy through postal ballots of all members so that there should be no hierarchical structure by which a carefully engineered elite could make decisions for the members 56 p187 From the outset members participation was fiercely protected in national and divisional constitutions prescribing internal elections regular meeting protocols annual conferences and monthly journals for open discussion and balloting Dispute resolution procedures were established with final recourse to a party ombudsman and membership ballot Policies determined by the unique participatory method promoted environmental awareness and sustainability opposition to the primacy of economic rationalism Australian neoliberalism preventative approaches to human health and welfare animal rights rejection of nuclear technology and weapons The Australian Democrats were the first representatives of green politics at the federal level in Australia They were in the vanguard of environmentalism in Australia From the early 1980s they were unequivocally opposed to the building of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania and they opposed the mining and export of uranium and the development of nuclear power plants in Australia 6 In particular leader Don Chipp and Tasmanian state Democrat Norm Sanders played crucial legislative roles in protecting the Franklin Dam The party s centrist role made it subject to criticism from both the right and left of the political spectrum In particular Chipp s former conservative affiliation was frequently recalled by opponents on the left c This problem was to torment later leaders and strategists who by 1991 were proclaiming the electoral objective as a higher priority than the rigorous participatory democracy espoused by the party s founders d Because of their numbers on the cross benches during the Hawke and Keating governments the Democrats were sometimes regarded as exercising a balance of power which attracted electoral support from a significant sector of the electorate which had been alienated by both Labor and Coalition policies and practices Electoral results EditSenateElection year ofoverall votes ofoverall vote ofseats won ofoverall seats Notes1977 823 550 11 13 3 2 34 2 64 21980 711 805 9 25 3 3 34 5 64 2 Shared balance of power1983 D D 764 911 9 57 3 5 64 5 64 0 Sole balance of power1984 677 970 7 62 3 5 46 7 76 2 Sole balance of power1987 D D 794 107 8 47 3 7 76 7 76 0 Sole balance of power1990 1 253 807 12 63 3 5 40 8 76 1 Sole balance of power1993 566 944 5 31 3 2 40 7 76 1 Shared balance of power1996 1 179 357 10 82 3 5 40 7 76 0 Shared balance of power1998 947 940 8 45 4 4 40 9 76 2 Sole balance of power2001 843 130 7 25 3 4 40 8 76 1 Shared balance of power2004 250 373 2 09 4 0 40 4 76 42007 162 975 1 29 5 0 40 0 76 42010 80 645 0 63 10 0 40 0 76 02013 33 907 0 25 23 0 40 0 76 02016 D D 0 N A 0 76 0 76 0 Did not contest2019 24 992 0 17 32 0 40 0 76 02022 49 489 0 44 17 57 0 40 0 76 0Federal parliamentary leaders Edit Leader State Start End Time in office Election s 1 Don Chipp i VIC 9 May 1977 18 August 1986 9 years 101 days 1977 1980 1983 19842 Janine Haines ii SA 18 August 1986 24 March 1990 3 years 218 days 1987 1990 Michael Macklin iii QLD 24 March 1990 30 June 1990 0 years 98 days none3 Janet Powell iv VIC 1 July 1990 19 August 1991 1 year 49 days none4 John Coulter v SA 19 August 1991 29 April 1993 1 year 209 days 19935 Cheryl Kernot vi QLD 29 April 1993 15 October 1997 4 years 169 days 19966 Meg Lees vii SA 15 October 1997 6 April 2001 3 years 173 days 19987 Natasha Stott Despoja viii SA 6 April 2001 21 August 2002 1 year 137 days 2001 Brian Greig ix WA 23 August 2002 5 October 2002 0 years 43 days none8 Andrew Bartlett x QLD 5 October 2002 3 November 2004 2 years 29 days 20049 Lyn Allison xi VIC 3 November 2004 30 June 2008 3 years 240 days 2007Notes Assumed the leadership following the party s creation subsequently confirmed as leader via a postal ballot of party members 58 Elected leader following the retirement of Don Chipp defeating John Siddons in a postal ballot of party members 59 Interim leader elected by caucus following the resignation of Janine Haines 60 Haines relinquished leadership when she resigned from the Senate on 1 March 1990 to unsuccessfully contest the lower house seat of Kingston at the 1990 federal election 59 Elected leader via a postal ballot of party members defeating John Coulter 61 Initially interim leader elected by caucus following the removal of Janet Powell Confirmed as leader on 2 October 1991 via a postal ballot of party members 62 Elected leader via a postal ballot of party members replacing John Coulter in a mandatory vote following the 1993 election 63 Initially interim leader elected by caucus following the resignation of Cheryl Kernot Confirmed as leader on 5 December 1997 via a postal ballot of party members defeating Lyn Allison 64 Kernot had resigned in order to join the Labor Party and was subsequently elected to the House of Representatives 63 Elected leader via a postal ballot of party members defeating Meg Lees 65 Interim leader elected by caucus following the resignation of Natasha Stott Despoja 66 Elected leader via a postal ballot of members defeating interim leader Brian Greig 67 Elected leader unopposed following the resignation of Andrew Bartlett 68 Parliamentarians EditSenators Edit Senator State TermJanine Haines South Australia 1977 1978 1981 1990Don Chipp Victoria 1978 1986Colin Mason New South Wales 1978 1987Michael Macklin Queensland 1981 1990John Siddons Victoria 1981 1983 1985 1986 1987 e Jack Evans Western Australia 1983 1985David Vigor South Australia 1985 1987 e Norm Sanders Tasmania 1985 1990Janet Powell Victoria 1986 1992 1993 f John Coulter South Australia 1987 1995Paul McLean New South Wales 1987 1991Jean Jenkins Western Australia 1987 1990Vicki Bourne New South Wales 1990 2002Sid Spindler Victoria 1990 1996Cheryl Kernot Queensland 1990 1997Robert Bell Tasmania 1990 1996Karin Sowada New South Wales 1991 1993John Woodley Queensland 1993 2001Meg Lees South Australia 1990 2002 2005 g Natasha Stott Despoja South Australia 1995 2008Lyn Allison Victoria 1996 2008Andrew Murray Western Australia 1996 2008Andrew Bartlett Queensland 1997 2008Aden Ridgeway New South Wales 1999 2005Brian Greig Western Australia 1999 2005John Cherry Queensland 2001 2005State and territory members Edit Australian Capital Territory Edit 1977 1986 Ivor Vivian member of the House of Assembly 1977 1986 Gordon Walsh member of the House of Assembly 2001 2004 Roslyn Dundas member of the Legislative AssemblyNew South Wales Edit 1981 1998 Elisabeth Kirkby member of the Legislative Council 1988 1996 Richard Jones member of the Legislative Council h 1998 2007 Arthur Chesterfield Evans member of the Legislative CouncilSouth Australia Edit 1977 1982 Robin Millhouse member of the House of Assembly 1979 1985 Lance Milne member of the Legislative Council 1982 Heather Southcott member of the House of Assembly 1982 1993 1997 2006 Ian Gilfillan member of the Legislative Council 1985 2003 Mike Elliott member of the Legislative Council 1993 2009 Sandra Kanck member of the Legislative Council 2003 2006 Kate Reynolds member of the Legislative Council 2009 David Winderlich member of the Legislative Council i Tasmania Edit 1980 1982 Norm Sanders member of the House of AssemblyWestern Australia Edit 1997 2001 Helen Hodgson member of the Legislative Council 1997 2001 Norm Kelly member of the Legislative CouncilSee also EditSocial liberalism Liberalism worldwide List of liberal parties Liberal democracy Timeline of small l liberal parties in AustraliaNotes Edit a b The party was de registered in 2016 3 The Democrats were re registered to the Australian Electoral Commission AEC in 2019 after merging with CountryMinded 1 The sole independent member in the House Ted Mack was unable to launch his critical motion for lack of a seconder Such as the then Socialist Workers Party and early green left parties such as the United Tasmania Group The first substantive reason given by rebellious senators for deposing leader Janet Powell in 1991 was her alleged failure to develop a media profile which would attract more electoral support The first conclusive constitutional abandonment of founding principles was probably the July 1993 decision of the party s national executive to terminate monthly publication of the members National Journal and to replace it with less frequent publication of glossy promotional material a b Resigned from party in November 1986 and sat as an independent senator until defeat at the 1987 election as a Unite Australia Party candidate Resigned from party in July 1992 and sat as an independent senator until defeat at the 1993 election Resigned from party in July 2002 and sat as an independent senator until defeat at the 2004 election as an Australian Progressive Alliance candidate Resigned from party in 1996 and sat as an independent MLC until retirement at the 2003 election Resigned from party on 7 October 2009 and sat as an independent MLC until 2010 election when was not re elected References Edit a b c Eddie Rachel 20 May 2022 Socialists separatists and splinter groups your Victorian Senate ticket guide The Sydney Morning Herald a b Watson Joey 4 May 2019 Minor parties are relatively new in Australian politics This is how they became a big deal ABC News a b Registration of a political party Australian Democrats PDF aec gov au Australian Electoral Commission AEC 7 April 2019 Butler Josh 18 May 2022 Australian election 2022 from anti vaxxers to revolutionaries what do the minor parties running for the Senate stand for Guardian Australia a b Rodney Smith Ariadne Vromen Ian Cook 2012 Contemporary Politics in Australia Theories Practices and Issues Cambridge University Press p 160 ISBN 978 0 521 13753 9 a b c d e f Madden Cathy March 2009 Australian Democrats the passing of an era Parliamentary research paper No 25 2008 09 Parliament of Australia Retrieved 31 July 2020 Pascoe Michael 20 April 2016 Australian Democrats would keep the bastards honest The Sydney Morning Herald Moore Tony 6 October 2021 Australian Democrats pledge to keep the bastards honest one more time Brisbane Times Current register of political parties Australian Electoral Commission Retrieved 24 February 2020 The Australian Democrats Australian Electoral Commission Retrieved 8 April 2019 Chan Gabrielle 10 November 2018 Alex Turnbull would fund moderate independents to fight Abbott and Joyce The Guardian Retrieved 10 April 2019 Australian Democrats Constitution 2019 as registered with the Australian Electoral Commission Party registration decisions and changes Australian Electoral Commission Retrieved 9 April 2020 Our Team Australian Democrats Retrieved 2 November 2020 The Urge to merge Family First and the Australian Conservatives Antony Green ABC 20 March 2018 Australian Democrats political party Australia Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 12 November 2018 AD National Journal June 1990 p 5 Ted Mack s speech on Gulf War Parlinfoweb aph gov au Retrieved 25 April 2010 Senate Hansard 21 Jan 1991 Parlinfoweb aph gov au Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Paas Hans A cautionary tale of hypocrisy and ambition The Age 5 July 2002 Accessed 22 December 2015 Cheryl Kernot s Resignation Speech AustralianPolitics com 15 October 1997 Archived from the original on 26 May 2011 Retrieved 23 February 2011 Seccombe Mike Fray Peter 4 July 2002 Cheryl and Gareth the consuming passion The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 31 July 2010 Day 21 Democrats Support GST Want Food Exempt AustralianPolitics com 19 September 1998 Archived from the original on 5 April 2010 Retrieved 22 February 2011 Australian Treasury Tax Reform Not a New Tax A New Tax System Treasury gov au 1 August 1998 Archived from the original on 15 March 2011 Retrieved 1 February 2011 Australian Democrats The GST and the New Tax System Election 2004 Issue Sheet Senator Meg Lees s address to the Australian Democrats National Conference Brisbane 20 January 2001y PDF Archived from the original PDF on 27 September 2011 Retrieved 6 May 2010 Kirk Alexandra 19 June 1999 Democrats make good on GST compromise deal ABC PM Radio National Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC TV 7 30 Report 7 6 1999 GST deal sparks Democrat crisis Archived 11 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine John Kehoe Lees has no regrets Democrats gave their support Australian Financial Review 30 June 2010 Phillip Coorey Democrats in Denial in David Solomon ed Howard s Race Winning the Unwinnable Election Harper Collins 2002 p42 44 Alison Rogers The Natasha Factor Lothian Books 2004 pp29ff Phillip Coorey Democrats Opt for Leadership in David Solomon ed Howard s Race Winning the Unwinnable Election Harper Collins 2002 p180 Stott Despoja resigns as Democrats leader Archived 15 January 2005 at the Wayback Machine ABC 7 30 Report 21 August 2002 Disgraced leader steps aside The Age Melbourne Australia 7 December 2003 Retrieved 3 April 2007 Jaensch Dean Brent Peter Bowden Brett January 2005 Australian Political Parties in the Spotlight PDF Democratic Audit of Australia Australian National University pp 40 41 Archived from the original PDF on 26 October 2009 the Australian Democrats appear to be in decline having performed very poorly at the 2004 federal election and look to be replaced by the Greens as the major minor party Hawke predicts end is near for Democrats Australian Broadcasting Corporation 29 August 2006 Archived from the original on 5 December 2008 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Victorian Electoral Commission Results for Upper House 2006 Vec vic gov au 1 January 1999 Archived from the original on 16 April 2010 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Victorian Electoral Commission Results for Upper House 2006 Vec vic gov au 1 January 1999 Archived from the original on 5 April 2010 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Caldwell A Democrats to lose parliamentary representation 26 November 2007 Dean Jaensch radio interview Last remaining Democrat MP could become independent at ABC PM 20 July 2009 Retrieved 12 August 2009 Australian Democrats Deregistered in Tasmania Australian Broadcasting Corporation 5 January 2006 Archived from the original on 22 June 2008 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Political analyst predicts Democrats demise Australian Broadcasting Corporation 11 July 2006 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Former leader sees Democrats in tatters Australian Broadcasting Corporation 11 July 2006 Archived from the original on 5 December 2008 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Kanck says rave party safer than the front bar The Advertiser 5 July 2006 Article no longer available online ACT legislation register Electoral Cancellation of the Registration of the Australian Democrats Notice 2007 main page Legislation act gov au 13 September 2007 Archived from the original on 23 November 2008 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Emmerson Russell 7 October 2009 David Winderlich quits Democrats are no more News com au Archived from the original on 27 June 2013 Retrieved 25 April 2010 Democrats brave foray into 21st century hits a snag Crikey 21 September 2009 Retrieved 26 November 2020 Alexander Cathy 19 October 2012 Bell tolls for the Democrats bastards got the better of them Crikey Retrieved 26 November 2022 The Australian Democrats Funding Disclosure and Political Parties Political Party Registration Deregistered renamed political parties Australian Electoral Commission 16 April 2015 Retrieved 16 April 2015 Chan Gabrielle Alex Turnbull would fund moderate independents to fight Abbott and Joyce The Guardian 11 November 2018 Notice of Party Registration Decision PDF Australian Electoral Commission 7 April 2019 Retrieved 10 October 2022 Our candidates Australian Democrats website Retrieved 26 May 2019 State and territory Senate results Australian Electoral Commission 2019 1 Australian Electoral Commission 2022 Federal Election division of Eden Monaro results A E C Tally Room figures Australian Electoral Commission 2022 Federal Election results Chipp D and Larkin J The Third Man Rigby Melbourne 1978 ISBN 0 7270 0827 7 First preferences by Senate group Australian Electoral Commission Retrieved 27 May 2022 Chipp Donald Leslie 1925 2006 The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Retrieved 29 November 2022 a b Haines Janine 1945 2004 The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Retrieved 29 November 2022 Macklin Michael John 1943 The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Retrieved 29 November 2022 Powell Janet Frances 1942 2013 The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Retrieved 29 November 2022 Coulter John Richard 1930 The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Retrieved 29 November 2022 a b Kernot Cheryl 1948 The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Retrieved 29 November 2022 Life after Cheryl The Age 6 December 1997 Honestly who are the bastards now The Age 23 August 2002 Greig s leadership tilt starts with apology to sick Chipp The Sydney Morning Herald 27 August 2002 Andrew Bartlett Elected Leader Of Australian Democrats AustralianPolitics com 5 October 2002 Victorian to lead ailing Democrats The Age 4 November 2004 Further reading EditBennett D Discord in the Democrats PWHCE article Melbourne 2002 Beyond Our Expectations Proceedings of the Australian Democrats First National Conference Canberra 16 17 February 1980 Papers by Don Chipp Sir Mark Oliphant Prof Stephen Boyden Bob Whan Julian Cribb Colin Mason John Siddons A McDonald Chipp D ed Larkin J Chipp Methuen Haynes North Ryde NSW 1987 ISBN 0 454 01345 0 Gauja A Evaluating the Success and Contribution of a Minor Party the Case of the Australian Democrats Parliamentary Affairs 2010 63 3 486 503 21 January 2010 at Oxford Journals Paid subscription Athens or participating library membership required Paul A and Miller L The Third Team July 2007 A historical essay in 30 Years Australian Democrats Melbourne 2007 A 72 page anthology of historical and biographical monographs about the state and federal parliamentary experiences of the Democrats for the party s 30th anniversary Sugita H Challenging twopartism the contribution of the Australian Democrats to the Australian party system PhD thesis Flinders University of South Australia July 1995 Warhurst J ed Keeping the bastards honest Allen amp Unwin Sydney 1997 ISBN 1 86448 420 9 Warhurst J Don Chipp Was The Right Man In The Right Place At The Right Time Canberra Times 7 September 2006 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Australian Democrats Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Australian Democrats amp oldid 1151763212, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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