Australian Democrats

Not to be confused with Democratic Party of Australia.
Australian Democrats
AbbreviationAD
PresidentLyn Allison
Vice Presidents
  • Elana Mitchell
  • Grahame Elder
  • Jack Pead
FounderDon Chipp[1][2]
Founded9 May 1977[3]
Registered7 April 2019[a]
Preceded by
HeadquartersNairne, South Australia[4]
Youth wingYoung Democrats
Ideology
Political positionCentre[6][7][1]
Colours    Gold and Green
Slogan"Keep The Bastards Honest"[8][9]
House of Representatives
0 / 151
Senate
0 / 76
Website
Official website
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The Australian Democrats is a centrist[6][7] political party in Australia.[10] Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party 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.[7]

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, winning seats in all six states and 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 also achieved representation in the legislatures of the ACT, South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania. However, at the 2004 and 2007 federal elections, all seven of its Senate seats were lost as the party's share of the vote collapsed. This 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 Democrat 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.[11] In 2018 the Democrats merged with CountryMinded, a small, also unregistered agrarian political party,[12] and later that year the party's constitution was radically rewritten to establish "top-down" governance and de-emphasize the principle of participatory democracy.[13] On 7 April 2019 the party regained registration with the Australian Electoral Commission.[14] As of 2022, the national president of the party is former senator and parliamentary leader Lyn Allison.[15]

  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. ^ "47 years young today! 🥳". Twitter. Australian Democrats. 9 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Registration of a political party Australian Democrats" (PDF). aec.gov.au. Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). 7 April 2019.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b c 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.
  8. ^ Pascoe, Michael (20 April 2016). "Australian Democrats would 'keep the bastards honest'". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  9. ^ Moore, Tony (6 October 2021). "Australian Democrats pledge to 'keep the bastards honest' one more time". Brisbane Times.
  10. ^ "Current register of political parties". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  11. ^ "The Australian Democrats". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  12. ^ Chan, Gabrielle (10 November 2018). "Alex Turnbull would fund moderate independents to fight Abbott and Joyce". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  13. ^ Australian Democrats Constitution (2019) as registered with the Australian Electoral Commission.
  14. ^ "Party registration decisions and changes". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Our Team". Australian Democrats. Retrieved 2 November 2020.


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