List of political parties in Australia
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Political parties in Australia lists political parties in Australia.
Australia has a mild two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties or coalitions, and it's difficult for independants or other parties to gain seats. However, preferential voting makes things easier for parties not part of the duopoly than in most other English speaking countries, including the US.
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Significant political parties (and their federal leaders)
- Australian Democrats: Senator Lyn Allison
- Australian Greens: Senator Bob Brown1
- Australian Labor Party: Kim Beazley MP
- Family First Party: Steve Fielding
- Liberal Party of Australia: John Howard MP
- National Party of Australia: John Anderson MP
- One Nation Party: (no clear leader)2
Two political groups dominate the Australian political spectrum.
One is a conservative group of parties that are presently in coalition at the federal level and in some states, but compete in others. The main party in this group is the Liberal Party, a centre-right neo-liberal group. It is joined by the The Nationals, a party that represents rural interests - especially primary industry. The third member is the Country Liberal Party, which is the sole representative of both parties in the Northern Territory. Collectively, these parties are known as The Coalition.
The other is the Australian Labor Party (ALP), a centre-left party founded by the trade unions.
Historically, support for either the Coalition or the Labor Party was often viewed as being based around class, with the middle class supporting the Coalition and the working class supporting Labor. In more recent times, this has been a less important factor because the 1970s and 1980s saw Labor gain a significant bloc of middle class support and the Coalition gain a significant bloc of working class support.
Less significant parties include the Australian Greens, a left wing and environmentalist party; the Australian Democrats, a party of middle-class centrists; One Nation, a populist anti-immigration and protectionist party; and the Family First Party, a party appealing to socially conservative Christians. The proportional representation system allows these parties to win seats in the Senate, but they have usually been unable to win seats in the House of Representatives (the Greens won a House seat at a 2002 by-election, but lost it in 2004).
Minor parties
None of these parties currently hold seats in Federal Parliament, although some have held them in the past and some hold seats in the various state Parliaments.
- Australia First Party
- Christian Democratic Party of Australia
- Citizens Electoral Council
- Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
- Communist Party of Australia (revived)
- Democratic Labor Party
- Ex-Service, Service and Veterans Party
- Fishing Party
- Four Wheel Drive Party
- Great Australians Party
- Liberal Democratic Party of Australia
- Liberals for Forests
- Lower Excise Fuel and Beer Party
- National Action
- New Country Party
- No GST Party
- Non-Custodial Parents Party
- Nuclear Disarmament Party
- Outdoor Recreation Party
- People Power Party
- Progressive Labour Party
- The Shooters Party
- Socialist Alliance
- Socialist Party
- Workers Liberty Australia
- Workers Power
Defunct parties
- Australia Party
- Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI)
- Centre-Line Party
- Commonwealth Liberal Party
- Communist Party of Australia (1920 - 1991)
- Democratic Labor Party
- Free Trade Party
- Liberal and Country League
- Liberal Movement
- Natural Law Party
- New LM
- Nationalist Party of Australia
- Protectionist Party
- SA First
- United Australia Party
Notes
- The Australian Greens do not formally have a leader. Brown is the party's senior elected official and is treated by the media and public as its leader.
- One Nation has largely disintegrated. Senator Len Harris is its only federal parliamentary reprentative, but does not appear to be formally its leader. Founder, Pauline Hanson, herself ran for the federal Senate as an independent candidate in the 2004 election. Harris' Senate term expires in June 2005 and he did not win reelection.
See also
- Index of political parties to browse parties by name
- List of political parties to browse parties by country
- List of political parties by ideology to browse parties by name
- Membership of internationals to browse parties by membership of internationals
Other parties on the Internet
- Directories: Australian Politics (http://www.australianpolitics.com/parties/list.shtml)/Yahoo Australia & NZ (http://au.dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Australia/Government/Politics/Parties/)
- ABC - Australians for a Better Community (http://www.abc.inoz.com/)
- Action Party (http://philsworld.iwarp.com/action.htm)
- Advance Australia Party (http://www.lisp.com.au/~aap/)
- Alliance fo Workers'Liberty (http://www.workersliberty.org/australia/)
- Australian Family Alliance (http://www.familyalliance.org.au/)
- Australian Men's Party (http://www.ozemail.com.au/~irgeo/amp.htm)
- Australian Progressive Alliance (http://www.progressivealliance.org.au/)
- Australian Reform Party (http://www.reform.org.au/)
- Australian Social Democratic Party (http://www.socialdemocrats.org.au/asdp.html)
- Australian Women's Party (http://www.isis.aust.com/awp/)
- Citizens' Electoral Council (http://www.cecaust.com.au/)
- Communist Party of Australia (http://www.cpa.org.au/)
- Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) (http://www.vanguard.net.au/index.php)
- Democratic Socialist Party (http://www.dsp.org.au/)
- Free Trade Party (http://freetradeparty.tripod.com/)
- Hope Party (http://www.hopeparty.org.au/)
- International Socialist Organisation (http://www.iso.org.au/)
- Non-Custodial Parents Party (http://ncpp.xisle.info/)
- Progressive Labour Party (http://www.progressivelabour.org/)
- Republican Party of Australia (http://ablesoft.net/ozrepublic/)
- Science Technology And Research Party (http://www.ozemail.com.au/~starprty/)
- Socialist Alliance (http://www.socialist-alliance.org/)
- Socialist Democracy (http://www.knowledgecollegetutors.com/sd.htm)
- Socialist Equality Party (http://www.sep.org.au/)
- Unity Party (http://www.unity.org.au/)