Home > Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats (in regular parlance, just the Democrats), is an Australian social liberal party formed in 1977 from the earlier Australia Party by Don Chipp, who left the Liberal Party of Australia to do so. His stated aim was to "Keep the Bastards Honest" (the "Bastards" are, of course, all politicians; the irreverence is also typically Australian). Despite its name (and the name of the rival and conservative Liberal Party of Australia), the Australian Democrats can be considered the counterpart of European liberal parties.
1 Policy
The Democrats' agenda includes interventionist economic policies, commitment to environmental causes, support for reconciliation with Australia's indigenous population through such mechanisms as formal treaties, pacifist approaches to international relations, support for science and the arts, and liberal approaches to social issues such as sexuality and drugs, and constitutional and treaty protections for human rights. Its core support base is overwhelmingly tertiary-educated, and middle-class. They also explicitly target voters who seek a brake on the powers of the government of the day to change things, with their long-term hold on the Senate balance of power.
The party has a platform of participatory democracy, with policies supporting proportional representation and citizens' initated referenda. Many important internal issues (such as electoral preselection and leadership) are decided by direct postal ballot of the membership. Although policies are theoretically set in a similar fashion, Democrat parliamentarians have extensive freedom in interpreting them.
2 Support
Support for the Democrats has tended to fluctuate between about 5 and 10 percent of the population and is geographically concentrated around the wealthier suburbs of the capital cities (especially Adelaide). They have therefore never managed to win a House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the parliament of Australia. The other is the Senate. The 150 members of the house are elected from single-member geographic districts (popularly known as "seats" but officially known as "Commonwe seat (despite coming close on a number of occasions). During the 80's and 90's they typically held one or two of the Federal SenateThe Australian Senate is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia. See List of members of the Australian Senate Origins and role The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act of 1900 set up the Australian Senate as part of the new syste seats in each state, as well as a handful of representatives in state parliaments and local councils. But the rise of the Greens and internal bickering in the early 00's changed this, and the Democrats are now in heavy decline. Their voters are turning to the Liberals and Greens in almost equal numbers.
3 Leadership
The Democrats are notable for their willingness to elect female and Aboriginal parliamentary leadership. Of the party's eight leaders, five have been women. Aboriginal Senator Aden Ridgeway was deputy leader under Natasha Stott Despoja.
The leaders of the Australian Democrats have been:
Andrew Bartlett is currently deputy leader.
