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The Australian Democrats is a minor Australian political party formed in 1977 by a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, under the leadership of Don Chipp.
The party has a unique approach to managing itself. Rather than having a traditional party hierarchy make major decisions, decisions are made in an open environment, with all members eligible to vote by postal ballot. Changes to the party's constitution require a 70% vote.
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Positions
The party describes itself as "the People's watchdog", and in its 30 year history, has focused on environmental concerns, social welfare, animal rights, and opposition to nuclear power and weapons. -
Current Status
Over the past several decades, the party achieved Parliamentary representation from all six Australian states, and had representation in 5 of the six state legislatures.Popular support ranged from 5-10%, and they never were able to win a seat in the House. The party had a very poor showing in the 2007 election, winning approximately 1% of the popular vote.
As a result, there will be no Australian Democrats in Parliament as of June 30, 2008. There will be one state representative in the South Australian legislature, and no representatives in the other states. The party leadership has indicated that they do intend to stand for election again.
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Active Campaigns
The Australian Democrats are currently working to address the following issues:- Mental health services
- Fighting [Media Sexualization of Children] in the media
- Addressing the Stolen Wages of Indigenous People
- Proposing 14 weeks paid Maternity Leave
- Opposing Desalinization plants
- Advocating Energy Efficiency
- Supporting an Integrated Health Care system
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Australian Democrats Questions
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why are elections necessary for a democratic system? 2 AnswersElections are not necessary for a democratic system. In a direct democracy issues such as proposed laws are voted on by the public. They do not need to elect re... read more -
Are Australians aware of their own endangered species? 1 AnswerI'm American but I'm going to guess probably not, or that not most really care about knowing that kind of stuff, not to sound like a rude or hateful type of per... read more -
Which was the first really democratic society/nation of the world? 5 AnswersAthens to be sure, around 5th Century B.C.. For one, it was the Greek who invented the word Democracy (power of the people). Athens had a direct democracy, but... read more
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Australian Democrats Timeline
- 1966: Liberal Reform Group splits from the conservative Liberal Party of Australia.
- 1969: Renames itself the Liberal Reform Movement.
- 1969: Renames itself the Australia Party.
- 1975: New Liberal Movement breaks away from the South Australian Liberals.
- 1977: Australia Party, New Liberal Movement and discontented Liberals form the Australian Democrats.
- 1980: Achieve representation of 5 senators in Parliament.
- 1990: Democrats receive over 1,000,000 votes in the general election.
- 2007: Lost all seats in parliament in the election.
Featured Mahalo Topics
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On Twitter powered by Twitter
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One day, I'm going to write a blog post about all the idiocy I saw in the Australian Democrats. It'll be a long one.
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Australian Democrats calls for radical overhaul of Internet legislation http://bit.ly/d4khsL
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Palin is good news for Democrats | The Australian http://bit.ly/b8dRMt
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RT @conem: Australian Democrats calling for new legislative framework for the internet
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Australian Democrats calling for new legislative framework for the internet
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