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" being politicians in general). 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. After a poor performance at the 2004 federal election, the Australian Democrats' future as a political force is in question.

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.

Related Topics:
Interventionist - Environmental - Reconciliation - Indigenous population - Pacifist - Tertiary-educated - Middle-class

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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.

Related Topics:
Proportional representation - Citizens' initated referenda

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