Reason Party (Australia)

Last updated

Reason Australia
Leader Fiona Patten
Founded22 August 2017
Dissolved7 March 2024
Preceded by
Ideology Civil libertarianism
Progressivism
Secular liberalism
Drug liberalisation
Political position Centre to centre-left [1]
Colours  Teal
Website
reason.org.au

Reason Australia, commonly referred to as the Reason Party or as simply Reason, was an Australian political party. Its leader, Fiona Patten, described the party as a "civil libertarian alternative". [2] Patten was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as at the 2018 state election in the Northern Metropolitan Region, after formerly being elected as a Sex Party member for the same seat in 2014. However, she lost re-election in 2022.

Contents

Reason was registered at the state level in Victoria and New South Wales, as well as with the Australian Electoral Commission at the federal level.

The party was disbanded in March 2024. [3]

History

In August 2017, Fiona Patten announced the launch of a new political party called Reason Australia, in part born from a merger of the Australian Sex Party and the Australian Cyclists Party. [4] [5] [6] [7] In January 2018, the Victorian Electoral Commission officially changed the party's name from "Australian Sex Party – Victoria" to "Reason Victoria". [8]

In May 2018, the party applied to the AEC for registration for federal elections as "Reason Australia", [9] which was approved on 30 August 2018. [10]

In December 2019, the NSW branch of the Voluntary Euthanasia Party merged with the Reason Party, and changed its name to "Reason Party NSW". [11]

In December 2020 it was announced that Patten would enter a coalition with independent Mildura MP, Ali Cupper who sits in the Legislative Assembly. [12] Cupper ended the agreement on 13 May 2021. [13]

In February 2022, Jane Caro announced that she was standing as a candidate for the party for a New South Wales Australian Senate seat in the 2022 Australian federal election. [14] She was unsuccessful.

Patten was not re-elected at the 2022 Victorian state election, leaving Reason with no elected representatives.

Parliamentary actions

The party's main goal should they be elected was to establish voluntary assisted dying laws for Victoria. After a long process and a marathon legislative session, the bill became law on a conscience vote. [15] [16]

In 2017, Patten renewed calls for a pilot program of a safe injecting room in North Richmond, in response to a large increase of Victorian drug-related deaths in the last several years. [17] [18] In the first session for the Legislative Council of the year, she introduced the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Pilot Medically Supervised Injecting Centre) Bill 2017. [19] At the time there were regular overdoses in the streets of Richmond, and that number has been reduced significantly since the centre was opened, with various estimates about the number of lives saved due to the opening of the centre. [20] [21]

Policies

Party leader Fiona Patten in November 2018 Fiona Patten and Sue Bolton Upper House candidates with Pascoe Vale candidates endorsing climate emergency - IMG 8802 (cropped).jpg
Party leader Fiona Patten in November 2018

The party's policies include: [22]

Drug law reform

Cannabis

In regards to cannabis the party supports the following: [24]

  • The legalisation and regulation of cannabis for people over the age of 18
  • Support for the legal possession and use of cannabis for people over the age of 18
  • Amending drug driving laws to test for impairment not presence
  • The cultivation of a defined number of plants in their principal place of residence
  • Regulations that allow for the establishment of cannabis social clubs
  • Establishing a regulatory body to oversee the industry
  • Regulation on the potency of THC in legal cannabis products
  • Market controls to avoid the creation of a ‘Big Cannabis’ industry
  • Restrictions on advertising, marketing and promotion products
  • Competitive pricing to undercut the illicit market
  • An appropriate tax framework to help fund cannabis related programs
  • Expunging all historical personal-use cannabis criminal records

Tax and churches

Social housing

Gambling

Health

Internet and media

Other areas

Reason Party supporters with placards at Yes Marriage Equality rally Sydney Town Hall 10 Sept 2017 Reason Party (Australia) supporters with placards at Yes Marriage Equality rally Sydney Town Hall 10 Sept 2017.jpg
Reason Party supporters with placards at Yes Marriage Equality rally Sydney Town Hall 10 Sept 2017

Electoral history

Victorian state elections

Fiona Patten Portrait 2013 Fiona Patten Portrait 2013.jpg
Fiona Patten Portrait 2013

In addition to fielding candidates in a number of Victorian Legislative Assembly seats, the party stood candidates in all regions of the Victorian Legislative Council after 2017. In 2018 the party succeeded in re-electing Fiona Patten to the Northern Metropolitan Region.

Election Eastern Victoria North-Eastern Metro Northern Metro Northern Victoria South-Eastern Metro Southern Metro Western Metro Western Victoria # of seats won
2018 0.81%1.18%3.37%0.70%0.85%2.00%1.15%0.92%
1 / 40
2022 0.74%0.99%3.61%0.81%0.45%2.02%0.81%0.71%
0 / 40
Victorian Legislative Council
Election yearNo of votes % of voteSeats won+/–Notes
2010 61,5421.91 (#6)
0 / 40
2014 89,7482.63 (#5)
1 / 40
Increase2.svg 1Shared balance of power
2018 49,0131.37 (#9)
1 / 40
Increase2.svg 1Shared balance of power
2022 46,6851.26 (#13)
0 / 40
Decrease2.svg 1

Victorian state by-elections

ElectionCandidateVote shareYear
Northcote*Laura Chipp3.20%2017

*Chipp was endorsed by the party, but the party was not registered with the VEC at the time, as they were in the process of changing their name.

The party has had some involvement in Glenn Druery's Minor Party Alliance. [33] [34] However, in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, Fiona Patten had a falling out with Glenn Druery due to his new conflict of interest as chief-of-staff to Federal Senator, Derryn Hinch, who was running candidates in the election and receiving favourable preferences due to Druery's private business dealings as the "preference whisperer". She claimed that he demanded that the Reason Party pay him money, or she would not be re-elected. Patten made an official complaint to the VEC, and Druery is now subject to an ongoing police investigation over this complaint. [35] [36]

See also

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References

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  7. "The Australian Cyclists Party Closes (and promotes alternative broad issue party)". Bicycles Network Australia. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
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