Secular Party of Australia

Last updated

Secular Party of Australia
PresidentJohn Perkins
Secretary Shaun Haddrill
Spokesperson Trevor Bell
Founded2006;17 years ago (2006)
Ideology Secular humanism
Secular liberalism
Australian republicanism [1]
National affiliation Fusion Party [2]
Website
www.secular.org.au

The Secular Party of Australia is a minor Australian political party, founded in January 2006 and registered as a federal political party in 2010. [3] It aims to promote secular humanist ethical principles and the separation of church and state in Australia. [4]

Contents

In early 2022 it merged with other parties to become the Fusion Party. [5]

History

The Secular Party was founded in January 2006 after discussions in late 2005, and registered as a federal political party in 2010. [3]

In 2005, the Secular Party took out a series of advertisements airing in prime time, spoken by party founder and then vice-president John Goldbaum. The campaign often used the slogan "Don't Let the Church Govern Australia", attacking the policies of the Howard government concerning abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage.

In 2007 the party merged with the similar Freedom From Religion Party. The phrase "Freedom From Religion" was appended as a subheading to the main party name on the website and in marketing materials. [6] [7] This subheading has since been changed to "Challenging Religious Privilege".

The party contested the 2007 Federal Australian election by fielding candidates for each Australian state's representation in the Senate under the campaign slogan "Don't Let The Church Govern Australia - Keep Religion Out of Politics". The party was not registered federally, so the party name did not appear on the ballot paper. Ian Bryce appeared on ABC Radio in a discussion on secularism [8] and John Perkins submitted an article to the Australian political e-journal On Line Opinion , [9] but the party received little other media attention during the campaign.

In 2008 and 2009 the party became more active in Senate Committee discussions around the taxation of religious organisations and the HREOC submission on same-sex discrimination. [10]

On 2 July 2009, the Secular Party applied to the Australian Electoral Commission to be registered as a federal political party; its application was accepted on 16 June 2010. [11] [12]

The 2010 federal election was the Secular Party's first election as a registered political party. The party fielded 31 candidates across Australia. These included Senate candidates in all states and 19 candidates for the House of Representatives. According to the Australian Electoral Commission the total number of votes cast for the party in lower house seats was 10,287 (0.1%) of the overall total. The party received 8,741 first preference votes (0.09%) in the Senate election. [13]

In the 2013 federal election, the Secular Party received 4,834 votes (0.04%) in the lower house, and 12,698 first preference votes (0.09%) in the senate. [14]

In the 2016 federal election, the Secular Party of Australia fielded 8 candidates for the senate, with 2 each for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. [15]

In the 2019 federal election, the Secular Party of Australia fielded 2 candidates for the senate for Victoria. [16]

The party has joined the Fusion Party alliance with the Pirate Party, Science Party and Vote Planet. [17]

On 11 January 2022, the party was voluntarily de-registered within the Australian Electoral Commission due to being unable to meet the increased registration requirement of 1,500 members. [18]

Policies and aims

Aims

The Secular Party believes that the law and policy in Australia isn't that of a truly secular government [19] and that voters in Australia are looking for a secular alternative. [20] [21]

The party supports

The party opposes

See also

Related Research Articles

The Australian electoral system comprises the laws and processes used for the election of members of the Australian Parliament and is governed primarily by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. The system presently has a number of distinctive features including compulsory enrolment; compulsory voting; majority-preferential instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the House of Representatives; and the use of the single transferable vote proportional representation system to elect the upper house, the Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Electoral Commission</span> National election commission

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.

Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory and for local government councils. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, although there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family First Party</span> Political party in Australia

The Family First Party was a conservative political party in Australia which existed from 2002 to 2017. It was founded in South Australia where it enjoyed its greatest electoral support. Since the demise of the Australian Conservatives into which it merged, it has been refounded in that state as the Family First Party (2021), where it contested the state election in 2022, but failed to win a seat.

Legalise Cannabis Australia, formerly the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party, is a single-issue Australian political party. It has a number of policies that centre around the re-legalisation of cannabis for personal, medicinal and industrial uses in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Democratic Party (Australia)</span> Australian political party

The Liberal Democratic Party, shortened as LDP, Liberal Democrats, or Lib Dems, is an Australian political party founded in Canberra in 2001. The party espouses smaller government and supports policies that are based on classical liberal, libertarian principles, such as lower taxes, opposing restrictions on civil liberties, decentralisation, utilising nuclear energy, and the relaxation of smoking laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting)</span> Political party in Australia

The Non-Custodial Parents Party was a minor political party in Australia registered between 1999 and 2020. It supported less government control of many aspects of daily family life, focusing on reform of family law and child support.

The Reason Party is an Australian political party founded in 2017. Its leader, Fiona Patten, describes the party as a "civil libertarian alternative". 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 the 2014 state election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pirate Party Australia</span> Political party in Australia

Pirate Party Australia is a political party in Australia that had traditionally represented civil liberty issues, but had also expanded into more traditional areas of policy. It was a Pirate Party which was based on the Pirate Party of Sweden, and continued to develop a comprehensive policy platform since its formation based on the Pirate ethos.

The Advance Australia Party, formerly the Building Australia Party, was a minor political party in Australia, advocating the rights of the building industry. First registered in New South Wales, it achieved federal registration in June 2010, but was deregistered in May 2015. However, the party was still active for several years afterwards on a state level, sending out candidates for the New South Wales Hills Shire Council and Mayoral elections in 2017. The Advance Australia Party was deregistered on 13 August 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Australia Party</span> Political party in Australia

The Sustainable Australia Party, formerly the Sustainable Population Party, is an Australian political party formed in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rise Up Australia Party</span> Political party in Australia

Rise Up Australia Party was a far-right political party in Australia. The party's policy platform was focused on nationalist and Christian conservative issues, such as opposing Islamic immigration and religious freedom for Australian Muslims and opposition to same-sex marriage in Australia. The party was launched in 2011 and was led by Pentecostal minister Danny Nalliah until its dissolution in June 2019. Its slogan was "Keep Australia Australian". Nalliah is the president of Catch the Fire Ministries. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) released a report on October 5, 2022, in which it classified the Rise Up Australia Party as an "anti-LGBTQ+" and "anti-Muslim" group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science Party (Australia)</span> Australian political party

The Science Party, formerly known as Future Party, is an Australian political party that was established on 2 July 2013. The founding leader, James Jansson, was studying for his Doctorate at the Kirby Institute during the party's formation, with a focus on advancing Australian society through technical and long-term solutions. On 22 March 2016, the name was changed to The Science Party after registering with the Australian Electoral Commission. The Science Party has run candidates for the 2013, 2016 and 2019 Federal elections, as well as several By-elections in between.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Equality Party (Marriage)</span> Political party in Australia

The Australian Equality Party (Marriage) (also AEP; formerly Australian Equality Party) was an Australian political party founded by Jason Tuazon-McCheyne. The AEP had a platform that promoted equality and human rights, particularly in relation to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) community. The party's goal was to get AEP Leader, Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, elected to the Senate at the 2016 Federal Election. The party was deregistered voluntarily on 26 March 2018.

Centre Alliance, formerly known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), is a centrist political party in Australia based in the state of South Australia. It currently has one representative in the Parliament, Rebekha Sharkie in the House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow Vest Australia</span> Political party in Australia

Yellow Vest Australia (YVA), until 9 April 2019 known as the Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA), was a minor right-wing to far-right political party in Australia. The party was founded by members of the Q Society and has been described as the political wing of Q Society. The leader was Debbie Robinson (President), who was also national president of the Q Society. On 4 September 2020, the Australian Electoral Commission removed the Yellow Vest Australia from the registered political party list.

The Australian Sex Party was an Australian political party founded in 2009 in response to concerns over the purported increasing influence of religion in Australian politics. The party was born out of an adult-industry lobby group, the Eros Association. Its leader, Fiona Patten, was formerly the association's CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Federation Party</span> Political party in Australia

The Australian Federation Party (AFP), formerly known as the Country Alliance and the Australian Country Party, is an Australian political party. Founded in 2004 by four rural Victorians, the party lodged its initial registration with the Victorian Electoral Commission on 15 August 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fusion Party (Australia)</span> Australian political party

FUSION: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency, commonly known as Fusion Party Australia or Fusion, is a political party in Australia created by the merging of the Science Party, Pirate Party, Secular Party, Vote Planet, and Climate Change Justice Party.

References

  1. ↑ "Republic". Secular Party of Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "Our Party". Fusion Party Australia.
  3. 1 2 History of Secular Party Archived 13 September 2012 at archive.today
  4. ↑ "Aims". Secular Party of Australia. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  5. ↑ "Our Party". fusionparty.org.au. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  6. ↑ "Freethought Parties Merge - Secular Party Press release". Secular.org.au. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Losing My Religion" - Herald Sun - 2 December 2009
  8. ↑ "The Spirit of Things - ABC Radio National". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 November 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  9. ↑ "Secularism as an ideal" On Line opinion - 15 February 2006 (by John Perkins)
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ "Registration of the Secular Party of Australia". Australian Electoral Commission.
  12. ↑ "Secular Party of Australia Information". Australian Electoral Commission. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  13. ↑ "Secular Party of Australia". Secular.org.au. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  14. ↑ "Senate State First Preference By Group". vtr.aec.gov.au. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "Candidates for the 2016 federal election". Australian Electoral Commission. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Candidates for the 2019 federal election". Australian Electoral Commission. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "We have joined Fusion". Secular Party of Australia. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  18. ↑ "Secular Party of Australia Voluntary Deregistration" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission.
  19. ↑ Transcript of Radio Interview with Dr. John L Perkins on community radio station 2SER Archived 24 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine - Recorded 3 February 2006
  20. ↑ Politics and religion: crossed paths - The Sydney Morning Herald - 26 December 2009
  21. ↑ "Policy details of the Secular Party". Secular.org.au. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  22. ↑ "Secular Party of Australia Website". Policy details of the Secular Party of Australia website. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.