Independent Democratic Party (Australia)

Last updated

Independent Democratic Party
Leader Raphael Cilento
Founded1953
Dissolved1954

The Independent Democratic Party (IDP), sometimes referred to as the Independent Democratic Group, the Queensland Democratic Party or simply the Democratic Party, was an Australian political party that was active in the mid-1950s. It was led by public health administrator Raphael Cilento.

Contents

Ahead of the 1953 Senate election, the party merged with the New South Wales-based Democratic Party of Australia (DPA). [1] However, they split following the election. [2] The party was also separate from the North Queensland Democratic Party. [3]

History

The party merged with the Democratic Party several months before the 1953 Senate election, with the DPA's Charles Russell (a former Country Party MP) saying the decision was made because both parties had similar aims and ideologies. [4] The party endorsed Cilento as its lead candidate in Queensland. [5] [6] Not long after the Senate election, which saw the Democratic ticket fail to win a seat, the parties split. [7]

At the 1954 federal election, Cilento ran as the IDP's candidate in the division of McPherson, held by Country Party leader Arthur Fadden. He was unsuccessful, receiving 34% of the vote. [8] [9]

Policies

The party pledged to "restore representative government" in Australia, with Cilento criticising the two-party-system and stating that "uncontrolled competition between parties, and machine politics generally, can only lead to totalitarianism". [10]

Related Research Articles

The Australia Party was a minor political party established initially in 1966 as the Liberal Reform Group. As the Australia Party, it became influential, particularly in the landmark 1972 federal election when its preferences assisted the Australian Labor Party to victory—ending 23 years of Liberal/Country Coalition government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Labor Party (historical)</span> Former political party in Australia

The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was an Australian political party. The party came into existence following the 1955 ALP split as the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), and was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957. In 1962, the Queensland Labor Party, a breakaway party of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party, became the Queensland branch of the DLP.

Cheryl Zena Kernot is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 1997, and the fifth leader of the Australian Democrats from 1993 to 1997. In 1997, she resigned from the Australian Democrats, joined the Australian Labor Party, and won the seat of Dickson at the 1998 federal election. She was defeated at the 2001 federal election. Kernot was an unsuccessful independent candidate to represent New South Wales in the Australian Senate in the 2010 federal election.

<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.

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

The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) was a Christian democratic political party in Australia, founded in 1977, under the name Call to Australia Party, by a group of Christian ministers in New South Wales. One of the co-founders, Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister, ran as their upper house candidate in the NSW State election. The Christian Democratic Party's platform espoused social conservatism. It changed its name in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raphael Cilento</span> Australian medical practitioner and public health administrator

Sir Raphael West Cilento, often known as "Ray", was an Australian medical practitioner and public health administrator.

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

The Libertarian Party, formerly known as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), 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">Idaho Democratic Party</span> Idaho affiliate of the Democratic Party

The Idaho Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Idaho.

Split-ticket voting is when a voter in an election votes for candidates from different political parties when multiple offices are being decided by a single election, as opposed to straight-ticket voting, where a voter chooses candidates from the same political party for every office up for election. Split-ticket voting can occur in certain mixed-member systems which allow for it, such as mixed-member proportional and parallel voting systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">League of Social Democrats</span> Pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong

The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliamentary struggles".

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

The National Socialist Party of Australia (NSPA) was a minor Australian neo-Nazi party that operated between 1967 and early 1970s. It was formed in 1967 as a more moderate breakaway from the Australian National Socialist Party (ANSP). The NSPA was led by Ted Cawthron.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was an Australian breakaway political party of the United Australia Party that contested the 1943 federal election and the 1944 New South Wales state election. Formed in 1943, it was replaced by the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party of Australia in January 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Russell (Australian politician)</span> Australian politician

Charles Wilfred Russell was an Australian politician, pastoralist and right wing activist who served briefly in both the Queensland and federal parliaments. Initially a member of the Country Party, he later became one of its key critics and campaigned actively against it in the 1950s and 1960s. His successful court action invalidating the Queensland government's stock levy in 1977, in the last year of his life, was one of his most significant achievements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1970 United States Senate election in New York</span> Election held in 1970 in New York State

The 1970 United States Senate election in New York was held on November 3, 1970, to elect New York's Class I Senator in its delegation. Representative Charles Goodell had been appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to serve the remainder of Robert F. Kennedy's senatorial term, following Kennedy's assassination.

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

The Libertarian Party of Australia was an Australian political party based in South Australia. It was formed as a result of a split in the Workers Party over the adoption of the new name "Progress Party".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Australia Party (2013)</span> Political party in Australia

The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is an Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission in 2017, revived and re-registered in 2018, and voluntarily deregistered in 2022. The party fielded candidates in all 150 House of Representatives seats at the 2013 federal election. Palmer, the party's leader, was elected to the Division of Fairfax and it reached a peak of three senators following the rerun of the Western Australian senate election in 2014. When the party was revived under its original name in 2018, it was represented by ex-One Nation senator Brian Burston in the federal parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CountryMinded</span> Australian political party

CountryMinded was an Australian political party formed in 2014 that claimed to represent the interests of regional Australians whose livelihoods depend either directly or indirectly on agricultural production. The party was founded by a group of people looking for accountable regional representation, including two brothers from New South Wales, David and Peter Mailler as the Country Party of Australia, and changed its name to CountryMinded in September 2015. In 2018, the party merged with the Australian Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boyd R. Overhulse</span> American politician

Boyd Richey Overhulse was an American politician and attorney from Oregon. He served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives followed by two terms in the Oregon State Senate. A conservative Democrat from a rural district, Overhulse was known for his ability to work with Republicans as well as fellow Democrats in the state legislature. He was elected President of the Oregon Senate eleven days after taking his seat in the state senate, the first Democrat elected to that position in 79 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1953 Philadelphia municipal election</span>

Philadelphia's municipal election of November 3, 1953, was the second held under the city charter of 1951 and represented the first test of the Democratic city government of Mayor Joseph S. Clark Jr. In the 1951 election, the voters had elected a Democratic mayor for the first time in 67 years, breaking the Republican hold on political power in the city. They had also elected a majority-Democratic City Council along with Democrats for district attorney and other citywide offices. In 1953, the voters had the chance to continue the Democratic trend or to block it in the election for City Controller, Register of Wills, and various judges and magistrates. On election day, the Republican organization recovered from their 1951 losses, electing all their candidates citywide. Republicans celebrated the victory, but subsequent Democratic triumphs in the 1955 and 1959 elections made the 1953 result more of an aberration than a true comeback for the once-powerful Philadelphia Republican machine.

The Democratic Party of Australia (DPA), sometimes referred to as the Australian Democratic Party, was an Australian political party that was active in the mid-1950s.

References

  1. "New party's Senate teams". Queensland Times. 11 March 1953.
  2. "Democratic team for Senate". Morning Bulletin. 8 April 1953. The Democratic team was announced in a joint statement tonight by the chairman of the Democratic Party (Mr Lance Jones) and the chairman of the Independent Democrats (Sir Raphael Cilento).
  3. "CILENTO TO STAND FOR SENATE". Brisbane Telegraph. 2 April 1953. The North Queensland Democratic Party had been invited to associate itself with the Independent Democrats, but had decided not to run candidates for the Senate
  4. "Democratic Party meeting at Dalby". The Dalby Herald. 28 April 1953.
  5. "Democratic Party's aims". Morning Bulletin. 8 May 1953.
  6. "Democratic Party to continue". Warwick Daily News. 1 June 1953.
  7. "DISCLAIMER OVER POLITICAL PARTY". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 October 1953. The Queensland Democratic Party chairman today said that his party had dissociated itself from the organisation calling itself the New South Wales branch of the Democratic Party.
  8. "New party planned". The Daily Telegraph. 22 April 1954.
  9. "Few "outsiders" stood for election (except those 41 Communists)". The Daily Telegraph. 30 May 1954.
  10. "Leader Sets Out Democratic Party Viewpoints". Truth. 16 May 1954.