List of political parties in Australia

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The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition. Federally, 6 of the 151 members of the lower house (Members of Parliament, or MPs) are not members of major parties, as are 15 of the 76 members of the upper house (senators).

The Parliament of Australia has a number of distinctive features including compulsory voting, with full-preference instant-runoff voting in single-member seats to elect the lower house, the Australian House of Representatives, and the use of the single transferable vote to elect the upper house, the Australian Senate.

Other parties tend to perform better in the upper houses of the various federal and state parliament since these typically use a form of proportional representation.

History[]

Two political groups dominate the Australian political spectrum, forming a de facto two-party system. One is the Australian Labor Party (ALP), a centre-left party which is formally linked to the Australian labour movement. Formed in 1893, it has been a major party federally since 1901, and has been one of the two major parties since the 1910 federal election. The ALP is in government in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

The other group is a conservative grouping of parties that are in coalition at the federal level, as well as in New South Wales, but compete in Western Australia and South Australia. The main party in this group is the centre-right Liberal Party. The Liberal Party is the modern form of a conservative grouping that has existed since the fusion of the Protectionist Party and Free Trade Party into the Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1909. Although this group has changed its nomenclature, there has been a general continuity of MPs and structure between different forms of the party. Its modern form was founded by Robert Menzies in 1944. The party's philosophy is generally liberal conservatism.

Every elected prime minister of Australia since 1910 has been a member of either the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, or one of the Liberal Party's previous incarnations (the Commonwealth Liberal Party, the Nationalist Party of Australia, or the United Australia Party).

The Liberal Party is joined by the National Party, a party that seeks to represent rural interests, especially agricultural ones. The Nationals contest a limited number of seats and do not generally directly compete with the Liberal Party. Its ideology is generally more socially conservative than that of the Liberal Party. In 1987, the National Party made an abortive run for the office of prime minister in its own right, in the Joh for Canberra campaign. However, it has generally not aspired to become the majority party in the coalition, and it is generally understood that the prime minister of Australia will be a member of either the Labor or Liberal parties. On two occasions (involving Earle Page in 1939, and John McEwen from December 1967 to January 1968), the deputy prime minister, the leader of the National Party (then known as the Country Party), became the prime minister temporarily, upon the death of the incumbent prime minister. Arthur Fadden was the only other Country Party, prime minister. He assumed office in August 1941 after the resignation of Robert Menzies and served as prime minister until October of that year.

The Liberal and National parties have merged in Queensland and the Northern Territory/South Australia, although the resultant parties are different. The Liberal National Party of Queensland, formed in 2008, is a branch of the Liberal Party, but it is affiliated with the Nationals and members elected to federal parliament may sit as either Liberals or Nationals. The Country Liberal Party was formed in 1978 when the Northern Territory gained responsible government. It is a separate member of the federal coalition, but it is affiliated with the two major members and its president has voting rights in the National Party. The name refers to the older name of the National Party.

Federally, these parties are collectively known as the Coalition. The Coalition has existed continually (between the Nationals and their predecessors, and the Liberals and their predecessors) since 1923, with minor breaks in 1940, 1973, and 1987.

Historically, support for either the Coalition or the Labor Party was often viewed as being based on social class, with the upper and middle classes supporting the Coalition and the working class supporting Labor. This has been a less important factor since the 1970s and 1980s when the Labor Party gained a significant bloc of middle-class support and the Coalition gained a significant bloc of working-class support.^[1]

The two-party duopoly has been relatively stable, with the two groupings (Labor and Coalition) gaining at least 70% of the primary vote in every election since 1910 (including the votes of autonomous state parties). Third parties have only rarely received more than 10% of the vote for the Australian House of Representatives in a federal election, such as the Australian Democrats in the 1990 election and the Australian Greens in 2010, 2016 and 2019

Federal parties[]

Federal parliamentary parties[]

Name		Abbr.	Leader	Ideology	MPs	Senators	Membership
The Coalition
	Liberal Party of Australia Liberal National[a] Country Liberal	Liberal	Scott Morrison	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	60 / 151	31 / 76	50,000[2]
	National Party of Australia	National	Barnaby Joyce	Conservatism Agrarianism	16 / 151	5 / 76	Not published
	Australian Labor Party	Labor, ALP	Anthony Albanese	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	68 / 151	26 / 76	53,550[4]
	Australian Greens	Green	Adam Bandt	Green politics	1 / 151	9 / 76	15,000[5]
	Centre Alliance	CA	No leader	Social liberalism Populism	1 / 151	1 / 76	Not published
	Katter's Australian Party	KAP	Robbie Katter	Right-wing populism Developmentalism	1 / 151	0 / 76	Not published
	United Australia Party	UAP	Craig Kelly	Right-wing populism Australian nationalism	1 / 151	0 / 76	>83,000[6]
	Pauline Hanson's One Nation	One Nation, PHON	Pauline Hanson	Right-wing populism Australian nationalism	0 / 151	2 / 76	Not published
	Jacqui Lambie Network	JLN	Jacqui Lambie	Tasmanian regionalism Australian nationalism	0 / 151	1 / 76	Not published
	Rex Patrick Team		Rex Patrick	South Australian regionalism Anti-corruption	0 / 151	1 / 76	Not published

Federal non-parliamentary parties[]

Parties listed in alphabetical order as of December 2021:^[7][8]

Name		Leader	Ideology / Objective
	Animal Justice Party	Bruce Poon	Animal welfare
	Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated	James Saleam	White nationalism Ultranationalism
	Australian Affordable Housing Party	Andrew Potts	Affordable housing
	Australian Christians	Ray Moran	Social conservatism Christian right
	Australian Citizens Party	Craig Isherwood	LaRouche movement Economic nationalism
	Australian Democrats	Lyn Allison	Social liberalism Agrarianism
	Australian Federation Party	Glenn O'Rourke	Australian nationalism Conservatism
	Australian Progressives	Therese Faulkner	Progressivism Communitarianism
	Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)	Fred Nile	National conservatism Christian right
	Climate Emergency Action Alliance: Vote Planet	N/A	Climate change action
	Democratic Labour Party (DLP)	Rosemary Lorrima	Christian democracy Distributism
	Federal ICAC Now (FIN)	N/A	Federal ICAC advocacy Anti-corruption
	Health Australia Party	Andrew Patterson	Anti-vaccination Naturopathy
	Independents CAN	Jim Tait	Climate change action
	Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia	'Uncle' Owen Whyman	Indigenous rights Constitutional reform
	Informed Medical Options Party	Michael O'Neill[9]	Anti-vaccination Anti-fluoridation
	Legalise Cannabis Australia	Michael Balderstone	Cannabis legalisation
	Liberal Democratic Party	John Humphreys	Classical liberalism Right-libertarianism
	Love Australia or Leave	Kim Vuga	Anti-immigration Anti-Islam
			5G conspiracy[10]
	Reason Australia	Fiona Patten	Civil libertarianism Progressivism
	Science Party	Andrea Leong	Techno-progressivism Technocentrism
	Secular Party of Australia	John Perkins	Secular humanism Secular liberalism
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party	Robert Brown	Green conservatism Right-wing populism
	Socialist Alliance	Ryan Fitzsimmons	Socialism Anti-capitalism
	Socialist Equality Party	Nick Beams	Orthodox Trotskyism Anti-capitalism
	Sustainable Australia	William Bourke	Environmentalism Sustainable Development
	The Great Australian Party	Rod Culleton	Right-wing populism
	Victorian Socialists	No leader	Democratic socialism Anti-capitalism
	VOTEFLUX.ORG | Upgrade Democracy!	Nathan Spataro	Digital direct democracy
	Western Australia Party	Julie Matheson	Regionalism Populism

State and Territory parties[]

New South Wales[]

Divisions of the federal parties:^[11]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MLAs	MLCs	Has federal division
The Coalition
	Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division)	Dominic Perrottet	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	36 / 93	11 / 42
	National Party of Australia – NSW	Paul Toole	Conservatism Agrarianism	12 / 93	6 / 42
	Australian Labor Party (NSW Branch)	Chris Minns	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	36 / 93	14 / 42
	Greens New South Wales	No leader	Green politics	3 / 93	3 / 42
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party	Robert Brown	Green conservatism Right-wing populism	3 / 93	2 / 42
	Animal Justice Party	Mark Pearson	Animal rights	0 / 93	2 / 42
	Pauline Hanson's One Nation	Mark Latham	Right-wing populism Australian nationalism Hansonism	0 / 93	2 / 42
	Christian Democratic Party	Fred Nile	National conservatism Christian right	0 / 93	1 / 42

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Flux Party (NSW)	Nathan Spataro	Direct democracy
	Liberal Democratic Party		Classical liberalism Right-libertarianism
	Reason Party NSW		Civil libertarianism Progressivism
	Socialist Alliance	No leader	Socialism Anti-capitalism
	Sustainable Australia		Environmentalism Sustainable development
	The Small Business Party		Small business advocacy
	The Open Party		Anti-lockout laws Civil libertarianism

Victoria[]

As of the Victorian Electoral Commission:^[12]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MLAs	MLCs	Has federal division
	Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch)	Daniel Andrews	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	55 / 88	18 / 40
The Coalition
	Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)	Matthew Guy	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	21 / 88	10 / 40
	National Party of Australia – Victoria	Peter Walsh	Conservatism Agrarianism	6 / 88	1 / 40
	Australian Greens Victoria	Samantha Ratnam	Green politics	3 / 88	1 / 40
	Derryn Hinch's Justice Party	Stuart Grimley	Justice reform Anti-paedophilia	0 / 88	2 / 40
	Liberal Democratic Party	Tim Quilty	Classical liberalism Right-libertarianism	0 / 88	2 / 40
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (Victoria)	Jeff Bourman	Green conservatism Right-wing populism	0 / 88	1 / 40
	Fiona Patten's Reason Party	Fiona Patten	Civil libertarianism	0 / 88	1 / 40
	Sustainable Australia	Clifford Hayes	Environmentalism Sustainable development	0 / 88	1 / 40
	Animal Justice Party	Andy Meddick	Animal rights	0 / 88	1 / 40
	Transport Matters Party	Rod Barton	Taxi industry advocacy	0 / 88	1 / 40

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Democratic Labour Party	Rosemary Lorrimar	Social conservatism Christian democracy
	Health Australia Party	Kerry Bone	Naturopathy Anti-vaccination
	Pauline Hanson's One Nation	No leader	Right-wing populism Australian nationalism
	Victorian Socialists	No leader	Democratic socialism

Queensland[]

As of the Queensland Electoral Commission:^[13]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MPs	Has federal division
	Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch)	Annastacia Palaszczuk	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	52 / 93
	Liberal National Party of Queensland	David Crisafulli	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	34 / 93
	Katter's Australian Party	Robbie Katter	Right-wing populism Developmentalism	3 / 93
	Queensland Greens	No leader	Green politics Left-wing populism	2 / 93
	Pauline Hanson's One Nation	No state leader	Right-wing populism Australian nationalism	1 / 93

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Animal Justice Party (Queensland)		Animal rights
	Civil Liberties & Motorists Party	Jeffrey Hodges	Public ownership
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (QLD)	Andrew Pope	Green conservatism Right-wing populism
	Informed Medical Options Party		Anti-vaccination Anti-fluoridation
	Legalise Cannabis Qld (Party)		Cannabis legalisation
	North Queensland First	Jason Costigan	North Queensland statehood

Western Australia[]

As of the Western Australian Electoral Commission:^[14]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MLAs	MLCs	Has federal division
	Australian Labor Party (WA Branch)	Mark McGowan	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	53 / 59	22 / 36
	National Party of Australia (WA)	Mia Davies	Conservatism Agrarianism	4 / 59	3 / 36
	Liberal Party of Australia (WA Division)	David Honey	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	2 / 59	7 / 36
	Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party	Sophia Moermond	Cannabis legalisation	0 / 59	2 / 36
	Greens Western Australia	Brad Pettitt	Green politics	0 / 59	1 / 36
	Daylight Saving Party	Wilson Tucker	Daylight savings advocacy	0 / 59	1 / 36

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Australian Christians (WA)	Jamie van Burgel	Conservatism Christian right
	Animal Justice Party	Katrina Love	Animal rights
	The Great Australian Party	Rod Culleton	Constitutional conspiracy Right-wing populism
	Health Australia Party		Naturopathy Anti-fluoridation
	Liberal Democratic Party	Aaron Stonehouse	Classical liberalism Right-libertarianism
	Flux	Daithi Gleeson	Direct democracy
	No Mandatory Vaccination Party	Cam Tinley	Anti-mandatory vaccination
	Pauline Hanson's One Nation	Colin Tincknell	Right-wing populism Australian nationalism
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (WA)	Rick Mazza	Green conservatism Right-wing populism
	Socialist Alliance WA	No leader	Socialism Anti-capitalism
	Sustainable Australia	John Haydon	Environmentalism Sustainable development
	WAxit Party	Russell Sewell	Western Australia independence
	Western Australia Party	Julie Matheson	Regionalism Populism

South Australia[]

As of the Electoral Commission of South Australia:^[15]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MHAs	MLCs	Has federal division
	Liberal Party of Australia (SA Division)	Steven Marshall	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	24 / 47	9 / 22
	Australian Labor Party (SA Branch)	Peter Malinauskas	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	19 / 47	8 / 22
	Greens South Australia	Mark Parnell	Green politics	0 / 47	2 / 22
	SA-BEST	Connie Bonaros	Social liberalism	0 / 47	2 / 22
	Advance SA	John Darley	Centrism	0 / 47	1 / 22

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Animal Justice Party	Louise Pfeiffer	Animal rights
	Child Protection Party	Tony Tonkin	Child protection advocacy
	National Party of Australia (SA)	Jonathon Pietzsch	Conservatism Agrarianism

Tasmania[]

As of the Tasmanian Electoral Commission:^[16]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MHAs	MLCs	Has federal division
	Liberal Party of Australia (Tasmanian Division)	Peter Gutwein	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	13 / 25	4 / 15
	Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch)	Rebecca White	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	9 / 25	5 / 15
	Tasmanian Greens	Cassy O'Connor	Green politics	2 / 25	0 / 15

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Australian Federation Party Tasmania		Australian nationalism Conservatism
	Animal Justice Party	Karen Bevis	Animal rights
	Jacqui Lambie Network	Jacqui Lambie	Populism Regionalism
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Tasmania	Rebecca Byfield	Green conservatism Right-wing populism

Australian Capital Territory[]

As listed with the ACT Electoral Commission:^[17]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MPs	Has federal division
	Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch)	Andrew Barr	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	10 / 25
	Liberal Party of Australia (A.C.T. Division)	Elizabeth Lee	Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism	9 / 25
	ACT Greens	Shane Rattenbury	Green politics	6 / 25

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Animal Justice Party		Animal rights
	Australian Federation Party (ACT)		Australian nationalism Conservatism
	Belco Party	Bill Stefaniak
	Canberra Progressives	Kerry Markoulli	Progressivism
	David Pollard Independent
	Democratic Labour Party (DLP)		Christian democracy Distributism
	Liberal Democratic Party		Classical liberalism Right-libertarianism
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (ACT)		Green conservatism Right-wing populism
	Sustainable Australia	John Haydon	Environmentalism[18] Sustainable development
	The Community Action Party (ACT)
	The Flux Party – ACT	Nathan Spataro	Direct democracy

Northern Territory[]

As of the Northern Territory Electoral Commission:^[19]

Parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	MPs	Has federal division
	Australian Labor Party (NT Branch)	Michael Gunner	Social democracy Social liberalism[3]	14 / 25
	Country Liberal Party	Lia Finocchiaro	Liberal conservatism Agrarianism	8 / 25

Non-parliamentary parties[]

Name		Leader	Ideology	Has federal division
	Australian Federation Party NT		Australian nationalism Conservatism
	Animal Justice Party		Animal welfare
	Ban Fracking Fix Crime Protect Water	Braedon Earley	Regionalism
	Northern Territory Greens	No leader	Green politics
	Shooters and Fishers Party		Green conservatism Right-wing populism
	Territory Alliance	Terry Mills	Regionalism

See also[]

• List of historical political parties in Australia
• List of political parties by country
• Politics of Australia

References[]