Who are the political parties in Australia?
Neil decodes and explains who are our main players in parliament
By Neil Pharaoh
Who are the Political Parties in Australia?
Every Election, we hear people ask: ‘who’s running?’, ‘what do they stand for?’, ‘what does each political party mean for my advocacy?’, and ‘who should I engage with?’. Ultimately, it depends—on which seat you’re in, what you’re advocating for, and other external factors.
Here, though, we’ll run through the major political parties in Australia and what they may mean for you.
List of Political Parties in Australia
Ultimately, listing out every Australian political party would be a pointless endeavour. Aside from the major political parties, there can be any number of minor parties running for any given election. Some of them (like the Greens, for example) will have the potential to win a few seats. Many, however, are simply too niche or unsophisticated to get elected—and not worth wasting your time (or risking your issue being picked up by someone who may do more harm than good).
Instead, what we’ll do in this blog is give a high-level overview of the major parties and the smaller parties that are more likely to have an impact on Australian elections.
The Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (or ALP) are the major Centre-Left party in Australia. Recent ALP Prime Minister include Anthony Albanese, Julia Gillard, and Kevin Rudd.
The ALP typically focus on policy areas like Health, Jobs, and Education—with a strong focus on things like Early Childhood Education and Infrastructure in recent years.
The ALP is divided into two major factions, ‘the Left’ and ‘the Right’—though there is also a ‘Centre Faction’ in some jurisdictions. Factions are effectively parties within the party—groupings of members who vote together as a bloc to drive the party agenda. Ultimately, the strength of a faction will determine things like who runs in certain seats, who becomes a Minister, and what the party platform will look like.
Labor-affiliated trade unions drive much of the factional organising, thereby developing sub-factions (things can start getting complicated here!). Given the strength of numbers, many Labor politicians are personally affiliated to at least one Union.
Understanding which Faction or Union certain MPs belong to can help tailor your message to most effectively influence them.
The Liberals, Nationals, and the Coalition
What is typically known as the LNP is actually a coalition of two parties: the Liberals and the Nationals (although in Queensland they have amalgamated to be one party: The LNP). Both are seen as Australia’s key Centre-Right parties, with recent Coalition Prime Ministers including Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, and John Howard.
The LNP typically focus on policy areas like taxation, small business, security, and farmers (at least for the Nationals).
Each operate as independent parties with separate Party Rooms, meaning that behind close doors they debate policies and other matters separately – before showing a (largely) united front publicly. The Coalition Agreement sets out numbers of Ministerial appointments as well as other ways in which the two parties work together.
Whilst factions don’t formally exist within the LNP, they develop based on views, personalities and geography. Typically, they are referred to as ‘the Moderates’ and ‘the Hard Right’, though splinter-factions often appear (such as Scott Morrison’s ‘Centre Faction’ that shaved votes from each faction in the 2018 Leadership Spill).
The Australian Greens
The Greens are a minor party that have grown in impact in recent years. They fall further to the Left on the political scale than Labor and largely focus on progressive issues like the environment, housing, and wealth inequality. The Greens have never presented a Prime Minister and are unlikely to do so given Australia’s system of government favours the two major parties. With that being said, the Greens can have significant influence on governments—particularly in the case of a hung parliament where they hold the balance of power.
As the Greens are not going to win enough seats to form government in their own right, many of their policies are unlikely to be implemented and are better considered as the basis of a negotiating position.
‘The Teals’ or ‘The Independent Party Australia’
Funnily enough, the politicians often termed ‘The Teals’ or ‘The Independent Party’ aren’t actually a party—but a collective of loosely-affiliated independent candidates, many of whom receive support from larger entities like the Climate 200 movement.
As such, there’s no real uniformity in policy across the movement—though most have taken a strong stance on issues like the environment. Aside from the environment, many Teal candidates have centre-right positions on many social and economic issues, which sees them largely facing off in seats against the LNP.
Given each independent has slightly different positions, it is worth researching their views (and potential controversies!) before engaging with them.
The Others – Independents, ‘Trumpet of Patriots’, ‘One Nation’, ‘Animal Justice Party’, ‘Legalise Cannabis Party’ and more
Outside of those listed above, there are plenty of political parties in Australia. Populist parties like Clive Palmer’s ‘Trumpet of Patriots’ and Pauline Hanson’s ‘One Nation’ lean heavily towards the Right whereas single-issue parties like the ‘Animal Justice Party’ and ‘Legalise Cannabis Party’ have been elected in some jurisdictions off the back of their primary issue, and taken largely Left-leaning stances on other matters.
What’s important here is understanding who you are talking to before you do. Many candidates in minor political parties may do more harm to your issue than good.
Talk to Tanck for more information on each party, politician, or candidate and how to best engage with them, or read some of our other blogs like ‘The lowdown on political parties’ which outline some of the structures behind the major parties.
This article first appeared on the Third Sector as part of Tanck's fortnightly column, Happenings on the Hill.
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