8 Comments

• Barry Stocker 4th Jun '07 - 6:42pm

  The claim that the Australian Democrats are a sister party of the British Lib Dems looks very careless to me and should be corrected, unless you have information that would justify such a claim. In what sense are the Australian Democrats a sister party of the British Liberal Democrats? They do not appear anywhere on the Liberal International (http://www.liberal-international.org/) list of member or observer parties. It’s website says absolutely nothing about liberal principles though it does mention freedom quite a lot. It’s approach does seem to overlap with the Lib Dem left, very ecological, direct democracy and community based. As it is also explicitly critical of ‘market economy needs’, I think its safe to say that it would not be a good home for Lib Dems other than the most left inclined. There is a Liberal Democratic Party in Australia (http://ldp.org.au/), though this also lacking in LI contacts. In fact LI does not list any Australian organisation of any kind. The LDP website does mention one foreign contact, the American Libertarian Party. As that implies, the LDP has an absolutist capitalist libertarian position which would only appeal to a few Hayek fans in the British Lib Dems. Nevertheless, that is part of the spectrum of opinion. I wouldn’t join either, though I would lean more towards the LDP. There is no more reason for referring to the Democrats as a ‘sister party’ than the LDP.

• Mark Pack 4th Jun '07 - 8:51pm

  Barry – they are our sister party in the sense that when Liberal Democrats have been in Australia or when Democrats have been the UK, we’ve met up with and trained each other.

• Jonathan D 5th Jun '07 - 9:39am

  I sincerely hope that the training that the Lib Dems received from the Australian Democrats was not in how to achieve electoral success. Founded by the charismatic, late Don Chipp, the Australian Democrats face electoral annihilation in the near future. Politically savy, they ain’t.

• Jeremy Sanders 5th Jun '07 - 1:10pm

  Hi Barry

  I must admit, I was a little surprised to find that Australian Democrats had no official links with LI. Certainly, their members have attended international Liberal events I’ve been at in the past, and have been an observer member of LI’s youth wing, IFLRY, for many years. Politically, they would fit perfectly well into the “Social Liberal” wing of LI.

  I suspect their reluctance to use the word “Liberal” is simply down to the fact that most Australians would probably assume that the word implied some connection with, or similarity to, the Australian Liberal Party.

  I’ve never heard of the Australian Liberal Democratic Party, but as you say, they are obviously a small Libertarian group who are unlikely to regard themselves as having much in common with the British Lib Dems. Given that their website seems to be quoting as successes elections where they got around 1% of the vote I would guess that they are very much on the fringes of Australian politics.

• Friend or Faux? 7th Jun '07 - 11:40pm

  The LDP is a tiny party that has never had a single candidate elected. It is almost non-existant outside Canberra, and even there it has minimal support.

  As for the Australian Democrats’ lack of electoral success, this is only true of the last few years. The party was much stronger electorally in the late 1970’s-early 2000’s. It has much to teach the Lib Dems about how to avoid sudden collapse, using the 20/20 vision of hindsight.

• ozembo 30th Sep '07 - 6:03am

  I follow UK and Oz politics fairly closely and the Australian Democrats (the dems) are sister party to the UK LDP. Staff and ideas have proven interchangeable over the years for:

  Labour (UK) Labor (Oz)
  Tories (UK) Liberal Party (Oz)
  LDP (UK) Oz Dems (going through a rough patch)

• joan Robertson 9th Jun '08 - 4:12pm

  Regarding the issue of the plastic bag it would make sence for suppermarkets to reintroduce the papper bag and use the boxes that stock comes in for home deliviers .It worked well in the sixties ans seventies eg papper bag brakes down in a day plastic takes i heard ten years to brake down try our the experment bury the papper bag in the ground and do the same for the plastic bag then check in two weeks time

• Paul Kavanagh 31st May '10 - 3:53pm

  Congraluations and best wishes for the coalition government ! Australian Democrats are thrilled with your success.

  There are differences between our Parties, but there’s much in common – all Democrats in Australia seem associate with your Party. Australia’s two large parties are much like the Tories (Australia’s so-called ‘Liberal Party’) and the UK Labour Party. Both parties have left and right wings, with the right in the ascendency in both.

  The Australian Democrats are for civil liberties and the rights of religious and cultural minorities; rehabilitating the environment; excellent universal health and education services and tax that promotes income equality and builds infrastructure while supporting business innovation and greater efficiency. We’re for peaceful, cooperative international relations and foreign development aid.

  İn the Senate the Democrats opposed the invasion of İraq, we opposed an identity card, we worked for tax reform to reduce income tax for low-income earners, we supported a flexible labour market and we proposed many environmental initiatives.

  The Australian Democrats are now struggling and we face an uncertain future, despite a recent revival in membership. We would welcome any support from the UK to help us campaign for this year’s election – in particular, acclaim for your role in a successful Coalition Government !

  Paul Kavanagh
  Lead candidate for Victoria, 2006
  Australian Democrats, Melbourne.