Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
and 1970s. Like the Family First Party, the ‘new’ DLP was mobilised in order to
advance a socially conservative agenda, especially opposing abortion and same-sex
marriage.AndlikeFamilyFirst,theparty’sabilitytowinaSenateseatinVictoria
was due to a series of preference deals that allowed it to reach the quota. The party
was unable to consolidate its Senate representation in subsequent elections.
The Senate party system started to change even more rapidly when, in 2013,
three minor parties won seats in the chamber for the first time. These included the
Palmer United Party, led by businessman Clive Palmer, and the Liberal Democrats.
The Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party (AMEP) also won Senate representation
in 2013, even though its primary vote in Victoria as just 0.5 per cent. It was able to
win a Senate seat thanks to preference deals it had made with other parties.
The Senate party system continued to diversify in 2016, even though the
Turnbull government made changes to the voting system in response to the 2013
results. The GTV was removed, and voters had to preference at least six parties
above the line or at least 12 candidates below the line. This reform was designed
to stop minor parties that won a very small primary vote from gaining Senate
representation through preference deals.
Despite these changes, three new parties won seats in the Senate, though it
should be remembered that this was a double dissolution election. The Hinch
Justice Party and the Jacqui Lambie Network were joined by the Nick Xenophon
Team, which won three seats in the Senate in addition to the lower house seat of
Mayo in SA.
Accounting for minor parties’ rising support and success
The level of support for minor parties in both houses of parliament has experienced
peaks and troughs, but has been on the rise since 2007. In Senate contests, for
example, the primary vote for minor parties rose from less than 10 per cent in 1949
to the highest rate yet of just under 35 per cent in 2016. 54 Akeyreasonfortherise
in support for minor parties is that many new parties have advanced policies that
have responded to changes in society and to the broad policy debate. For example,
theNDPandtheGreensattractedthesupportofvoterswhofeltstronglyabout
nuclear disarmament, environmental conservation and social justice, while One
Nation attracted the support of those concerned about race and immigration. 55
Furthermore, there has been a change in the goals of minor parties contesting
elections. In particular, minor parties that have been able to win seats since the 1980s
have promised to use their parliamentary representation to bring about legislative
change to areas they consider as important. They contrast with minor parties elected
to the chamber throughout the 1950s and 1970s, which were created as a result of
54 See Green 2018, 199.
55 See Economou and Ghazarian 2018; Ghazarian 2015.
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