List of political parties in Australia
Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Sidebar". 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 Party of Australia. Federally, 13 of the 150 members of the lower house (Members of Parliament, or MPs) are not members of major parties, as well as 20 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 parliaments since these typically use a form of proportional representation, except for in Tasmania where the lower house is proportionally elected and the upper house is made up of single member districts.
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History
Script error: No such module "Unsubst". 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 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Federal Government of Australia.
The other group is the Liberal–National Coalition, an alliance of the Liberal Party of Australia and National Party of Australia. The parties are in a formal coalition at federal level and in New South Wales and Victoria, but are not formally allied 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 group that has existed since the combination of the Protectionist Party and Free Trade Party into the Fusion Liberal Party in 1909.[1][2] 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.[1][3] The party's philosophy is generally liberal conservatism.[4][5]
The National Party represents rural and agricultural interests.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]
The Liberal and National parties have merged in Queensland and the Northern Territory. 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.[9] The Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory is likewise affiliated with both the Liberals and Nationals and its members may join either federal parliamentary party room.[10]
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.[11]
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 between 1910 and 2019 (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, 2019, 2022 and 2025. In some Parliaments, support for smaller parties and Independents has resulted in major parties having to come to Confidence and supply agreements to form government, such as after the 2010 Australian federal election.
Membership requirement
Parties can choose whether they wish to register their party for federal or state elections. To run candidates in a federal election, it is not compulsory to register with the AEC. The AEC doesn't run state elections. Each state has their own commission that runs state and local elections.
Once registered for a federal election, to maintain registration, parties must demonstrate that they have a certain number of members.
Federally, since 2022, unless a party has current parliamentary representation, they must demonstrate they have 1,500 members.[12][13]
For the state and territory elections, parties require 100 members in Tasmania and the ACT, 200 in South Australia and Northern Territory, 500 in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and 750 in New South Wales.[13]
| State/Level | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Template:Flagdeco Federal | 1,500 |
| Template:Flagdeco New South Wales | 750 |
| Template:Flagdeco Victoria | 500 |
| Template:Flagdeco Queensland | |
| Template:Flagdeco Western Australia | |
| Template:Flagdeco South Australia | 200 |
| Template:Flagdeco Northern Territory | |
| Template:Flagdeco Tasmania | 100 |
| Template:Flagdeco Australian Capital Territory | |
Federal parties
Federal parliamentary parties
Federal non-parliamentary parties
Parties listed in alphabetical order as of December 2025:[15]
State and territory parties
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New South Wales
As of the New South Wales Electoral Commission:[18]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name[19] | Registered officer | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Family First Party | Barbara Helvadjian | Conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | HEART Party | Michael O'Neill | Anti-vaccination[20] |
| Template:Australian party style | | One Nation | Pauline Hanson | |
| Template:Australian party style | | Public Education Party | Glen Stelzer | Single-issue politics |
| Template:Australian party style | | Socialist Alliance | Federico Fuentes | Anti-capitalism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Sustainable Australia Party | William Bourke | Environmentalism |
| Template:Australian party style | | The Small Business Party | Eddie Dogramaci | Small business advocacy |
Victoria
As of the Victorian Electoral Commission:[21]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name | Leader | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Companions and Pets Party | John Hutchison | Greyhound racing advocacy, horse racing advocacy[22] |
| Template:Australian party style | | Democratic Labour Party | No leader | Social conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Family First Party | Lyle Shelton | Christian right[23] |
| Template:Australian party style | | Freedom Party of Victoria | Morgan Jonas | Anti-lockdown politics |
| Template:Australian party style | | New Democrats | Kaushaliya Vaghela | Anti-corruption |
| Template:Australian party style | | Sustainable Australia Party | Clifford Hayes | Environmentalism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Victorian Socialists | No leader | Democratic socialism |
Queensland
As of the Queensland Electoral Commission:[24]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
Western Australia
As of the Western Australian Electoral Commission:[25]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name | Leader | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Stop Pedophiles! Protect kiddies! | No leader | — |
| Template:Australian party style | | Libertarian Party | No leader | Right-libertarianism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Shooters, Fishers and Farmers | Rick Mazza | Conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Sustainable Australia Party – Anti-corruption | No leader | — |
| Template:Australian party style| | Western Australia Party | No leader | — |
South Australia
As of the Electoral Commission of South Australia:[26]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name | Leader | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Animal Justice Party | No leader | Animal welfare |
| Template:Australian party style | | Australian Family Party | No leader | Right-wing populism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Family First Party | Lyle Shelton | Christian right[23] |
| Template:Australian party style | | Legalise Cannabis | Damon Adams | Cannabis legalisation |
| Template:Australian party style | | National Party | Jonathon Pietzsch | Conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | One Nation | No leader | Hansonism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Real Change | Stephen Pallaras | — |
| Template:Australian party style | | SA Socialists | Tom Gilchrist | Democratic socialism |
| Template:Australian party style | | United Voice Australia | No leader | — |
Tasmania
As of the Tasmanian Electoral Commission:[27]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name | Leader | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Animal Justice Party | No leader | Animal welfare |
| Template:Australian party style | | National Party of Australia | No leader | Conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Jacqui Lambie Network | Jacqui Lambie | Populism |
Australian Capital Territory
As listed with the ACT Electoral Commission:[28]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name | Leader | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Animal Justice Party | No leader | Animal welfare |
| Template:Australian party style | | Belco Party | Bill Stefaniak | — |
| Template:Australian party style | | Canberra Progressives | Kerry Markoulli | Progressivism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Democratic Labour Party | No leader | Social conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Family First Party | Lyle Shelton (No ACT leader) | Christian right[23] |
| Template:Australian party style | | First Nation Party | Paul Girrawah House | — |
| Template:Australian party style | | Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party | No leader | Conservatism |
| Template:Australian party style | | Sustainable Australia Party | No leader | Environmentalism[29] |
| Template:Australian party style | | The Community Action Party | No leader | — |
Northern Territory
As of the Northern Territory Electoral Commission:[30]
Parliamentary parties
Non-parliamentary parties
| Name | Leader | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Australian party style | | Animal Justice Party | No leader | Animal welfare |
| Template:Australian party style | | Trumpet of Patriots | No leader | Conservatism |
Local government parties
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Historical parties
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See also
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References
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