Our History

30 years of Australian Democrats in the Senate

We burst onto the Australian political arena in 1977 and secured the balance of power in 1980. Since then, we’ve made our mark on Australian history and improved life for all Australians.

This was an impressive achievement by any measure, enabling us to ‘keep the bastards honest’ just three years into our existence.

Our first major achievement came in the form of the 1980/81 Budget. While Don Chipp had committed to not block the budget, other voices prevailed because it was so unpopular. John Howard, the treasurer at the time, had proposed a budget which included an increase of 2.5 percent in the sales tax. The Democrats blocked this measure, along with other proposals unpopular with the public, such as the re-introduction of high education fees and the denial of dole payments to the spouses of strikers.

By 1982 we were considered the first environment party. Colin Mason prevented the destruction of World Heritage Areas, specifically the Franklin River. His World Heritage Properties Protection Bill 1982 wrote international conventions into the laws of the land. Much later we collaborated with the Government in passing the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act that included over 500 amendments by us to strengthen the legislation.

In 1986, Don Chipp retired from parliament and stepped down as our leader. He was replaced by Janine Haines, the first woman to lead a political party in Australia. Janet Powell explained the rise of women in the Democrats as a result of its democratic ethos. By 1986 almost half of our members were women.

The Democrats is a perfect party for me. I don’t like extremism and I won’t be told by any group that their ideas are 100% right and everybody else’s are 100% wrong, because that is patently not true
- Janine Haines, An inspirational woman, Leader of the Democrats 1986-90

Janine Haines lead us into our second decade on the Australian political scene. Under Haines’ leadership, we continued our fight for the environment and saved the Daintree Forest. We also protected the civil liberties of all Australians by blocking the introduction of the Australia card.

Haines stepped down in 1990 in order to pursue a seat in the House of Representatives but narrowly lost. Here were our leaders over the next two decades:

Throughout our second two decades we held the balance of power and made a name for ourselves in our fight for a better world. We fought relentlessly for peace, human rights, our environment, industrial relations, health, equality and women’s rights.

I think it can be said of the Democrats, frankly, that they have been, if you assess their record over the years, very responsible in the exercise of that great influence … They have generally taken their balance of power role very seriously and have practised to great effect one of the great arts of politics: the art of compromise, which is required of us all …
- Senator Nick Minchin, Government Leader in the Senate, 25 Jun 2008

On the peace front, we were the only party to oppose the first Gulf War. Our parliamentarians recalled the Senate, and ultimately the entire parliament, to debate Australia’s involvement in it. We were at the forefront of the movement against joint American military bases in Australia. We also called for a ‘Pacific Zone of Peace’ from which all nuclear warships and weapons should be excluded. We introduced a bill to prohibit the Australian Defence Force from using cluster bombs which indiscriminately kill and maim innocent civilians in war zones. Australia finally signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dec 2008. We ran big campaigns against Australia’s involvement in attacking Iraq, on nuclear disarmament and to compensate Australians damaged by UK nuclear bomb tests in Australia.

Human rights have always been at the forefront of our policies. We fought for the rights of people in Tibet and East Timor and have always opposed mandatory detention of refugees.

The Australian Democrats were the first party to realise the negative health impacts of smoking. We initiated the legislation that banned print tobacco advertising and our bill introduced in 2004 to ban all remaining tobacco advertising was finally passed in 2010.

An industrial relations system was implemented in 1996 under the Democrats’ watchful eye. John Howard’s WorkChoices would have been realised much sooner had we not stepped in and evened the scales. Howard’s highly unpopular IR reforms were passed only when it held a majority in the Senate.

We always stood up for women. Lyn Allison introduced a bill to remove the Health Minister’s veto over RU486 – the medical alternative to surgical abortion – which led to a collaboration by four female Senators from across the political spectrum. The bill passed the Senate with 93% support from women.

Our fight for equality has been an energetic and ongoing battle. We strengthened the Sexual Discriminations Bill in the early 80s to prevent discrimination against women in clubs. We called for an end to discrimination on the basis of sexuality and forced the prohibition of discrimination in superannuation against same-sex couples.

The above is just a taste of the Democrats effectiveness in the Senate – the list of achievements is very long over these 30 years.

We were successful in having hundreds of amendments to legislation passed, initiated many major Senate inquiries, sat on most Senate committees, put up many private bills, asked questions in Parliament, put up countless motions and established parliamentary processes to strengthen the role of the Senate as a house of review that would hold the executive government of the day to account.

The Australian Democrats have now reformed, merged with the Country Minded Party in late 2018 and are again registered as a Federal political party with the Australian Electoral Commission, 2019, and looking forward to re-entering the parliaments of Australia.

Australian Democrats Senators

Name	State	Years
Janine Haines	SA
Paul McLean	NSW	1987-91
Meg Lees	SA	1993-2002
Don Chipp	Vic	1977-86
Jean Jenkins	WA	1987-90
Natasha Stott Despoja	SA	1995-2008
Colin Mason	NSW	1978-83
Vicki Bourne	NSW	1990-2002
Lyn Allison	Vic	1996-2008
Michael Macklin	Qld	1981-90
Sid Spindler	Vic	1990-96
Andrew Murray	WA	1996-2008
John Siddons	Vic	1981-83, 1985-86
Cheryl Kernot	Qld	1990-97
Andrew Bartlett	Qld	2001-08
Brian Greig	WA	2002-05
John Cherry	Qld	2001-05
Aden Ridgeway	NSW	1999-2005
David Vigor	SA	1985-87
Robert Bell	Tas	1990-96
Karin Sowada	NSW	1991-93
John Woodley	Qld	1993-2001
John Coulter	SA	1987-1995
Norm Sanders	Tas	1985-1990
Jack Evans	WA	1987-1990
Janet Powell	Vic	1986-1993