X-Nico

7 unusual facts about Australian Democrats


Brian Harradine

From December 1994 to March 1996, the makeup of the Senate meant that Harradine's vote combined with that of Labor and the Australian Democrats was just enough to pass Labor government legislation, making his support extremely valuable to either side of politics.

Local Natives

In 2010 the group's song Wide Eyes became known in Australia after appearing during an election campaign advertisement for the Australian Democrats.

Party switching

Australia has seen high-profile defections since 1995, including the 1997 move by Cheryl Kernot (then leader of the Australian Democrats) to the Labor Party, the declared independence of former Labor senator Mal Colston (1996) and the disintegration of the Democrats.

Paul Stevenson

More recently, Stevenson has become politically involved and in the upcoming 2013 Federal Election he will stand as the lead Senate candidate in Queensland for the Australian Democrats.

Richard Denniss

Prior to his appointment at The Australia Institute, Denniss was Senior Strategic Advisor to Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown and was also researcher to Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, former Leader of the Australian Democrats.

Wayne Sievers

Wayne Sievers resigned from the Australian Federal Police in 2001 and accepted a post as Director of the National Office for the Australian Democrats political party.

Wedge issue

Some who would typically vote Labor voted instead for the Greens and the Democrats in protest against what they saw as the ALP's complicity.


Elbeuf

David Vigor was born here and was a member of the Australian Senate, representing the Australian Democrats and the Unite Australia Party

Kingsley's Chicken

The Government claimed the advertisements - which also showed images of Prime Minister John Howard and Australian Democrats leader Meg Lees - breached regulations restricting political advertising.

The Gruen Transfer

Previous examples have included whale meat, tourism in Baghdad, the beleaguered Australian Democrats political party, and a proposed invasion of New Zealand, which provoked a response from the New Zealand government and several NZ YouTube viewers, although the final episode of Series One provided some balance in the form of a promotion for tourists not to visit Australia.


see also

3AK

1988 - 1990 saw 3AK again become a purely talk format station, with such high profile names as Darren James (with Bruce Mansfield as Uncle Roy), Margaret Peacock, Don Chipp (a former Federal Liberal Party Minister and later the founder of and Senator for the Australian Democrats), Peter O'Callaghan (an ex 3XY and EON FM DJ), Keith McGowan and Bill Howie ( a former 3AK Programme Director).