Australian Federation Party facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Country Alliance
(2011–2015) Australian Country Party (2015–2020) Australian Federation Party Federation Party
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| Abbreviation | AFP, FP |
| Chairperson | Glenn O'Rourke |
| National Director | Glenn O'Rourke |
| Founder | Russell Bate |
| Founded | August 2005 |
| Registered | 26 July 2011 |
| Headquarters | Mirboo North, Victoria, Australia |
| Ideology |
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| Political position | Right-wing |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Colors | Yellow and blue |
| Slogan | “Working For You” |
| House of Representatives |
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| Senate |
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The Australian Federation Party (AFP) is a political party in Australia. It is also known as AusFeds. In the past, it was called the Country Alliance and the Australian Country Party.
Four people from country Victoria started the party in 2004. They officially registered it with the Victorian election group in August 2005. In 2020, the party changed its name to the Australian Federation Party. Today, it can run in elections in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, and for federal (national) elections.
Contents
The Party's Journey
How the Party Started
The party began in early 2004 as the Country Alliance. It was started by four Victorians:
- Fiona Hilton-Wood, who worked for a politician named Russell Savage.
- Russell Bate, a member of the Shire of Mansfield local council.
- Bob Richardson, who used to work for a workers' group.
- Russell Pearson, a member of a group for people who enjoy shooting sports.
The Country Alliance ran in Victorian state elections in 2006 and 2010. In July 2011, Australia's main election group (the Australian Electoral Commission, or AEC) officially registered the Country Alliance.
Name Changes Over Time
In August 2015, Victoria's election group (the Victorian Electoral Commission, or VEC) approved a new name for the party: Australian Country Party. The AEC also approved this name change for federal elections in October 2015.
In 2018, the party tried to change its name to the Australia Party/Give it Back. However, they changed their mind before it was finished. Later that year, the VEC approved a similar name: Australian Country Party/Give It Back for Victoria. In January 2019, the party asked to change its name back to just the Australian Country Party in Victoria.
In February 2020, the party changed its name again to the Australian Federation Party. On March 4, a smaller political party in Tasmania, Tasmanians 4 Tasmania, also officially changed its name to Federation Party Tasmania.
Running in More Elections
On June 30, 2020, the party registered to run in the ACT election in October 2020. They also applied to run in local council elections in New South Wales.
In the 2022 federal election, the Australian Federation Party ran for 61 spots in the House of Representatives. This was more seats than some other parties ran for in their first federal election. After all the votes were counted, the Australian Federation Party got the eighth most first-choice votes among all 31 registered parties in Australia.
Election Results
Federal Elections
As the Country Alliance, the party ran in the 2013 Australian federal election. They had people running for spots in the main parliament in Victoria. They also had candidates for the Senate (another part of parliament) in South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria. They received a small number of votes overall.
As the Australian Country Party, they had two Senate candidates and three candidates for the House of Representatives in the 2016 federal election. All of these candidates were in Victoria.
As the Australian Federation Party, the party ran in a special election called the 2020 Eden-Monaro by-election. Their candidate, Jason Potter, came in last place out of 14 candidates.
Victorian Elections
As the Country Alliance, the party ran in the 2006 Victorian state election. They ran in three country areas for Victoria's upper house of parliament. They finished in 9th place overall. In one area, their votes helped another party's candidate win the last available spot.
The party put forward 37 people to run in the 2010 Victorian state election. They ran for four spots in the upper house and most of the main parliament spots in country areas of Victoria. In the district of Shepparton, they got a good number of votes. In the Northern Victoria Region, they just missed out on winning by about 1,900 votes.
In February 2014, the Victorian part of Katter's Australian Party joined with Country Alliance. They ran in the 2014 Victorian state election as the Australian Country Alliance. They received a small percentage of votes in both the main parliament and the upper house.
As Australian Country Party/Give It Back, the party ran in the 2018 Victorian state election. They ran for two spots in the main parliament and all eight areas for the upper house. Their candidates for the main parliament got more than 8% of first-choice votes. However, for the upper house, they averaged less than 1% of votes in any area.
Northern Territory Elections
The party had people running in four areas during the 2020 Northern Territory general election. Kenny Lechleitner received 12.9% of the vote in Gwoja. Catherine Sartour received 9.5% of the vote in Namatjira. Overall, the party received a total of 942 first-choice votes, which was less than 1% of all votes. The party also ran in a special election in Arafura in 2023.
Australian Capital Territory Elections
The party had three people running in the October 2020 ACT election. Jason Potter and Scott Sandford ran in Brindabella, and Mohammad Hussain ran in Yerrabi.
Elected Representatives
Former Representatives
These are some people who were elected to local councils while representing the party:
- Glamorgan–Spring Bay Council
- Cheryl Arnol (until 2013)
- Mansfield Shire Council
- Russell Bate (2012−2016)
- Moyne Shire Council
- Jim Doukas (2014−2018)
- Greater Bendigo City Council
- Elise Chapman (2014)
- Greater Geelong City Council
- Jock Irvine (2014)
- Alice Springs Town Council
- Marli Banks (2019−2020)
- Eli Melky (2019−2020)
- Catherine Satour (2019−2020)
