Unite Australia Party

The Unite Australia Party (UAP) was a short-lived Australian political party that existed in the late 1980s.

In December 1986, Senator John Siddons, former deputy leader of the Australian Democrats, quit the Democrats to form the UAP, arguing that the Democrats under leader Janine Haines had moved too far to the left on key issues and was no longer representative of small 'l' liberal values. Initially composed of disaffected Democrats, the UAP gained a boost when two other minor parties, the Advance Australia Party and the Australia Party agreed to amalgamate with the UAP, raising its national membership to around 5000. The UAP was registered as a political party on 21 January 1987 with Siddons claiming the party would become the new third force of Australian politics.

Siddons pledged that the UAP would lower taxes, stimulate the economy, protect small shop-owners from unfair competition, abolish compulsory unionism and would be an anti-uranium, pro-environment party. The party received another boost when Senator David Vigor (who had lost a pre-selection battle) also defected from the Democrats to the UAP, giving the UAP two sitting federal parliamentarians.

The party's first electoral test, the by-elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly districts of Bankstown and Heathcote in January 1987, provided concern for the party, producing less than 1% of the vote in both cases.

Undaunted, the UAP ran Senate candidates at the 1987 federal election in each of the mainland states as well as several lower house seats. The party performed worse than expected, polling 0.6% in South Australia, 0.5% in Victoria and 0.2% in New South Wales. In the 1988 Adelaide by-election, the UAP candidate polled only 0.4% of the vote.

Party support dwindled after the 1987 election and the UAP was deregistered on 25 May 1990.^[1]

Despite the similarity of the names, the Unite Australia Party was not connected to the United Australia Party, which was the forerunner to the Liberal Party of Australia.

References

↑ "Unite Australia Party". Deregistered political parties. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 20 July 2012.

______ (1986), "New party says it will displace the Democrats", Sydney Morning Herald, p. 6, 16 December 1986.
Carr, A. Psephos Australian Electoral Archive. Accessed 21 May 2006.
Frail, R. (1986), "Siddons has a party, but no starters", Sydney Morning Herald, p. 14, 4 December 1986.
Hewett, T. (1987) "Fringe groups, independents snap at the big parties' heels", Sydney Morning Herald, p 4, 29 May 1987.
Hutcheon, S. (1987) "Vigor joins Siddons in new party", Sydney Morning Herald, p. 7, 6 June 1987.

Defunct political parties in Australia

Major parties	Commonwealth Liberal Country and Progressive National Democratic (1940s) Free Trade Liberal (WA, 1910s) Liberal and Country League Liberal and Country Party Liberal and Democratic Union Liberal Federation Liberal Reform (NSW) Liberal Union National Labor Nationalist Progressive (NSW, 1900s) Protectionist United Australia

Other parties represented in federal or state parliaments	A Better Future For Our Children Abolish Self Government Coalition Australia Party Australian Family Movement Australian Democrats Australian Liberal Australian Party Australian Progressive Alliance Centre (Tas) City Country Alliance Communist Country Progressive Democratic (1920s) Democratic Labor Emergency Committee Executive Country (WA) Hare-Clark Independent Illawarra Workers Independent Labor Group Independents Group Industrial Socialist Labor Labor (Anti-Communist) Labor (Non-Communist) Labor (NSW) Lang Labor Liberal (1922) Liberal Country Liberal Movement Liberals for Forests Majority Labor National Alliance National Liberal New Conservative Group New Country New Liberal Movement No Self-Government North Queensland Labor Northern Territory Nationals Nuclear Disarmament Progress Progressive (NSW, 1920s) Protestant Labor Queensland Labor Queensland People's Party Reform the Legal System Residents Rally Revenue Tariff SA First Single Tax Unite Australia United Country Unity Victorian Farmers' Union Victorian Liberal Western Australian

Parties without representation in any parliaments	4Change (Climate Change Coalition) Abolish Child Support Advance Australia Aged and Disability Pensioners All for Australia League Australia's First Nations Political Party Australian Commonwealth Australian Independents Australian National Socialist Australians Against Further Immigration Bill of Rights Centre (NSW) Combined New Australia Commonwealth Commonwealth Centre Communist Alliance Confederate Action Conservative Conservative Nationalist Curtin Labor Alliance Deadly Serious Defence and Ex-Services Defence of Government Schools Defence Movement Democratic Association of Victoria Democratic Socialist Douglas Social Credit Earthsave Engineered Australia Plan Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy Ex-Service, Service and Veterans Family Law Reform Fishing Party Great Australians Grey Power Hear Our Voice Henry George Justice Hope Imperial British Conservative Independent EFF Indigenous Peoples Liberal Democratic (1940s) Liberal Reform Libertarian Lower Excise Fuel and Beer Marijuana Middle Class National Front National Humanitarian National Socialist Nationalist (1958) Natural Law No Aircraft Noise No GST One Australia Movement One Australia Party One Parliament for Australia Party! Party! Party! Pauline's United Australia Pensioner and Citizen Initiated Referendum People Power People's Party Progressive Conservative Progressive Labour Protestant People's Party Reclaim Australia: Reduce Immigration Referendum First Reform Republican Restore the Workers' Rights Save the ADI Site Services Services and Citizens Social Democratic State Labor Sun Ripened Warm Tomato Tasmania First Tasmania Senate Team Taxi Operators Political Service United Australia (SA) United Christian United Tasmania Group Victorian Socialist Party What Women Want Women's Party (1995) Young Australia National

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