The Lives of New Parties: Burning bright, burning out fast or fading away slowly – An Australian perspective

This paper considers the progress (burning bright), demise (fading away slowly) and disintegration (burning out fast) of minor political parties from an Australian perspective. The paper considers the following minor Australian political parties: the National Party, the Australian Democratic Labor Party (DLP), the Australian Democrats (AD), Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party (PHON), and the Australian Greens. This paper considers a number of reasons for the decline and demise of minor parties in Australia. Relevance of the party and its policies is one reason and a lack of unity in the party and the quality of its leadership are other reasons. Other Australian minor parties have faded and burnt out due to the operation of the Australian electoral system. For example, they failed to gain the second preferences from one of the major parties. This paper also argues that the structure of a party is another reason for a party’s burning out and fading. A party must continually review its structure, including its decision making methods, such as its rules of party conferences and pre-selection of candidates. The power and influence of the press is another cause for the burning out and decline of minor parties. This paper argues that many minor parties have an ignorance of the role and operations of the press and its requirements. The nature of the time period in the demise and disintegration is also considered. This time period can be long (fading away slowly, the fate of the Nationals and the Australian Democrats) or very quick (burning out fast, the fate of the DLP). Keywords: party politics, minor parties, media, Australia, party decline