The Australian Equality Party (Marriage) (also AEP; formerly Australian Equality Party until January 2016) was an

Australian political party The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia. Federally, 12 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...

founded by Jason Tuazon-McCheyne. The AEP had a platform that promoted equality and human rights, particularly in relation to the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

community. The party's goal was to get AEP Leader, Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, elected to the Senate at the

2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday, 2 July 2016, to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign p ...

History

The Australian Equality Party was launched on 2 February 2014 by Jason Tuazon-McCheyne and his team at Melbourne's LGBTIQ

Pride March A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The eve ...

in St Kilda. At that time the AEP released its first suite of policies relating to LGBTIQ people at the parade, including

marriage equality Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

, health and wellbeing issues for LGBTIQ people and reform for laws regarding LGBTIQ people's rights to adoption. The AEP was registered with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for the management and oversight of Australian federal elections, plebiscites, referendums and some trade union A ...

(AEC) on 9 October 2014. The Convenor of the AEP was Jason Tuazon-McCheyne."Jason Tuazon-McCheyne launches Australian Equality Party"
. ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. February 3, 2014 Chris Hingston On 27 January 2016, the AEC approved a name change to append the word "Marriage" to the party's official name. In 2014 the AEP was only active in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, focusing on gathering support for its campaign to elect its leader Jason Tuazon-McCheyne as a Senator for the state of Victoria at the 2016 federal election. In the 2016 federal election AEP fielded two

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidates in each of Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, and three candidates in Victoria for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. None of these candidates were elected. The party received 0.87%, 0.38% and 0.49% of first preference votes in the three states it contested for Senate seats and 1.59% of first preference votes in its highest-polling House seat,

Melbourne Ports The Division of Melbourne Ports was an Australian federal electoral division in the inner south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was located to the south of Melbourne's central business district and covered an area of appr ...

. The party was deregistered voluntarily on 26 March 2018.

Leadership

The leader of the AEP was Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, a civil celebrant in

. Tuazon-McCheyne is married to his husband Adrian, they have a son and live in Melbourne's north west. Deputy Leader Jacqueline Tomlins is a writer, campaigner and activist and has been involved in a variety of LGBTIQ related campaigns, particularly around marriage equality and a legal challenge in the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

to a ban on recognition of overseas same-sex marriages in Australia.

References

{{LGBT in Australia 2014 establishments in Australia 2018 disestablishments in Australia Defunct political parties in Australia Equality rights Human rights organisations based in Australia LGBTQ political advocacy groups in Australia LGBTQ political parties Political parties disestablished in 2018 Political parties established in 2014 Political parties of minorities in Australia Same-sex marriage in Australia

History

Leadership

See also

References