The Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting) (originally known as the Non-Custodial Parents Party) was a minor political party in Australia registered between 1999 and 2020. It supported less government control of many aspects of daily family life, focusing on reform of family law and child support. The party's core policies centred on the issue of family law reform, emphasising legislative changes in order to ensure children maintain a relationship with both parents. The policies focused on assisting non-custodial parents, grandparents and spouses of non-custodial parents, particularly those not granted contact with their children.

History

The Non-Custodial Parents Party was formed in Australia in 1998 by Andrew Thompson and other concerned citizens. The NCPP ran 20 candidates for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

and two candidates for the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

in the 1999 state election. The NCPP contested six seats and the

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 ...

in New South Wales for the

2001 Australian federal election The 2001 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 November 2001. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minis ...

. A NCPP candidate, John Flanagan, contested the

2002 Cunningham by-election The 2002 Cunningham by-election was held in the Australian electorate of Cunningham in New South Wales on 19 October 2002. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of the sitting member, the Australian Labor Party's Stephen Martin on 16 ...

and received 556 votes, representing 0.83% of the total vote. In the 2004 federal election, the NCPP fielded candidates in states other than in New South Wales for the first time. The party ran for the Senate in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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 ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, and nationally received a total of 12,207 votes, representing 0.10% of the national vote. The party also contested two seats in the House of Representatives,

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C *Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player * Abe Cunningham, American drummer *Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

and

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

, receiving 1,132 votes total. The party was automatically de-registered in 2006, along with all non-parliamentary political parties, as a result of the ''Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006''. The NCPP successfully re-applied for registration under the name Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting). In the 2007 federal election, the NCPP again contested four states in the Senate, and ran in Cunningham and

Macarthur MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to: Arts and media * INSS MacArthur, a fictional starship featured in the science fiction novel ''The Mote in God's Eye'' * ''MacArthur'' (1977 film), a movie biography of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur * ' ...

in the House. The Senate candidates received 6,385 first preference votes, or 0.05% of the total vote, while the House of Representatives candidates received 795 first preferences votes representing 0.01% of the national vote At the 2010 Federal Election, the NCPP contested the Senate only in New South Wales, winning 0.09% of the total New South Wales votes. and 0.03% of the national vote. The party also ran candidates in Cunningham and Throsby, receiving 2,835 votes. The NCPP ran for the Senate in New South Wales at the

2013 federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on Saturday, 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal ...

, and also ran in three House of Representatives seats: Cunningham, Throsby, and

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

in Victoria. The party ran again in Cunningham and

Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...

(formerly Throsby), and for the Senate in New South Wales, in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. The party nominated

Anthony Fels Anthony James Fels (born 19 November 1964) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for the Agricultural Region from 2005 to 2009, representing the Liberal Party before defecting to the Family ...

, a former member of the

WA Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

, for the

2017 Bennelong by-election A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bennelong was held on 16 December 2017. Previous incumbent and Liberal candidate John Alexander won the by-election despite a 4.8 percentage point two-party swing to Labor ca ...

. Fels came last of 12 candidates with a primary vote of less than 0.2 percent. At the 2019 federal election, the party ran only in Cunningham, receiving 1,213 votes. The NCPP voluntarily de-registered in May 2020.

Notes

External links

Homepage
{{Australian political parties 1998 establishments in Australia Defunct political parties in Australia

History

See also

Notes

External links