The Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP) was a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The party's policy platform was focused on

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and

Christian conservative Conservative Christianity, also known as conservative theology, theological conservatism, traditional Christianity, or biblical orthodoxy is a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that se ...

issues, such as opposing Islamic immigration and religious freedom for Australian Muslims and opposition to

same-sex marriage in Australia Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since 9 December 2017. Legislation permitting same-sex marriage, the '' Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017'', became law on 8 December 2017 and came into effect the nex ...

. The party was launched in 2011 and was led by Pentecostal minister

Danny Nalliah Daniel "Danny" Nalliah (born 1964Biography Rev Dr Dan ...

until its dissolution in June 2019. Its slogan was "Keep Australia Australian". Nalliah is the president of Catch the Fire Ministries. The Rise Up Australia Party received 0.4% of the nationwide Senate vote at the 2013 federal election, 0.3% of the nationwide Senate vote at the 2016 federal election, and 0.44% of the nationwide Senate vote at the 2019 federal election. The party had one councillor, Rosalie Crestani, on the

City of Casey The City of Casey is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Casey is Victoria's most populous municipality, with a 2021 population of 365,239. It has an area of . The city is named afte ...

in Victoria.

Policies and philosophy

The aims of the party included opposition to

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

, preserving Australia's "

Judeo-Christian The term ''Judeo-Christian'' is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bibl ...

heritage" and cuts to Australia's "Muslim intake", as well as the protection of Australian ownership, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Before the 2009 Black Saturday bush fires in Victoria which claimed 173 lives, Nalliah claimed to have had a warning dream from God: that His protection would be removed from Victoria, if the Church did not repent and seek God regarding their apathy towards the passing of a Bill that resulted in the "slaughter of innocent children up to full term in the womb." In a similar vein, Nalliah also linked the catastrophic 2010–2011 Queensland floods to remarks

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

made about Israel. Nalliah declared on his website "...at once I was reminded of Kevin Rudd speaking against Israel in Israel on 14th December 2010. It is very interesting that Kevin Rudd is from QLD. Is God trying to get our attention? Yes, I believe so." The party voiced support for the state of Israel, stating in its policy platform " esupport the right of the State of Israel to exist within secure and defensible borders, and with Jerusalem as its undivided capital". In a 2011 interview with Perth's ''Out in Perth'', Nalliah stated that homosexuals can be turned back to heterosexual relationships through education and through faith in Christ. " ... while we love the homosexual community and want to get to know them better, we also have a stand, where we say, children need to be protected (from alternative lifestyles). There are times in life when you do things, and maybe you feel yes you are locked into an agenda.... our position is that homosexuality is not OK" and that "Children should not be exposed to ublic displays of homosexual affectionand other practices that go beyond morality." The Party also stated that there will be a "homosexual marriage onslaught across the state" if same sex marriage legislation is passed. The party's

energy policy Energy policies are the government's strategies and decisions regarding the Energy production, production, Energy distribution, distribution, and World energy supply and consumption, consumption of energy within a specific jurisdiction. Energy ...

also claimed that Australia's

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

s are 42% energy efficient, and proposed the repeal of the

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden Social cost of carbon, social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emis ...

if elected in 2013. The party stated that there needs to be an overhaul of Australia's media content laws, restricting content that is immoral and violent, as well as "socially-degenerating themes". It supported

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

issues such as free range farming and banning of live exports and animal testing.

History

Daniel Nalliah founded the Rise Up Australia Party on 22 June 2011. He had previously been a candidate for the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

in the 2004 federal election for the

Family First Party The Family First Party was a conservative political party in Australia which existed from 2002 to 2017. It was founded in South Australia where it enjoyed its greatest electoral support. Since the demise of the Australian Conservatives into w ...

. It is said he left that party due to demeaning statements about minority groups. The party was launched with the help of

Christopher Monckton Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (born 14 February 1952) is a British public speaker and hereditary peer. He is known for his work as a journalist, Conservative political advisor, UKIP political candidate, and ...

, who assisted Nalliah and the party in their campaign to run 93 candidates, both in the House of Representatives and the senate in the 2013 federal election. The party was involved in

Glenn Druery Glenn William Druery is an Australian political strategist, electoral campaigner and ultra-distance cyclist. He has played a leading role in the electoral success of various micro and minor parties in Australia since the mid-1990s. He acquired ...

Minor Party Alliance The Minor Party Alliance (MPA), also known simply as the Alliance, is an alliance of small Australian political parties, currently active in Victorian state politics. It was created by Glenn Druery's "Independent Liaison" business, which assist ...

(MPA). In March 2015, the party's Facebook page, which had 6,000 followers, was banned and suspended on Facebook for 24 hours because of what was called "hateful speech" content. It was the first Australian political party page to have been temporarily banned from Facebook. The party was voluntarily deregistered in June 2019.

Electoral performance

The party received 49,341 primary votes or 0.37% of the nationwide Senate vote at the 2013 federal election. At the 2016 federal election, the party 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 the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, and 31 candidates 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 ...

, including 18 in Victoria. The party received 36,472 votes or 0.26% of the nationwide Senate vote and failed to gain any seats in the election. However, it did manage to gain 4% – 7% in six House of Representatives seats and in the Northern Territory Senate. At the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

, the party drew first position in Queensland and New South Wales Senate tickets. Following the election, on 26 June 2019, the party was voluntarily deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Federal parliament

State Election

References