The Tasmania First Party is a minor

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 ...

n political party which operates exclusively in the state of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. The party was begun by members of the Tasmanian Firearms Owners Association in response to the

Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...

's 1996

National Firearms Agreement The National Firearms Agreement (NFA), also sometimes called the National Agreement on Firearms, the National Firearms Agreement and Buyback Program, or the Nationwide Agreement on Firearms, is an agreement concerning gun control, firearm control ...

, which the party called a "unilateral imposition of unnecessarily restrictive firearm legislation, following the unique tragedy of Martin Bryant's Port Arthur protest'' ic'." Tasmania First contested its first election in August 1998, the Tasmanian state election. The party received 5.1% of the primary vote for the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

but failed to win any seats. Tasmania First subsequently contested the Australian federal elections in 1998 and 2001, as well as Tasmanian state elections in 2002 and 2006, but its primary vote in these elections was very modest compared to the party's initial effort in 1998. 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) deregistered Tasmania First as a registered political party on 28 April 2006, because the party had not contested a federal election in over four years(an AEC requirement, which must be met if parties are to retain their registration at the national level). In August 1998, '' The Examiner'' of Launceston referred to Tasmania First as "a sort of local mirror image of One Nation". Tasmania First called this "defamatory" and demanded a retraction, threatening legal proceedings against the newspaper. In 2001 the party declared itself "a natural partner to

Brian Harradine Richard William Brian Harradine (9 January 1935 – 14 April 2014) was an Australian politician who served as an independent member of the Australian Senate, from 1975 to 2005, representing the state of Tasmania. He was the longest-serving indep ...

in the Senate, where we have many policies in common, being a State based party with the interests of Tasmania our first priority." Tasmania First fielded four candidates in the

2006 Tasmanian state election An election for the House of Assembly (lower house) was held in the Australian state of Tasmania on 18 March 2006, the same day as the South Australian elections. The Labor Party led by Premier Paul Lennon, won a third successive majority gove ...

; one in

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, one in

Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and two in Denison. Note: The party should not be confused with the First Party of Tasmania, a minor political organisation whose policies include the secession of Tasmania from Australia.

References

External links

Tasmania First Party
s old website, in the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Regionalist parties in Australia Political parties in Tasmania 2006 disestablishments in Australia Defunct political parties in Australia Political parties disestablished in 2006 {{Australia-party-stub

See also

References

External links