The Unite Australia Party (UAP) was a short-lived

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 ( ...

that existed in the late 1980s. In December 1986, senator John Siddons, former deputy leader of the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

, quit the Democrats to form the UAP, arguing that the party under leader Janine Haines had moved too far to the left on key issues and was no longer representative of small 'l' liberal values. Initially composed of disaffected Democrats, the UAP gained a boost when two other minor parties, the Advance Australia Party and the

Australia Party The Australia Party was a minor centrist political party in Australia from 1969 to 1986. It was most influential in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The party was established in 1969 under the leadership of Senator Reg Turnbull, as a merger o ...

agreed to amalgamate with the UAP, raising its national membership to around 5000. The UAP was registered as a political party on 21 January 1987 with Siddons claiming the party would become the new third force of Australian politics. Siddons pledged that the UAP would lower taxes, stimulate the economy, protect small shop-owners from

unfair competition Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usually smaller, businesses or consumers. ...

, abolish compulsory unionism and would be an anti-uranium, pro-environment party. The party received another boost when Senator

David Vigor David Bernard Vigor (26 June 1939 – 9 April 1998) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate, representing the Australian Democrats and the Unite Australia Party. Born in Elbeuf, France to an English mother a ...

(who had lost a pre-selection battle) also defected from the Democrats to the UAP, giving the UAP two sitting federal parliamentarians. The party's first electoral test, the by-elections 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 ...

districts of

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 19 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Canterbury-Bankstown region. Bankstown is the administrative centre ...

and Heathcote in January 1987, provided concern for the party, producing less than 1% of the vote in both cases. Undaunted, the UAP ran Senate candidates at the 1987 federal election in each of the mainland states as well as several lower house seats. The party performed worse than expected, polling 0.6% in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, 0.5% 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 ...

and 0.2% 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 ...

. In the

1988 Adelaide by-election A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Division of Adelaide, Adelaide on 6 February 1988. This was triggered by the resignation of Australian Labor Party, Labor Party MP Chris Hurford to become Australia's Cons ...

, the UAP candidate polled only 0.4% of the vote. Party support dwindled after the 1987 election and the UAP was deregistered on 25 May 1990. Despite the similarity of the names, the Unite Australia Party was not connected to the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four Elections in Australia, federal elections in that time, usually governing Coalition (Australia), in coalition ...

, which was the forerunner to the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was fo ...

References

Carr, A
Psephos Australian Electoral Archive
Accessed 21 May 2006.
Frail, R. (1986), "Siddons has a party, but no starters", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', p. 14, 4 December 1986.
Hewett, T. (1987) "Fringe groups, independents snap at the big parties' heels", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', p. 4, 29 May 1987. {{Authority control Defunct political parties in Australia Political parties established in 1986 Political parties disestablished in 1990 1986 establishments in Australia 1990 disestablishments in Australia