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Australia as Multi-Party System:

aka a whole lot of begrudgingly dealing with each other so the other lot don't win. Also butterfly's, many many butterfly's (and a whole lot of ASB probably). As mentioned below, it essentially begins with a defection which makes it a three party system. The rest of the cards only begin to fall a lot later on, however the tension builds for quiet some time.

1983-1991: Bob Hawke (Labor) [1]




1991-1996: Paul Keating (Democrat) [2]



1996-2004: John Howard (Liberal) [3]



2004-2007: Kim Beasley (Labor) [4]


2007-2010: Kevin Rudd (Labor) [5] – Minority Government (Supply and Confidence with Greens)


2010-2011: Julia Gillard (Labor) [5] – Minority Government (Supply and Confidence with Greens)

2011-2015: Peter Costello (Democrat) [6]



2015-: Malcolm Turnbull (Democrat)


Parties:


Right-Wing Coalition:

Liberal-National Party (aka The Coalition) (Centre-Right to Right):

One of the two major parties within the Labor Party. The coalition has existed for almost 100 years (beginning in 1923). This Coalition right now is tenuous, with regional based National MP’s clashing with city based MP’s on many issues.


Conservative Party (Right Wing):

This party would form in 2013 after Tony Abbott was ousted as leader of the Liberal-National Party by Julie Bishop. Dissatisfied by the direction the party was heading, he, along with those loyal to him and those who were from the conservative faction would leave the Coalition to form their own party. The party would absorb the Liberal Democrat Party along with other minor conservative parties (such as Family First) and are now the second largest right-wing party in Australia.


One Nation (Right to Far Right):

The party, originally started by Pauline Hanson, would be a fairly minor party until the recent surge of populism around the world. They now enjoy relatively high support for one of the more minor parties (around 6-8%) and have been a force in regional areas.



Left-Wing Coalition:

Labor Party (Centre-Left to Centre):

The other of the two traditional Powerhouses, they have also had the left wing of the party leave for the Progressive Party. This would push them towards the centre. However, they remain relatively progressive socially (pushing for marriage equality, equal pay) as well as socially moderate. Due to their push toward the centre, they have lost some support to the Progressive Party in inner city areas.


Progressive Party (Left to Centre-Left):

This is one of the two parties that would form after the Green Party split into two separate party’s. They are a broad based party much like the major party’s. Since the split, they have garnered reasonable popularity, particuarly within the inner city areas of the major captal city’s. The party is made up of the moderate and right-wing of the former Green’s (Left) and left-wing of the Labor Party.



Environmental Party (Left to Far Left):

As the name suggests, they are a party whose main concerns are with the environment. They are however also focused on other issues, they are a broad-based party that is the furthest left out of all the major parties within the Australian electoral system. They were formed after the split of the Green’s Party, with the ‘old green’s’ splitting and forming the party along with the NSW Greens. They enjoy large support in areas of Northern Tasmania and moderate support elsewhere.



Moderate/Cross Bench:

Australian Democrats (Centre):

Often the king makers within this crazy new world in Australian politics for the other two traditional powerhouses. The party gained prominence in the 1980’s when Paul Keating left the Labor Party after disagreements with leader Bob Hawke, he would ascend immediately to a high position in the party and would become leader in 1988 (as promised), with many from the right of Labor and left of LNP would join the party, feeling alienated with their respective parties. The Keating term would be tumultuous however as Australia would be faced with a recession, with Keating becoming a 1 term PM. They would become a background party for the rest of the 90’s and into the 2000’s, only regaining power in 2011 (after high dissatisfaction with the two major coalitions and infighting amongst both factions). The Prime Minister at the time Peter Costello would resign from politics in 2015, allowing Turnbull to become the new PM (winning his own mandate in 2017).

Footnotes:

[1] Would go down as one of the most popular prime minister's in modern history. However his time towards the end was marred by infighting and defection to the democrats (most notably his likely successor Paul Keating). Many thought he was losing his touch and some even questioned his mental stability.

[2] Keating's ascension to the Prime Ministership would be a tumultuous one. He would win majority government outright, partially due to his own popularity, partially do to effective campaigning (including tv, radio and newspaper interview's). On the first week of parliamentary sitting, former PM Bob Hawke would jump up and start screaming at Keating and deliver a line that would live on in Australian parliamentary folklore: "You're a Bastard Keating, A Traitor and a Bastard". His term in office would be like his first week, rough. A recession, interest rates reaching almost 20% and general economic uncertainty would mar his term. The only reason he was re-elected was, as noted by several political commentators, the lack of 'any better alternative' (as Labor and Liberal parties would chose new leaders and run ineffective campaigns). His second term in office would be slightly better with a recovering economy and the country realigning their interests towards Asia, however many thought the damage had been done.

[3] John Howard would regain the Liberal Party Leadership after Hewson lost to Keating (an election many felt they should have won) and was aggressive in his campaigning. He was rewarded for his efforts and the conservative politician would remain leader for 8 years. The Liberal Party would look to trade more with its traditional trading partners such as the U.S. and U.K. He himself however was not a popular man, he would introduce measures such as the GST in 1998 that would be deeply unpopular. He would win re-election in 2000, only just though, requiring a deal with the Democrats (who would withdraw their support after the Tampa incident). After the Tampa scandal and taking Australia into Iraq and Afghanistan (both which would see his approval rating sit at 22% by 2004), he would lose not only the election, but only retain his seat by 126 votes (eventually losing his seat in 2007).

[4] Having taken over the party leadership in 1995 from Brian Howe after Howe's resignation, Beasley would lead the party to two election defeats (missing out on the Prime Ministership narrowly in 2000). Beasley's term would see the withdrawal of troops from the Middle East and Afghanistan, along with continuing the re-allignment of trade towards Asia (in particular, China, Japan and India) and E.U moreso than the U.K. and U.S. He would step down from the position after his one term, wanting to spend more time with his family and other interests. Despite serving only one term, he would leave office with a high approval rating (62%) for withdrawing troops and keeping the economy booming throughout the period.

[5] The infamous Rudd-Gillard era. This period would be marred with political infighting amongst the Labor Party. Rudd would start off as a popular leader, leading Australia through the GFC relatively unscathed, however it would begin to unravel. Constant travelling and tape of him verbally abusing an airline hostess would prove the final straw, with the party deciding to side with Gillard during a leadership spill (which would lead to the very public defection of Wayne Swann and Kevin Rudd). Her time would be short however, as she would try (and fail) to introduce a carbon tax and also be marred by political infighting.

[6] After 15 years, the Democrats, this time under Peter Costello would becoming the governing party of Australia. Comfortably beating the Liberal (led by Tony Abbott) and Labor (led by then PM Julia Gillard). This would also be the first time the Green's Party would gain over 10% of the primary vote (10.2%), with Labor haemorrhaging votes to the party. Whilst their would be factional infighting in both traditional powerhouse parties (Labor's left and right, as well as the moderate and conservative factions of the liberal's), the Democrats would be the only stable force at the time. Costello (himself defecting to the Democrat's in 1998 after disagreements over the introduction of the GST) and his cabinet (including the controversial appointments of Swann as Finance Minister and Rudd as Foreign Minister) would go about introducing a number of sweeping reforms and projects to diversify the economy. Many infrastructure projects would be approved, in an attempt to bolster growth (with the end of the mining boom), most notably, a national high speed rail network and a fully fibre optic National BroadBand Network (with the system expected to be amongst the fastest in the world). These projects would be approved by parliament (with Moderate, Labor, Green and moderate Liberal support). A major social reform would be the introduction of same-sex marriage in 2013, with overwhelming majority approval (with only conservative members of the liberal party and other right to far-right wing parties disapproving).

[7] The Liberal party by 2012 would be rife with infighting. Their were major fundamental disagreements within the party, with the conservative faction disapproving of the introduction of the NBN, high speed network's as well as some of those member's being against same-sex marriage (with Leader Tony Abbott stating he believed 'marriage is an institution between man and woman'). Moderate members would vote in approval of these issues, against the wishes of their leader. Things would come to a head when Julie Bishop would challenge Tony Abbott for the leadership of the party in 2013. She would win the spill and Tony Abbott, along with the right of the Liberal Party and supporters of him, would leave and form the Conservative Party. They would absorb both the Liberal Democratic Party and Family First parties, positioning themselves as "the only true, conservative, right-wing party in Australia who will stand up for our morals and values". Their views would be classified as Conservatism with a hard C (as opposed to the Liberal's conservatism with a soft C) by political commentators, with the party being both fiscally conservative and socially conservative. In the 2014 election, they would garner 12% of the popular vote, becoming the 2nd largest right wing party and 4th largest party in an increasingly multi-party system.

[8] After Bob Brown resigned as leader of the Green's, two factions emerged. The Old Green's (those primarily concerned with environmental issues) and the New Green's (Those who are concerned by all issues, however are more pragmatic than their far left counterparts). Tensions would simmer on for years until before the 2014 election, Richard Di Natale would become leader and would try to make the party more broad based. By the end of 2015, both factions couldn't agree on anything and decided that they would split into two new parties.

The Progressive Party, led by Richard Di Natale and the Environmental Party, led by Lee Rhiannon. The Progressive Party would see members from the Labor Left join almost immediately (feeling alienated by Labor under Shorten, who pushed the party to the Centre), providing an instant boost to the parties fortunes. The Environmental Party would receive support from the former NSW Green's and Tasmanian Greens, with both factions agreeing to join the Environmental Party.

In 2017, The Progressive Party would receive 12% of the vote (mostly from former Labor voters and young voters), winning each of the 5 capital cities inner city seats (with both Tanya Plibersek and Kate Ellis defecting to the party in 2015). The Environmental Party would gain 5% of the vote nationally and pick up 2 seats in Tasmania.

[9] With populism rising across the world, Pauline Hanson would take over the party again and run in the 2017 federal election. The party would fair well, but would underperform, gaining 8% of the national vote (well below the 12% expected) and would fail to pick up a seat in parliament (however Hanson herself would become a senator along with 2 other party members).