A Pantheon of Parties

The Australian Parliament has seen a number of other parties enter the fray of national politics. During his early years as a cartoonist Larry Pickering captured the demise of the once influential Democratic Labor Party (DLP) who are annihilated in the 1974 election. The election was held in the wake of the ‘Gair Affair’ that saw Whitlam appoint former DLP Leader Vince Gair as Ambassador to Ireland in an attempt to replace him with a Labor Senator. Later, Pickering’s cartoons bear witness to the emergence of new minor parties, such as the Nuclear Disarmament Party. By the 1990s Geoff Pryor tells a very different story about the rise and influence of other parties on the Australian Parliament, as Australian Democrat and independent Senators win and lose the balance of power in the Senate.

Top: Attempting to increase his numbers in the Senate, Gough Whitlam appoints Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Leader, Vince Gair, Australian Ambassador to Ireland. In the election precipitated by this decision, the DLP is annihilated.

Bottom: Every Buddha is enigmatic, but nothing quite compares to the Brian Harradine Buddha! When he held the balance of power in the Senate, this Independent from Tasmania held considerable power within the Parliament.