Democratic Labor Party

This article is about the current party founded after the dissolution of the original DLP. For the earlier party, see Democratic Labor Party (historical). For alternative meanings, see Democratic Labour Party

The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) is a minor political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism. It is descended from, but not legally the same as, the Democratic Labor Party which existed from 1955 to 1978, and which until 1974 played an important role in Australian politics. At the 2006 Victorian election, the new DLP won parliamentary representation for the first time when it won a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council. The old DLP was wound up in 1978, but a small group of DLP activists in Victoria refused to accept the dissolution of the party and formed a new DLP, which has contested Senate elections in Victoria at every election since 1984. The party is largely run by John Mulholland and his family, and its main platform is opposition to abortion, euthanasia, therapeutic cloning and same-sex marriage, and also opposition to economic rationalism. The party no longer has the patronage of the Catholic Church but still has some support among conservative Catholics. At the 2004 Federal Election, the DLP received 58,042 first preference, or 1.94% of all votes, in the Victorian Senate election [1]. These votes assisted in the election of Steve Fielding from Family First to the Senate, even though the DLP vote was higher than the Family First vote. It also contested the federal divisions of Ballarat, [2] and McMillan [3]. The DLP contested the 2006 Victorian State Election, fielding candidates in the eight regions of the reformed Legislative Council, where proportional representation gave the party the best chance of having members elected. It polled 1.97% of the first preference [4] vote. However, in two regions it polled higher, with 2.70% in Western Victoria and 5.11% in Northern Metropolitan. This was enough to elect one member, Peter Kavanagh, on ALP preferences in Western Victoria Region. They briefly looked set to have a second member, John Mulholland, elected in Northern Metropolitan, but this result was overturned after a recount.

Politics of the DLP

Following the surprise election of DLP candidate Peter Kavanagh, attention has been given to the DLP platform of opposition to abortion and poker machines, and the description of HIV/AIDS as a "homosexual disease"^[1] However, the party claims to have a more comprehensive policy platform than is represented by such comments, and Peter Kavanagh has referred to the heritage of the historic Democratic Labor Party, saying that "The DLP remains the only political party in Australia which is pro-family, pro-life and genuinely pro-worker."^[2]

References

External links

• DLP website
• DLP Western Victoria website
• Peter Kavanagh's maiden parliamentary speech
• Peter Kavanagh's parliamentary speech against cloning legislation
• Peter Kavanagh website

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