Yellow Vest Australia

Yellow Vest Australia (YVA), until 9 April 2019 known as the Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA), was a minor far-right[2] political party in Australia. The party was founded by members of the Q Society and has been described as the political wing of Q Society.[3] The leader is currently Debbie Robinson (President), who is also national president of the Q Society.[4]

Yellow Vest Australia
AbbreviationYVA (formerly ALA)
PresidentDebbie Robinson
SecretaryDebbie Robinson
Founded2015 (2015)
HeadquartersSouth Melbourne, Victoria, 3205
IdeologyAustralian nationalism
Conservatism
Economic liberalism
Right-wing populism
Anti-Islam[1]
Political positionFar-right
Colours   Blue and Red
House of Representatives
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Senate
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Website
Official website
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in Australia
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Opposition
First logo of the Australian Liberty Alliance.

The party's core policy is opposition to Islam with policies focusing on Muslim immigration such as enforcing "integration over separation", replacing multiculturalism with an integrated multi-ethnic society and stop public funding for "associations formed around foreign nationalities". They have vowed to "stop the Islamisation of Australia".[4] Party president Debbie Robinson has made a number of Islam-critical statements including that Islam is "a totalitarian ideology that does not separate its law from its religious entity...Slowly but surely our Judeo-Christian values, ethics and customs are being replaced" and warned that "If we continue to tolerate Islam without understanding it, Australia as a free, secular democracy will be lost."

Other policies include promoting smaller government, privatising public broadcaster SBS and scaling down the ABC, opposing taxpayer-funded subsidies for renewable energy, promoting advanced nuclear energy, ending dual citizenship for new citizenship applicants, simplifying the tax system with less income tax and a stronger focus on GST, improving public healthcare by more efficient cooperation with the private healthcare sector, advancing the 'natural family', and restoring civil society, among 20 other core policies.

Policies and philosophy

The party has released a manifesto listing twenty key policy areas, including "smaller smarter government, integration over separation, real reconciliation: no place for apartheid in Australia". However, the party has focused most of its efforts on its criticism of Islam. That includes the party's policy to "stop the Islamisation of Australia",[5] and their efforts to bring to Australia noted anti-Islamic speakers such as Geert Wilders.[6]

Immigration

The party is focused on stopping immigration from Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries into Australia. The party wants Australia to focus its refugee efforts to preference white South African refugees, which the party claims have been victims of South African farm attacks. It also calls for Islamic organisations including mosques and Islamic schools in Australia to respect the human rights and Australian law.

One of their stated goals is to defend human rights and prevent any Sharia court system from being established.[7]

Environment

The party has claimed that they are "neither 'believers' nor 'deniers' when it comes to climate change". They are critical of propositions that taxing CO2 emissions would have a noticeable effect on the global climate system. ALA has raised doubts about the competency of certain scientists and that their studies "are not based on scientific fact, but on computerised speculations and consent among special interest groups", and about climate change in general with their claim that "extreme natural events were described in Australian poetry a century before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change created hysteria about rising sea levels."[8]

Electoral history

The Australian Liberty Alliance has performed poorly at both state and federal elections it has contested.

The party was registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 28 July 2015[9] and was officially launched at a private function on 20 October 2015 in Perth, with controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders and British anti-sharia activist Anne Marie Waters as keynote speakers.[10][11]

At the 2016 Australian federal election, ALA fielded 13 senate candidates and 10 House of Representatives candidates. The party received only 25,337 primary votes in total in the House of Representatives and 102,982 primary votes or 0.74% of the total in the senate.[12] It recorded 0.66% of the senate vote in New South Wales and Victoria, 0.42% in South Australia, 0.33% in Tasmania, 1.08% in Queensland and 1.11% in Western Australia. Their best result in the House of Representatives was the Division of Farrer, where they polled 6.08%.[13] The party spent $1.5 million on the campaign.[14] On 7 April 2017, Kirralie Smith, a former candidate for the Australian Liberty Alliance and a member of the Q Society and Senate candidate for New South Wales in 2016, joined the Australian Conservatives.[15][16]

On 1 October 2018, ALA registered as a political party in Victoria, and contested the 2018 Victorian election.[17] Contesting only the district of Yan Yean, the party received 2.5% of the primary votes in the seat and 0.56% for the Victorian Legislative Council.[18] Avi Yemini ran for the party as the lead candidate for the Southern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council, where the party received 2,075 votes or 0.48% of the total.[19]

The party has contested several by-elections where it also polled poorly. The party polled 0.85% of the vote at the 2017 Bennelong by-election,[20] 1.39% at the 2018 Batman by-election,[21] 1.18% at the 2018 Perth by-election,[22] and 0.20% at the 2018 Wentworth by-election.[23]

On 9 April 2019, the AEC approved the party's name change to "Yellow Vest Australia", in time to allow the party to field candidates at the 2019 Australian federal election under the party's new name. The party nominated two candidates for the Senate for Victoria and Western Australia. Party president Debbie Robinson (who is also the president of Q Society and is standing for the Senate in WA) stated that the new name was inspired by the yellow vests movement in France, claiming that the movement shared the party's representation of "disgruntled voters who are concerned about globalism, immigration (and) the cost of living". She also hoped the change would end confusion with the name of the Liberal Party of Australia.[24]

Deregistration

In 2019, the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) reviewed all registered political parties, following the review the Australian Liberty Alliance voluntarily de-registered in Victoria. The Australian Liberty Alliance cannot re-register as a political party until after the 2022 State election.[25]

In 2020, the Australian Electoral Commission removed the Yellow Vest Australia from the registered political party list.[26]

See also

References
  1. Bourke, Latika (6 April 2016). "Australian Liberty Alliance, the anti-Islam, Donald Trump-style party, claims major growth". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. far-right:
  3. "Debbie Robinson 🇦🇺 (@debbie1ala) | Twitter". twitter.com.
  4. "australianlibertyalliance". www.australianlibertyalliance.org.au. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  5. Murray, Oliver (26 April 2016). "Far-right-wing parties after your vote on election day". news.com.au. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  6. "Wilders Senate candidates include ex-Army officer, anti-halal campaigner". ABC News. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  7. proitservice (29 September 2015). "Australian Law and Constitution". www.australianlibertyalliance.org.au. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  8. proitservice (29 September 2015). "Natural Resources and Environment". www.australianlibertyalliance.org.au. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  9. "Australian Liberty Alliance". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  10. Safi, Michael (9 May 2016). "Would-be senator Angry Anderson says he feels Australia's 'pain'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  11. "Australian Liberty Alliance: Geert Wilders unveils Senate candidates amid warnings over 'blatant racism'". Australia: ABC News. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  12. "Candidates for the 2016 federal election". Australian Electoral Commission. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  13. "Australian Electoral Commission Tally Room, retrieved 27 July 2016". Archived from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  14. Seccombe, Mike. "Inside the sick, sad world of the Q Society and the Australian Liberty Alliance". The Saturday Paper. Schwartz Media. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  15. Federal Politics (8 April 2017). "Anti-halal leader Kirralie Smith joins Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  16. "Kirralie Smith joins Australian Conservatives". Australian Conservatives. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  17. "Currently registered parties - Victorian Electoral Commission". www.vec.vic.gov.au.
  18. "State Election 2018 results". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  19. "State Election 2018: Southern Metropolitan Region". Victorian Electoral Commission. Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  20. "Bennelong By-election". AEC Tally Room. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  21. "Batman By-election". AEC Tally Room. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  22. scheme=AGLSTERMS. AglsAgent; corporateName=Australian Electoral Commission; address=50 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra. "House of Representatives division information". Australian Electoral Commission.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. "Wentworth, NSW". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  24. "Far-right party rebrands as 'Yellow Vest Australia' for elections". news.yahoo.com. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  25. "De-registration of the Australian Liberty Alliance". Victorian Electoral Commission. Victorian Electoral Commission.
  26. "Yellow Vest Australia Voluntary Deregistration" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission.
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