Nuclear Disarmament Party
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The Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) is a political party in Australia. The party was formed in 1984 and enjoyed considerable initial success.
The NDP was founded by a Canberra doctor and peace activist, Dr Michael Denborough, in response to the world political situation in the early 1980s, particularly the arms race between the United States under Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union. Such activists were disappointed that the Australian Labor Party government of Bob Hawke, elected in 1983, had not taken a stronger stance against the policies of the U.S.,and also that Hawke had overturned a longstanding ALP policy not to mine uranium,and had allowed mining in South Australia at Roxby Downs,which has since become the largest uranium mine in the world.
At the December 1984 federal elections the NDP received over 600,000 votes,and over 4% in each state,except Tasmania where it received 3.9%.
Amongst the NDP candidates were Peter Garrett,a rock singer,and Jean Meltzer,a member of the Victorian ALP. Garrett polled 9.6% of the vote in NSW,and Melzer polled 7.3% in Victoria.
Because of the adverse distribution of preferences (see Australian electoral system), neither Garrett nor Melzer was elected. But a little known peace activist, Jo Vallentine, was elected to the Senate from Western Australia with 6.7 % of the vote.
In April 1985, however,after a prearranged meeting, Vallentine, Garrett and Melzer, along with 30 other members, walked out of the National Conference in Melbourne and resigned from the NDP, claiming that the party had been taken over by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a Trotskyist group.Vallentine sat as an Independent Senator until 1987.
After this the NDP consisted of a group of activists led by Denborough. At the July 1987 federal election, the party's Senate vote in New South Wales fell from 9.6 % to 1.5 %. But because of the peculiarities of the Australian electoral system the NDP's Robert Wood was elected after receiving preferences from other parties.
In May 1988, however, Wood was disqualified from membership of the Senate on the grounds that he had not been an Australian citizen at the time of the election. His seat was awarded to the second candidate on the NDP ticket, Irina Dunn. When Wood became eligible for Senate membership, the NDP asked Dunn to resign so that Wood could reclaim his seat. Dunn refused, and was expelled from the NDP. She sat as an independent until being defeated at the 1990 election.
The NDP stood candidates at the 1998,2001, and 2004 federal elections and in 2004 its preferences helped unseat Larry Anthony a Federal Minister in the Howard government.
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