Progress Party (Australia)

{{use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}

{{use Australian English|date=August 2016}}

{{about|the libertarian political party in Western Australia in the late 1970s|the community body and political party in the Australian Capital Territory from 1944 to the 1960s|Australian Capital Territory Progress and Welfare Council}}

{{Infobox political party

| name = Progress Party

| logo = Workers Party (Australia) logo.png

| logo_size = 200px

| caption =

| colorcode = #CC7722

| leader =

| founded = 26 January 1975

| dissolved = c. 1981

| merger =

| split =

| predecessor =

| merged =

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| headquarters =

| ideology = Right-libertarianism
Anti-communism

| position = Right-wing

| colors = {{colour box|#CC7722}} Orange

| slogan =

| country = Australia

}}

The Progress Party, initially known as the Workers Party, was a minor political party in Australia in the mid-to-late 1970s.{{cite web |title=The Beginning of Libertarianism in Australia |url=https://ipa.org.au/ipa-review-articles/the-beginning-of-libertarianism-in-australia |publisher=The Institute Of Public Affairs |access-date=12 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424120815/https://ipa.org.au/ipa-review-articles/the-beginning-of-libertarianism-in-australia |archive-date=24 April 2024 |date=1 August 2015}} It was formed on 26 January (Australia Day) 1975, as a free-market right-libertarian and anti-socialist party, by businessmen John Singleton and Sinclair Hill, in reaction to the economic policies of Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam.{{cite web|url=http://www.cis.org.au/policy/summer01-02/PolicySummer01_4.html|title=CIS at Twenty-Five – Frank Devine talks to Greg Lindsay|publisher=Centre for Independent Studies|date=December 2001|access-date=2008-07-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091009225700/http://www.cis.org.au/policy/summer01-02/PolicySummer01_4.html|archive-date=9 October 2009|df=dmy-all}} It operated and ran candidates in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, but it did not have a central federal structure. Its Western Australian affiliate, which advocated secession from the rest of Australia,{{cite book|title=Platform & policy and constitution|author=Westralian Progress Party|year=1977}} Accessed at Battye Library, Perth.{{cite book|last=Sawer|first=Marian|title=Australia and the New Right|publisher=George Allen & Unwin|year=1982|isbn=0-86861-188-3|pages=5–7}} did particularly well in the area surrounding Geraldton in the state's Mid West. However, the party failed to win seats at any level of government and had gone out of existence by 1981.

The party's first electoral contest was the Greenough state by-election, which took place following the retirement of former premier David Brand. The candidate, Geoffrey McNeil, surprised most observers by attaining 12.96% of valid votes cast (only 0.66% less than the Labor candidate).{{cite journal |last= Penrose |first= Sandra |date=April 1976 |title= Australian Political Chronicle: July-December 1975 |journal= Australian Journal of Politics and History |volume= 22 |issue= 1 |pages= 112 |issn=0004-9522}}{{cite book|title=Election statistics : Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996|last=Black|first=David|author2=Prescott, Valerie |year=1997|publisher=Western Australian Parliamentary History Project|isbn=0-7309-8409-5|page=133}} Buoyed by that success, the Workers' Party ran three House of Representatives and five Senate candidates in Western Australia at the 1975 federal election.Penrose, p.114. Subsequently, the New South Wales party nominated candidates at 1976 by-elections in the seats of Pittwater and The Hills.{{cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2069390|title=Records of the Workers Party (Australia), 1975–1981 (manuscript)|author=National Library of Australia|year=1975|author-link=National Library of Australia|access-date=2008-07-16|archive-date=14 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614061341/http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2069390|url-status=live}}

The party was renamed the Progress Party after objections to the name and constitution, and the Westralian Progress Party published its platform in 1977, ahead of the February state election, at which it contested the seats of Greenough (achieving 16.8% of the vote), Geraldton (5.1%), Kalgoorlie (6.4%), Mundaring (4.0%) and Yilgarn-Dundas (3.6%). At the August 1977 Northern Territory assembly elections, the party picked up a territory-wide vote of 9.8%.

On 13 October 1977, sitting Liberal MP Peter Richardson announced that he had defected to the Progress Party and would be its lead Senate candidate in Western Australia at the 1977 federal election.{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110871777|title=WA Liberal resigns|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=14 October 1977|archive-date=3 May 2019|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503132452/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110871777|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110872064|title=Liberal Party member quits|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=15 October 1977|archive-date=3 May 2019|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503003230/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110872064|url-status=live}} Another former Liberal MP, Wylie Gibbs, also joined the party, but he did not run for office.{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110881744|title=Joined PP|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=8 December 1977|archive-date=1 May 2019|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501191220/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110881744|url-status=live}} At the federal election, the Progress Party contested every Western Australian seat in the House of Representatives, but only managed to collect 2.83% of the statewide vote. Richardson was unsuccessful in his bid for the Senate, with the party polling just over 10,000 votes, or 1.7 percent of the state total.{{cite news|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1977/1977senatewa.txt|title=1977 Senate - Western Australia|publisher=Australian Election Archive|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502130135/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1977/1977senatewa.txt|url-status=live}}

The party went on to contest the 1980 Western Australian state election, but achieved a significantly lower level of support.{{cite web|title=Political parties|work=Australian Government and Politics Database|publisher=University of Western Australia|url=http://elections.uwa.edu.au/partysearch3.lasso|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050616131219/http://elections.uwa.edu.au/partySearch3.lasso|url-status=dead|archive-date=2005-06-16|access-date=2008-07-16 }} The party is believed to have disbanded after that, but academic Marian Sawer has credited it with attracting publicity for neoliberal, economic rationalist ideals.