Small Business Party (2016)

{{distinguish|text=the separate New South Wales political party, The Small Business Party}}

{{distinguish|text=the similar political party, the Western Australia Party}}

{{Infobox Australian political party

| party_name = Small Business Party

| party_logo = WAxit Party logo.png

| party_wikicolourid =

| leader = John Golawski

| deputy =

| president = John Golawski

| convenor =

| foundation = 2016

| disbanded =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| headquarters = Perth

| ideology = {{Nowrap|Western Australian secessionism}}

| position =

| international =

| website = {{URL|https://www.waxit.org/|waxit.org}}

}}

The Small Business Party (formerly Micro Business Party and WAxit Party) is a political party registered in the Australian state of Western Australia.{{cite web |url=https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/candidates-and-parties/registered-political-parties-wa |title=Registered Political Parties in WA |publisher=Western Australian Electoral Commission |access-date=11 December 2018}} The party's primary platform is secessionism of Western Australia from the Federation.

History

An earlier Small Business Party of Western Australia merged into the Micro Business Party (established in 2016) before the 2017 state election.{{cite web |url=https://info.thewest.com.au/westadvertising/feature/20170119/downloads/feature.pdf |title=Micro Business Party: 2017 WA State election advertisement |publisher=The West Australian 19 January 2017 |page=20 |access-date=17 June 2018}}

In the 2017 Western Australian election, the Micro Business Party fielded 46 candidates in the Legislative Assembly (out of 59 electorates){{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-11/summary-of-candidates-and-parties-contesting-the-2017-wa-electio/9388870 |title=Summary of Candidates and Parties Contesting the 2017 WA Election |access-date=16 February 2017 |date=11 February 2017 |work=Antony Green's Election Blog |publisher=ABC Australia}} and 14 candidates across the six regions for the Legislative Council. The party received 13,211 first preference votes for Legislative Assembly seats (representing 1% of votes cast), and 7,484 votes for the Legislative Council.{{cite web|title=2017 State General Election|url=https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/elections/state/sgelection#/sg2017|publisher=Western Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=14 April 2017}}{{cite web|title=WA Election 2017|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/wa-election-2017/|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Commission|access-date=14 April 2017}}

The party changed its name to Small Business Party at its May 2018 annual general meeting and the new name was officially recognised by the Western Australian Electoral Commission in October 2018.[https://smallbusinessparty.net/ Party's official website]

In 2021, the Small Business Party became the WAxit Party,{{cite news |last1=Golawski |first1=John |title=Small Business Party |url=https://www.waxit.org/post/john-golawski-small-business-party |access-date=16 January 2021 |work=WAxit Party |date=16 December 2020 |language=en}} with the "objective ... to improve the fortunes of [Western Australians] by achieving autonomy and independence through secession from the Federation."{{cite web|url=https://www.waxit.org/policy|title=Platform * Policies|publisher= WAxit Party|access-date=19 March 2021}} The WAxit party failed to achieve representation in either of Western Australia's two houses, gaining 7,979 first preference votes in the Legislative Assembly, and 4,326 in the Legislative Council.{{cite web|url=https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/elections/state/sgelection#/sg2021|title=2021 State General Election|publisher= Australian Electoral Commission|access-date=25 March 2021}}

The name WAxit is derived from WA (the state abbreviation and a nickname for Western Australia) and the word "exit", in the same style as the word Brexit.

In 2022, the party reverted to the name Small Business Party and contested the North-West Central by-election in the same year.

References

Category:Political parties in Western Australia

Category:Political parties established in 2016

Category:2016 establishments in Australia