RIP Democrats

[David]

The Democrats have been formally deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission after failing to demonstrate that they had 500 members.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australian-democrats-face-oblivion-as-party-deregistered-by-aec-20150416-1mmqar.html

Of course, they've been practically irrelevant for a decade now, but it seems momentous that this is the final nail in the coffin. Depending on how you weigh the achievements of the DLP and the Greens, the Democrats were arguably the most important independent minor party in the country's history. Whether you agreed with their politics or not, I think they deserve respect for showing that there can be a genuine alternative to our seemingly eternal Liberal/Labor duopoly.

[Nick - Pie Man]

Sad.

[Wokko]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australian-democrats-face-oblivion-as-party-deregistered-by-aec-20150416-1mmqar.html

A shame really, but in the end they didn't know what they stood for. Supposedly centrist, when they took centrist positions they were criticized relentlessly (Lees and the GST compromise) and their lurch to the left just put them in the same arena as the Greens and the Greens devoured them.

Thanks for 'Keeping the Bastards Honest' for a while Democrats.

[HAL]

My pleasure.

[Wokko]

Sorry David, missed your thread.

[stui magpie]

They did Don Chip proud for a while, but they've been dead for a while now. While they stuck to "keep the bastards honest" they had cred. Once they strayed from that, lost what they stood for and things started going downhill, all the BYT's left them for the greens. Spot Destroyer was the last of them that had anything.

If someone wanted to write a musical eulogy to them, the lyrics and tune of "Lets do the time warp again" could be modified perfectly.

[Jezza]

Sad to see this happen considering the Australian Democrats were one of the better minor parties in Australia's political history despite their irrelevance for the past decade or so.