The Australian Protectionist Party (APP) is a minor

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

party, focused on

economic protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

and

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

. and opposes

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

and

asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...

and often participates in rallies such as the one outside the

Villawood Immigration Detention Centre Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, originally Villawood Migrant Hostel or Villawood Migrant Centre, split into a separate section named Westbridge Migrant Hostel from 1968 to 1984, is an Australian immigration detention facility located in ...

. Since its formation, the party has been active in protesting against the presence of asylum seekers and Muslims, and has also organised several protests against

Sharia law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the Five Pillars of Islam, religious precepts of Islam and is based on the Islamic holy books, sacred scriptures o ...

being implemented in Australia. The party was registered as a federal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

on 18 January 2011 and deregistered on 18 June 2015.AEC, The party continues to have an active website and seeks donations. Its current officeholders are not disclosed and its address is given as a PO Box in Tasmania.

History

On 10 September 2007, Andrew Phillips, described by the party as its national chairman and South Australian spokesman, formally announced the formation of the Australian Protectionist Party. The formation of the party was described as a split from the

Australia First Party The Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated, often shortened to the Australia First Party (AFP), is an Australian far-right political party founded in 1996 by Graeme Campbell. The policies of Australia First have been described as ultranat ...

. Darrin Hodges ran unsuccessfully as a candidate in the 2008 elections for

Sutherland Shire Council Sutherland Shire is a local government area in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire comprises an area of and as at the had an estimated population of . Sutherland Shire is colloquially kn ...

, coming last in his ward. At the

2010 Australian federal election The 2010 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 August 2010 to elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a second term against the op ...

, Hodges and

Nicholas Hunter-Folkes Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operate ...

(aka. Nick Folkes) ran a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

ticket in New South Wales, running as

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

s, as APP was not registered in time. They received 1,864 votes or 0.04% of the vote. Andrew Phillips stood for the seat of Mayo in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, also as an independent, receiving 993 votes or 1.08% of the votes. APP was registered as a federal political party with the

on 18 January 2011. In June 2012, Andrew Phillips was described as the party's nominal leader, following the resignation of ''de facto'' party leader Darrin Hodges. In September 2012, NSW chairman Nick Folkes unsuccessfully contested the NSW council elections for the

Municipality of Leichhardt The Municipality of Leichhardt was a local government area in the inner-west region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about west of the Sydney central business district. On 12 May 2016, Leichhardt merged with Marrickville Council a ...

, receiving 41 votes or 0.6% of the total vote for the ward. In December 2012, Folkes resigned from APP to form

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

, modeled on Wilder's Freedom Party, and taking the entire Sydney branch with him. Folkes' Party for Freedom appears to have links to

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON or ONP), also known as One Nation or One Nation Party, is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is led by Pauline Hanson. One Nat ...

. At the

2013 Australian federal election The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of Aus ...

for the Senate in NSW, the APP ticket of Mark Grech and Christian Johns received 2,424 votes or 0.06% of the vote. The AEC deregistered APP on 18 June 2015. In June 2016, APP in Western Australia hosted a public speaking event in Perth featuring Graeme Campbell, whom APP described as "the Father of modern Australian nationalism". Campbell was the founder in 1996 of the far-right

and had at times been a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

, One Nation and independent MP. In October 2016, the Australian Protectionist Party joined with the

, Nationalist Alternative, Eureka Youth League, and Hellenic Nationalists of Australia to form the Australian Coalition of Nationalists (ACN). The APP hailed the election of US president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, believing this "ushered in a new era".

Federal parliament

References

External links

Australian Protectionist Party website
{{Authority control Australian nationalist parties Right-wing populism Anti-Islam sentiment in Australia Anti-immigration politics in Australia Protectionism

Australian nationalism Flag of Australia Australian nationalism asserts that the Australians are a nation and promotes the national and cultural unity of Australia. Australian nationalism has a history dating back to the late 19th century as Australia gradually deve ...

Far-right political parties in Australia Organisations based in Victoria (Australia) White nationalism in Australia Social conservative parties

History

Federal parliament

See also

References

External links