The Australian Values Party is a minor political party founded on 19 January 2022 by
ADF veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that has ...
Heston Russell
Heston Russell is an Australian retired Special Forces officer.
Early life and education
Russell joined the Australian Army at the age of 17 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Duntroon in 2006. While at the Australian Defenc ...
. The party's main focus is veterans' rights, although it has policy positions on other subjects as well.
History
The Australian Values Party (AVP) was registered by 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 ...
as a political party on 18 January 2022, after applying for registration on 17 September 2021. The Australian Values Party fielded candidates in the
2022 Australian federal election
The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, sought to win a fourth conse ...
.
In August 2022, the AVP announced the Angry Victorians Party would contest the
Victorian state election as a branch of the party. Independent Member for the
Western Metropolitan Region
Western Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created ...
,
Catherine Cumming
Catherine Rebecca Cumming is a former Australian politician. She was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from November 2018 to November 2022, representing the Western Metropolitan Region. She stood at the 2018 Victorian state election ...
, joined the party in November after having her application to register the
Independence Party
Independence Party may refer to:
Active parties Outside United States
* Independence Party (Egypt)
* Estonian Independence Party
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* Independence Party (Mauritius)
* Independence Part ...
refused. On 16 November 2022, party leader Heston Russell leaked a video to the ''
Herald Sun
The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...
'' of him to talking to
Glenn Druery
Glenn Druery is an Australian political strategist, electoral campaigner and ultra-distance cyclist. He has played a leading role in the electoral success of various micro and minor parties in Australia since the mid-1990s.
He acquired a reputat ...
about a potential preference deal, declaring that the AVP felt the co-ordination of the
group voting ticket A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member electoral divisions with si ...
system used by Druery was immoral and needed to be exposed.
Policies
The party has been focused on policies supporting disaster relief, defence and veterans’ affairs, and a heavy health & mental health focus. Party leader Heston Russell has been at the forefront of campaigning on Veterans’ Affairs policy since 2020.
See also
*
List of political parties in Australia
The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition. Federally, 16 of the 151 members of the lower house ...
References
External links
*
{{Political parties in Victoria (Australia)
2021 establishments in Australia
Political parties established in 2021
Political parties in Australia
Populist parties
Australian veterans' organisations