Grey Power (or Greypower) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

political party and lobby group, first registered in 1983. At the federal elections of

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

it ran candidates, but on both occasions these candidates (who included former Liberal cabinet minister

Bill Wentworth William Charles Wentworth (8 September 1907 – 15 June 2003), usually known as Bill Wentworth and sometimes referred to by others as William Charles Wentworth IV, was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party for most of ...

) did poorly. The group was designed to represent the elderly vote, advocating issues dealing with aged care and a mature perspective on national policy; hence the name "grey power". The party's state president in New South Wales was Robert Clark, an anti-immigration campaigner and the founder of the Immigration Control Association, which advocated for a return to the

White Australia policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

. In 1989 the party's deputy president resigned in protest at the "abhorrent literature ... anti-Asian, anti-Jews, anti-everyone" that had been circulated at party meetings. Grey Power ran in the

1989 Western Australian state election Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 4 February 1989 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The Labor government, led by Premier Peter Dowding, won a third term in ...

, garnering 5.2% of the total lower house vote. However after the election a "bitter power struggle" emerged which resulted in the "virtual collapse" of the party in Western Australia. Police were called to the annual meeting of the party at a suburban hall in Dalkeith. ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' observed in 1989 that the party "remains fractured, with, as yet, little unity of purpose among state organisations" and noted that the movement had been "dogged by allegations of links with right wing or racist groups". The last election which Grey Power contested was the 1997 South Australian state election, but then it only managed to receive 1.6% of the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, ...

vote. Their preferences however significantly contributed to the election of

Nick Xenophon Nick Xenophon ( Nicholas Xenophou; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician and lawyer who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017. He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon ...

. The best result Grey Power ever achieved was at the 1994 Taylor state by-election in South Australia. Without a Liberal candidate in the running on this occasion, Grey Power took 13 percent of the primary vote and finished second after preferences had been distributed with a 27 percent two-candidate preferred vote.

References

Defunct political parties in Australia Pensioners' parties Political parties established in 1983 Retirement in Australia 1983 establishments in Australia Political parties with year of disestablishment missing {{Australia-gov-stub

See also

References