Minor Parties: Bigger than We Thought? - Essay Sample

“Not Quite So Minor After All” is an article authored by Richard Allsop, who is a Researcher at the Institute of Public Affairs. This journal article was published on the Institute of Public Affairs in November 2014. The article expounds on how minority parties have been unable to form a government and the factors that make minority parties unable to form a government (Allsop, 2014). In Australia, big parties get the majority of the representatives that are elected to parliament and the Senate and also form the government. Minority parties and the independents continue to face challenges in getting the support they require from the people through votes to form a government.

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In the 20th century, the political landscape was majorly dominated by the labor and coalition, which are the major parties in Australia. After the Second World War, the Liberal-Country Party Coalition and the ALP dominated four consecutive elections. The parties had over 96 percent of the total primary vote (Allsop, 2014). This phenomenon changed from the 1950s as there has since been at least one minor party that has garnered at least five percent of the votes. The minor parties, therefore, have a stake in the primary elections in Australia. However, still their contribution in forming the government has not been relevant as compared to the major parties.

In 1950 the minor party consisted of communist groupers who quit the ALP. Their minor party had distinct ideology from those of the major parties. Although termed as minor, their contribution was actually not minor as they achieved policy outcomes, mostly state aid to the private or non-governmental schools. Since the 1980s, the minor parties have shifted their focus on acting as watchdogs or opponents of the major parties to advancing policies with the support of different groups in the society (Allsop, 2014). However, not all minor parties are relevant in Australian politics as some have low recognition, thus receive a small number of votes hence causing the dominance of major parties in the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.

Australian politics are dominated by minority parties that have the majority of elected leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The big parties influence the policies that can pass in parliament and influence the work of the prime minister and the government business (Allsop, 2014). Small political parties face challenges influencing policies that benefit the people they represent in Australia. The three main political parties in Australia are the labor party, the liberal party, and the nationals. Minor political parties are not popular; therefore, they face challenges getting elected leaders that represent the interests of the people in parliament and legislate policies that fixed the needs of the people they represent.

Minor parties and independents have fewer chances of forming the government because they are less popular, and their ideologies are not known by the majority of the voter that elect leaders that form a government. Minority parties cannot form the government because they are unable to get the support they require from the voters to form a government (Kefford, 2017). The party that gets the majority votes form the government, which is a challenge to minor parties and independents. There are challenges that the minor parties face, which disadvantages them from influencing the people to vote for them. The challenges include a lack of enough resources to campaign and convince the voters that the policies and manifesto will solve their challenges.

One of the minor parties that contributed to Australian politics is the Greens Party. The party, despite being small, has been strong, especially in the suburbs of the major cities. This party's candidate won the seat of Melbourne both in 2010 and 2013 (Allsop, 2014). Other minor parties that have they achieved their primary political objective despite their size are One Nation, Jacqui Lambie Network, and Nick Xenophon Team. Australian Greens candidate first won the senate seat in 1996, while Jacqui Lambie Network and Nick Xenophon Team's candidate won the senatorial seat first in 2016. The presence of the senators from the minor parties has therefore promoted the Senate's role of house review.

The article does not highlight how the major political parties were able to dominate over the years and the mistakes done by minority parties that they have been unable to dominate the political scene. The historical perspective of political parties in Australia to understand why people have consistently voted for major political parties (Kefford, 2017). The history of political parties helps political parties to plan for the future based on what the people like for them to support political parties. Among the factors explained in the article includes the formation of coalitions where political parties merge to have more influence in convincing the voters to elect the representatives that then form the government. Major political parties do not to form a coalition with minority parties because they have less to offer in terms of votes.

Minor parties and independents are not relevant in forming government in Australia because the rules of the game do not favor them as they favor big political parties (Kefford, 2017). Big political parties have been able to form the government in the past and created the necessary framework that they get popular candidates that have influence in the society. Hence, in the long run, the major parties end up getting the popular vote that is required to form the government.

Reference List

Allsop, R., 2014. Not quite so minor after all. Institute of Public Affairs Review: A Quarterly Review of Politics and Public Affairs, The, 66(3), p.14. https://search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=004718272144056;res=IELBUS

Kefford, G., 2017. Rethinking small political parties: from micro to peripheral. Australian Journal of Political Science, 52(1), pp.95-109.