Our party has played a critical role in the development of the laws that have shaped modern Australia.

The Australian Democrats was founded in 1977 and was initially led by Senator Don Chipp from 1977 to 1986.  

From 1980 until 2004, the party held the balance of power in the Australian Parliament.

From its earliest days, the party has been an advocate for the environment. During the early 1980s, years before the creation of the Australian Greens, Democrats Senator Colin Mason played a key role in preventing the destruction of World Heritage Areas, specifically Tasmania's Franklin River. His World Heritage Properties Protection Bill 1982 wrote international conventions into law. 

 In 1986, Don Chipp retired from parliament and was replaced by Janine Haines as party leader, the first woman to lead a political party in Australia. Under Haines’ leadership, we continued our fight for the environment and helped to save the Daintree Rainforest.  

From 1993 to 2002, the party had only female leaders, including Cheryl Kernot, Meg Lees and Natasha Stott Despoja. Elected in 1995 at the age of 26, Natasha Stott Despoja was the youngest woman to serve in the Australian Parliament at that time.

We always stood up for the rights of women and for gender equality. In 2006, Senator Lyn Allison introduced legislation to remove the Health Minister’s veto of RU486 – the medical alternative to surgical abortion – which led to a collaboration by four female Senators from across the political spectrum. The bill passed the Senate with 93% support from women. Our fight for equality has been an energetic and ongoing battle. We strengthened the Sexual Discriminations Bill in the early 80s to prevent discrimination against women in clubs. We called for an end to discrimination on the basis of sexuality and forced the prohibition of discrimination in superannuation against same-sex couples. 

As the threat of Climate Change became clear, Senator Lyn Allison instigated and chaired the Senate Inquiry "The Heat Is On: Australia's Greenhouse Future" in 2000, looking into Australia's policies to reduce greenhouse emissions. 

 The Australian Democrats has had a long-standing policy to oppose war. We led the movement to oppose joint American military bases in Australia and were the only party to oppose the first Gulf War. We introduced a bill to prohibit the Australian Defence Force from using cluster bombs which indiscriminately kill and maim innocent civilians in war zones.  

After some years out of the political limelight, the Australian Democrats has re-registered as a federal political party with the Australian Electoral Commission, under the leadership former Senator Lyn Allison. Our membership is growing rapidly with the collective aim of re-entering the Parliament of Australia and holding government to account.