History corner: the crossbench that kept them honest
For three decades the Democrats held the Senate balance of power and made both big parties explain themselves. A short history, and a promise.
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From Don Chipp’s founding promise in 1977 to the GST negotiations and beyond, the Australian Democrats spent nearly thirty years doing democracy’s least glamorous job: reading the legislation.
Balance of power wasn’t about blocking everything or waving everything through. It was about amendments at 2am, committee scrutiny nobody televised, and the radical idea that a government should have to persuade the parliament, not just instruct it.
That’s the tradition we’re rebuilding in Victoria — a principled crossbench voice with its homework done. The history is ours; the next chapter is yours to help write.