Australian Christians
The Australian Christians is a political party in Australia that is described as social conservatist and Christian right. It was founded in 2011, and registered with the Australian Electoral Commission on 15 December 2011. The party's candidates are all committed Christians, "seeking to be a voice for Christian values".
The party aims to represent Christian values, appealing to the 2.7 million voters who go to church at least once a month.
It was formed after the Victorian and Western Australian branches of the Christian Democratic Party voted to form a new party. The party has endorsed senate candidates in Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania and plans to expand into South Australia and Queensland. The party has decided not to operate in New South Wales, where the CDP has one seat in the Legislative Council.
The party contested the 2012 Melbourne state by-election, receiving about 1% of the vote. The party contested the 2013 Western Australian state election, receiving 1.95% of the vote.
At the 2013 federal election, the party was involved in the 2013 Senate preference deals organised by Glenn Druery's Minor Party Alliance, without any success.
At the 2016 federal election, Australian Christians fielded senate candidates for Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland and a total of eighteen candidates for seats in the House of Representatives across Victoria and Western Australia, without any success.
In May 2017, Cory Bernardi, the leader of the Australian Conservatives, met the national and Victoria state leaders of the Australian Christians to discuss a merger between the two parties. In September 2017, the Victoria state leadership of the Australian Christians agreed to merge the branch with the Conservatives, and Victorian's Australian Christians branch disbanded. The Western Australian branch continues to function and is standing candidates in that state for both the House of Representatives and the Senate at the 2019 federal election.
