Derryn Hinch's Justice Party

Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, also known as the Justice Party, is a political party in Australia, registered for federal elections since 14 April 2016.[7] The party is named after its founder, Derryn Hinch, an Australian media personality.

Derryn Hinch's Justice Party
FounderDerryn Hinch
Founded12 October 2015 (2015-10-12)
Headquarters14/1 Queens Rd
Melbourne, VIC 3004
IdeologyLaw and order
Anti-paedophilia[1][2]
Political positionCentre-right to
right-wing[3][4][5][6]
Victorian Legislative
Council
2 / 40
Website
justiceparty.com.au

Focusing on reforms to the justice system, it believes in a hard-line law-and-order approach, "putting victims above criminals". The party campaigns on prioritising jail sentences over rehabilitation and bail, as well as tougher restrictions on parole. Anti-paedophilia forms another large part of the party's ideology, owing to Hinch's background in naming alleged sexual offenders.

The party won one seat (a three-year term) in the Senate at the 2016 federal election, after achieving 6.05% of the first-preference votes in Victoria. It also was registered by the Victorian Electoral Commission in May 2018[8] and ran candidates in the 2018 Victorian state election.[9]

Background

Hinch announced his political ambitions in October 2015, and at that stage remained host of his weekly program Hinch Live, in a decision supported by Sky News Live.[10] Hinch stepped down from the program on 24 April 2016, telling viewers the program was entering either "semi or permanent recess" depending on the success of his party.[11] The Justice Party's election platform is anti-paedophile, tough on crime and in favour of parole and bail "reform".[1][2]

In June 2016 the party challenged the Australian Electoral Commission's decision to refuse the Justice Party, and other micro-parties, the right to display their distinguishing logos on the Senate ballot paper.[12] The matter is to be heard in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Hinch has employed Glenn Druery in his electoral office as his chief of staff. Druery came to fame in Australian politics as the "preference whisperer", known for his ability to create coalitions of minor parties to harvest preferences from each other to get elected on small primary votes. Prior to the 2018 Victorian state election it was revealed that Druery was collecting money from minor parties to give them a positive preference flow while still employed by Hinch, thus creating an alleged conflict of interest, and giving the party a favourable deal. Despite the party denying these allegations, the matter has been referred to police, and Druery is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation.[13][14]

Electoral history

Federal

The Justice Party fielded candidates for the Senate in every state of Australia, and also six lower house seats, in the 2016 federal election. Derryn Hinch was the party's lead candidate to represent Victoria in the Senate.[15] Hinch was successful at securing the 10th seat of the 12 representing Victoria.[16] No other Justice Party candidates were elected. Aged 72, Hinch is the oldest federal parliamentarian to be elected for the first time.[17]

Senate
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
seats won		 # of
overall seats		 +/–
2016 266,607 1.93%
1 / 76
1 / 76
 1
2019 105,459 0.72%
0 / 40
0 / 76
 1

Victoria

The Justice Party fielded 6 lower house candidates with none winning more than 4.5% of their respective district's vote. The party fielded 12 candidates for the Victorian Legislative Council with three being elected.[18] However, on 18 December Western Metropolitan Region member-elect Catherine Cumming resigned from the party, and was sworn in as an independent.[19]

Victorian Legislative Council
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
seats won		 +/–
2018 134,413 3.7%
3 / 40
 3
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References
  1. Aston, Heath (19 April 2016). "Federal election 2016: Derryn Hinch tipped to take Ricky Muir's Senate seat". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  2. Wallace, Rick (12 May 2016). "Federal election 2016: Derryn Hinch in with a chance for Senate". The Australian. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  3. "Correspondence: John Quiggin". Quarterly Essay. 14 November 2018.
  4. "Don't Elect Dangerous Derryn Hinch: The Case For Treating Criminals Humanely". 21 June 2016.
  5. "Bernardi exits stage right: mayhem now, obscurity later". Monash University.
  6. "Trump down under?". The Monthly. 15 November 2016.
  7. "Derryn Hinch's Justice Party". Australian Electoral Commission. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  8. Lang, Sue (29 May 2018). "Registration of Derryn Hinch's Justice Party". Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  9. "Victorian Justice Party Launch » Derryn Hinch's Justice Party". justiceparty.com.au.
  10. Perry, Kevin (13 October 2015). "Derryn Hinch to remain on-air for now, as political campaign commences". Decider TV. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  11. "SkyNewsAust on Twitter". Twitter. 24 April 2016. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  12. Wright, Tony (2 June 2016). "Senate election 2016: Derryn Hinch takes Electoral Commission to court over logo rejection". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  13. "Derryn Hinch's preference whisperer faces cash-for-votes complaint". News Line Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  14. Preiss, Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders, Benjamin (24 October 2018). "Derryn Hinch's preference whisperer faces cash-for-votes complaint". The Age. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  15. "Candidates for the 2016 federal election". Australian Electoral Commission. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  16. "Victoria - Result of the Transfer and Distribution of Preferences" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. August 2016. p. 224. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  17. Anderson, Stephanie (31 August 2016). "Australia's 45th Parliament: Meet the record breakers". ABC News. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  18. Willingam, Richard; Anderson, Stephanie (11 December 2018). "Victorian election Upper House calculation results confirm Labor, crossbench domination". ABC News. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  19. "'The Bernardi syndrome': Hinch cuts upper house MP from Victorian team". The Age. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
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