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Thepolitics of Australia has a mildtwo-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, theAustralian Labor Party and theLiberal Party of Australia. Federally, 13 of the 150 members of the lower house (Members of Parliament, or MPs) are not members of major parties, as well as 20 of the 76 members of the upper house (senators).

TheParliament of Australia has a number of distinctive features includingcompulsory voting, with full-preferenceinstant-runoff voting insingle-member seats to elect thelower house, theAustralian House of Representatives, and the use of thesingle transferable vote to elect theupper house, theAustralian Senate.

Other parties tend to perform better in the upper houses of the various federal and state parliaments since these typically use a form ofproportional representation, except for inTasmania where the lower house is proportionally elected and the upper house is made up of single member districts.

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Two political groups dominate the Australian political spectrum, forming a de facto two-party system. One is theAustralian Labor Party (ALP), a centre-left party which is formally linked to theAustralian labour movement. Formed in 1893, it has been a major party federally since 1901, and has been one of the two major parties since the1910 federal election. The ALP is in government inNew South Wales,Victoria,South Australia,Western Australia, theAustralian Capital Territory and theFederal Government of Australia.

The other group is theLiberal–National Coalition, an alliance of theLiberal Party of Australia andNational Party of Australia. The parties are in a formal coalition at federal level and in New South Wales and Victoria, but are not formally allied inWestern Australia andSouth Australia. The main party in this group is the centre-right Liberal Party. The Liberal Party is the modern form of a conservative group that has existed since the combination of theProtectionist Party andFree Trade Party into theFusion Liberal Party in 1909.^[1][2] Although this group has changed its nomenclature, there has been a general continuity of MPs and structure between different forms of the party. Its modern form was founded byRobert Menzies in 1944.^[1][3] The party's philosophy is generallyliberal conservatism.^[4][5]

The National Party represents rural and agricultural interests.^[6] The Nationals contest a limited number of seats and do not generally directly compete with the Liberal Party. Its ideology is generally more socially conservative than that of the Liberal Party. In 1987, the National Party made an abortive run for the office of prime minister in its own right, in theJoh for Canberra campaign.^[7] However, it has generally not aspired to become the majority party in the coalition, and it is generally understood that theprime minister of Australia will be a member of either the Labor or Liberal parties. On two occasions (involvingEarle Page in 1939, andJohn McEwen from December 1967 to January 1968), thedeputy prime minister, the leader of the National Party (then known as the Country Party), became the prime minister temporarily, upon the death of the incumbent prime minister.Arthur Fadden was the only other Country Party prime minister. He assumed office in August 1941 after the resignation of Robert Menzies and served as prime minister until October of that year.^[8]

The Liberal and National parties have merged inQueensland and theNorthern Territory. TheLiberal National Party of Queensland, formed in 2008, is a branch of the Liberal Party, but it is affiliated with the Nationals and members elected to federal parliament may sit as either Liberals or Nationals.^[9] TheCountry Liberal Party in the Northern Territory is likewise affiliated with both the Liberals and Nationals and its members may join either federal parliamentary party room.^[10]

Historically, support for either the Coalition or the Labor Party was often viewed as being based on social class, with the upper and middle classes supporting the Coalition and the working class supporting Labor. This has been a less important factor since the 1970s and 1980s when the Labor Party gained a significant bloc of middle-class support and the Coalition gained a significant bloc of working-class support.^[11]

The two-party duopoly has been relatively stable, with the two groupings (Labor and Coalition) gaining at least 70% of the primary vote in every election between 1910 and 2019 (including the votes of autonomous state parties). Third parties have only rarely received more than 10% of the vote for theAustralian House of Representatives in a federal election, such as theAustralian Democrats in the1990 election and theAustralian Greens in2010,2016,2019,2022 and2025. In some Parliaments, support for smaller parties andIndependents has resulted in major parties having to come toConfidence and supply agreements to form government, such as after the2010 Australian federal election.

Parties can choose whether they wish to register their party for federal or state elections. To run candidates in a federal election, it is not compulsory to register with the AEC. The AEC doesn't run state elections. Each state has their own commission that runs state and local elections.

Once registered for a federal election, to maintain registration, parties must demonstrate that they have a certain number of members.

Federally, since 2022, unless a party has current parliamentary representation, they must demonstrate they have 1,500 members.^[12][13]
For the state and territory elections, parties require 100 members in Tasmania and the ACT, 200 in South Australia and Northern Territory, 500 in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and 750 in New South Wales.^[13]

Membership requirement(s)

State/Level	Requirement
Federal	1,500
New South Wales	750
Victoria	500
Queensland
Western Australia
South Australia	200
Northern Territory
Tasmania	100
Australian Capital Territory

Parties listed in alphabetical order as of November 2025:^[19]

As of the New South Wales Electoral Commission:^[22]

As of the Victorian Electoral Commission:^[25]

As of the Queensland Electoral Commission:^[27]

As of the Western Australian Electoral Commission:^[28]

As of the Electoral Commission of South Australia:^[29]

As of the Tasmanian Electoral Commission:^[30]

As listed with the ACT Electoral Commission:^[31]

As of the Northern Territory Electoral Commission:^[33]

• List of political parties by country
• Politics of Australia

• Australia politics-related lists
• Lists of political parties by country
• Lists of political parties in Oceania
• Political parties in Australia
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