Christian Democratic Party

The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) was a Christian democratic political party in Australia, founded in 1977, under the name Call to Australia Party, by a group of Christian ministers in New South Wales. One of the co-founders, Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister, ran as their upper house candidate in the NSW State election. The Christian Democratic Party's platform espoused social conservatism. It changed its name in 1998. The party was primarily active in New South Wales and, after the 1981 NSW state election, had at least one member in that state's Legislative Council, often holding or sharing the balance of power. The Christian Democrats never succeeded in having a member elected to federal parliament, although John Bradford briefly sat with the party in the House of Representatives after defecting from the Liberal Party before the 1998 federal election. In 2011, the Victorian and Western Australian branches of the CDP voted to form a new party, leading to the creation of the Australian Christians in those states. In June 2021, it was reported that the Christian Democratic Party had gone into receivership. On 17 March 2022, the federal branch of the party was deregistered by the AEC because it did not meet membership number requirements. On 29 March 2022, the Supreme Court of NSW dissolved the party. History