The Sustainable Australia Party (SAP), officially registered as Sustainable Australia Party – Universal Basic Income, is an Australian political party that was formed in 2010.[6]
History
The party has been registered federally since 2010. It was previously named the Sustainable Population Party and later the Sustainable Australia Party – Stop Overdevelopment / Corruption, before adopting its current name. In 2016 it also registered in the Australian Capital Territory, and contested the 2016 Australian Capital Election. In 2018 it also registered in Victoria for the 2018 state election[7] and NSW for the 2019 state election.[8]
In 2010 the party opposed Kevin Rudd's support for a "big Australia", saying that a large population would be "disastrous",[9] is "way beyond [Australia's] long-term carrying capacity",[9] and that "population growth is not inevitable".[9] The party claims that "'stable population' policies would mean a more sustainable 26 million at 2050, not the Labor/Liberal 'big Australia' plan for 36 million and rising."[10]
Sustainable Australia used to be called the Sustainable Population Party. Its current name was registered with the Australian Electoral Commission on 18 January 2016.
The party missed out on registration for the 2010 federal election by several days, but leader William Bourke ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in New South Wales on an independent ticket with poet Mark O'Connor. The party was registered shortly after the election, on 23 September 2010.[6]
The party was registered as "Stable Population Party of Australia", but on 28 February 2014 the Australian Electoral Commission approved a name-change to the "Sustainable Population Party".[6] On 19 January 2016, the AEC approved a further name change to "#Sustainable Australia" (including a hash symbol).[11]
The party ran at least two Senate candidates in every state and territory in the 2013 Australian federal election and many local candidates also.[12] Timothy Lawrence was the candidate for Australian Stable Population Party in the 2014 Griffith by-election, arising from the resignation of Kevin Rudd. Lawrence received 666 votes, 0.86% of the primary vote. The party also contested the April 2014 re-run in Western Australia of the 2013 federal Senate elections.[12] The party endorsed Angela Smith, an environmental scientist and a local candidate, for the 2015 Canning by-election. In September 2015 the party campaigned on a number of issues including education, paid jobs, infrastructure, health care, renewable energy and housing affordability.
In the 2015 North Sydney by-election its candidate and founder William Bourke received 2,189 votes, representing 2.88% of the primary votes.[13][14]
In the 2016 federal election, Sustainable Australia was led temporarily by ex-Labor Minister for Sustainability, Andrew McNamara.[17] The party fielded two senate candidates in each of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, as well as a candidate in the Division of Sydney for the House of Representatives,[18] where Kris Spike received 605 votes, 0.69% of the votes.
The party received media attention in 2017 when Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith joined the party.[19][20]
In the 2020 federal Groom by-election SAP's candidate Sandra Jephcott received 6,716 votes, representing 7.8% of the primary votes.[21][22]
At the 2021 NSW local government elections, SAP's North Sydney Council candidates William Bourke and Georgia Lamb were elected as Councillors with 13.1% and 10.7% of the primary vote in their respective wards.[23] William Bourke was subsequently elected Deputy Mayor by a vote of all North Sydney Councillors.[24]
In 2024, the party lost both of its councillors in North Sydney, but gained a seat in Campbelltown.[26]
Policies
Victoria
Sustainable Australia's Victorian MP Clifford Hayes has campaigned for a sustainable environment and called for a container deposit scheme to be introduced in Victoria to reduce waste and stop rubbish going into landfill.[27]
Following this, Hayes also campaigned for a large environmental reserve in Melbourne's west to protect endangered species and ecosystems.[28]
Hayes also spoke strongly in favour of boosting Victoria's legislated renewable energy target, or VRET, to 50 per cent by 2030 in that state parliament's upper house, saying we have been in the middle of a climate crisis for a long term and we need to take action across all sectors from energy to transport, construction and more.[29]
Scaling back Australia's migration rate to about 70,000 people a year, while preserving refugee intakes at 14,000 to 20,000.
Giving "real power to local communities in planning decisions"
Increasing charges to developers when land is rezoned for housing.
Federal and state policies
At the Federal level of government, a policy is to reduce the country's immigration intake, from record high levels[31] of over 200,000 to 70,000 people per annum.[32][better source needed]
Target a population in Australia of under 30 million "through to and beyond 2050".[33]
Setup an independent Federal Commission to monitor and expose corruption.[34]
On housing affordability, Sustainable Australia bases its solutions on restricting foreign ownership of residential property, cutting immigration, and on taxation measures (such as phasing out the 50% Capital Gains Tax discount on residential investment property and abolishing negative gearing on residential investment property). The party believes that "with a sustainable environment and much more stable population, you can simultaneously achieve affordable housing (due to less buyer demand) and better planning (to stop over-development)".[32][better source needed]
On the environment, the party advocates for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below year 2000 levels by 2050, or cutting further if possible.[citation needed]
Cut the cost of public transportation by at least half and expand train and/or bus networks.[33]
The implementation of a universal basic income (UBI) or citizen's dividend of "$500+ per week ($26,000 per annum, indexed from 2021)" to all Australians as a method of poverty prevention.[33]
