THE party is over for a locally-founded political group after CountryMinded was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The commission ended the party’s run after its supporter-base fell below the required benchmark of 500 members.
The AEC deregistered CountryMinded on May 8 and the party’s website has already been removed.
Read more:
The New England based party contested the 2016 federal election and vied for the seat again in 2017 following Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship imbroglio.
CountryMinded was established in late-2014 with a focus on agricultural and rural issues and an aim to give Nationals’ voters an alternative option.
Co-founder and 2017 by-election nominee Pete Mailler said it would up to the community sentiment whether the party be resurrected.
“In today’s landscape, you either need a lot of money or active people,” he said.
“Getting [a party] going is pretty tough, we’ve done it with virtually no money and a small group.
“That’s where it’s been for last 12 or 18 months, if we’re going to survive, people need to rally.”
He believed political parties were struggling, across-the-board, when it came to numbers and combating problematic attitudes from voters.
“Most people aren’t very impressed with politics generally and a lot of associations and organisations are struggling to get people to buy in,” he said.
“You start talking about politics and people’s first response is they don’t trust that, that's problematic.
“Politics is something people get angry about, rather than passionate about.”
He said the party wasn’t planning on contesting the 2019 NSW election and it would be up to the people if the party rises for the next federal poll.
“It’s not that difficult, it just requires people to be a bit more engaged,” he said.
Mr Mailler said there was still a sense of “unfinished business” and major issues still faced the region, including the review of the water trigger, untapped potential in renewable energy and the erosion of education funding.
He ran in the December by-election against 16 other nominees for CountryMinded.
He polled 2,112 first preference votes and finished fifth overall after Mr Joyce, Labor’s David Ewings, Independent Rob Taber, The Greens’ Peter Wills and the Christian Democratic Party’s Richard Stretton.
While the membership base had declined, support for the party had grown at New England polling booths over its short history.
David Mailler contested the seat in the 2016 federal election in a smaller field of 10 candidates and only polled 1,337 number-one votes.