Outdoor Recreation Party - History

History

In 1996 Glenn Druery was instrumental in the formation of the Outdoor Recreation Party, of which Malcolm Jones became president. In 1997 the party contested a state by-election, in which Druery received 2.13% of the primary vote. The party subsequently contested several other federal and state elections.

At the 1999 NSW general election, Druery formulated a strategy by means of which preference votes could be harvested from the unwitting supporters of a large number of small political parties. He skilfully negotiated for independent and selected minor-party candidates to adhere to his calculated preference-swapping arrangements. As a result, three people were elected to the upper house with very low primary-vote tallies, including Malcolm Jones whose share of the primary vote was 0.2%. Jones was forced to resign in 2003 amidst a corruption scandal and an ICAC inquiry into his conduct, and party member Jon Jenkins was appointed to the casual vacancy to serve out the remainder of Jones's 8-year term.

Though the ORP passed the NSW Electoral Office's political party registration process in June 2006, allowing it to contest the 2007 New South Wales state election, Jenkins resigned his seat shortly before the election. The party contested the election on a joint Upper House ticket with the Horse Riders Party but was unsuccessful, achieving only 0.6% of the vote.

Amendments to the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 made it much harder for a minor political party to be registered, thus eliminating the type of preference manipulation from which the ORP had previously benefited. In late-2009, the ORP allied itself with the Liberal Democratic Party in NSW to contest the March 2011 election. This move enables the ORP to participate in federal elections through the LDP's federal registration and, conversely, the LDP can participate in NSW elections using the ORP name.