A fringe political party that was almost deregistered after a Clive Palmer-led rebrand failed is again changing its name following a merger with Reform Australia.
The Australian Federation Party briefly joined forces with Trumpet of Patriots ahead of last year’s federal election, adopting the latter’s name and receiving tens of millions in campaign funds from Mr Palmer.
Mr Palmer tried deregistering the party after it failed to win a single seat, but the Australian Electoral Commission sided with opponents of the move.
The party changed its name back to Australian Federation Party earlier this year, but has again applied to change it to Reform Australia after merging with the UK copycat party.
“The Federation Party has formally merged with Reform Australia, creating a united movement focused on delivering practical solutions for everyday Australians,” federal director Walter Villatora told NewsWire on Thursday.
“We focus exclusively on kitchen table issues – the challenges that directly affect the daily lives of Australian families.”
Reform Australia federal director Walter Villatora says the party is focused on ‘kitchen table issues’. Picture: News Corp Australia
Top issues included “the rising cost of living, housing affordability, an overly burdensome taxation system, growing hospital and ambulance wait times, declining educational standards, and the broader concern that Australia is moving away from being the ‘lucky country’ and towards one that creates unnecessary hardship for hardworking Australians”.
The concerns echo those raised by One Nation.
But Mr Villatora insisted the parties were different.
“Our approach fundamentally differs from that of One Nation and the major parties,” he said.
“We believe in pragmatic, commonsense policies rather than ideology.
“We reject identity politics, divisive labels, and the outdated left-versus-right political framework.
“We are Australians first and foremost, united under one flag and committed to building a stronger future together.”
A career campaigner who worked as campaign director for former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, Mr Villatora rejected that Reform would be made up of career politicians and political insiders.
“We see ourselves as political experts rather than career politicians,” he said.
“We expect our candidates to bring substantial real-world experience from outside politics.
“Australia needs representatives who understand the challenges faced by families, workers, business owners, and communities – not individuals whose entire careers have been spent within political or bureaucratic systems.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has up-ended British politics. NSW Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer
The party mirrors Reform UK, led by British populist MP Nigel Farage.
An international ally of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, Mr Farage led the referendum campaign to take Britain out of the EU in 2016.
A decade later, his party is leading both of the UK’s major parties in national polling.
Reform UK’s success was a key factor in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation earlier this week.
