# Douglas Credit Party

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Australian political party

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The **Douglas Credit Party** was an Australian political party based on the [Social Credit](/source/Social_Credit) theory of [monetary reform](/source/Monetary_reform), first set out by [Clifford Douglas](/source/Clifford_Douglas). It gained its strongest result in [Queensland](/source/Queensland) in [1935](/source/1935_Queensland_state_election), when it gained 7.02% of first preferences under the leadership of the psychiatrist Dr Julius Streeter. Streeter had returned to Australia in 1919 as a war hero after being a surgeon in the [Battle of Ypres](/source/Battle_of_Ypres) where he was injured by [mustard gas](/source/Mustard_gas).

The Australian followers of Social Credit were ambivalent about direct political action. Some felt the existing form of democracy, with its emphasis on parties of the "left and right", to be inimical to genuine representation of the people. A number of Social Crediters felt that parliamentarians should have a first loyalty to their constituents and not a greater loyalty to a particular party organisation. However, some followers entered directly into the political party fray, and others sought to influence the policies of existing political parties, especially the [Australian Labor Party](/source/Australian_Labor_Party) (ALP). However, not all supporters of the movement were involved with Labor. [Charles North](/source/Charles_North_(politician)), the state president of the Western Australia branch of the movement during the 1930s, was a [Nationalist Party](/source/Nationalist_Party_of_Australia) member of the [Western Australian Legislative Assembly](/source/Western_Australian_Legislative_Assembly).

At the height of the economic depression in the 1930s, advocates of Social Credit theory were successful in gaining majority conference support within the ALP for financial reform along the lines of that proposed by Social Credit theory. However, the policy was never put into practice by subsequent Labor governments. The party's strongest federal result was at the [1934 election](/source/1934_Australian_federal_election), at which it gained 4.69% of the national [lower house](/source/Australian_House_of_Representatives) vote. The party did not win seats in either election. After Streeter's death in 1946, the party went into a terminal decline.

During the 1960s, there were several attempts in Queensland, [South Australia](/source/South_Australia) and [New South Wales](/source/New_South_Wales) to revive the political fortunes of Social Credit. In South Australia, the "Liberty League" contested a few seats in federal elections but failed to gain many votes. At the [1961 federal election](/source/1961_Australian_federal_election), three candidates – William Ward, Albert Lee and Kenneth Whiteman – unsuccessfully stood for the [Senate](/source/Australian_Senate) in New South Wales. They polled about 15,000 primary votes across the State. Some support was gained in a few New South Wales federal electorates, notably the Labor-held seat of [East Sydney](/source/Division_of_East_Sydney) and a few strong Labor seats in the [Hunter Valley](/source/Hunter_Valley).

Also at the 1961 federal election, several candidates contested the poll under the banner of the Australian National Party. The party was short-lived and some of its members joined the ranks of a revived Social Credit Movement of Australia (Queensland), which contested nine seats at the [1963 Queensland state election](/source/1963_Queensland_state_election) and three seats at the [1969 Queensland state election](/source/1969_Queensland_state_election) with only meagre results. Its strongest support was in the [Maryborough](/source/Maryborough%2C_Queensland) area of central Queensland.

A single Social Credit candidate stood in the [1969 federal election](/source/1969_Australian_federal_election) in the Sydney seat of Banks, but gained little support. At the [1974 federal election](/source/1974_Australian_federal_election), another attempt was made in NSW to win a seat in the Senate, but again the votes gained were minimal.

For some decades until the late 1960s, the late Mrs J Elvin operated, on a voluntary basis, a Social Credit bookroom in [George Street, Sydney](/source/George_Street%2C_Sydney). A small monthly newsletter was also produced and circulated via this centre.

The ongoing influence of Social Credit ideas was also revealed in the heyday of the [One Nation Party](/source/One_Nation_Party) in the late 1990s, with that party's promotion of a National Credit Authority. A Social Credit Secretariat in Queensland continues to promote Social Credit via the internet.[1][2]

## Further reading

- Berzins, Baiba (1969). "Douglas Credit and the A.L.P.". *Labour History*. **17** (17): 148–160. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/27507960](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F27507960). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [27507960](https://www.jstor.org/stable/27507960).

- Dowsett, Simon (2025). ["Feminising Social Credit"](https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n14794/pdf/02_dowsett.pdf) (PDF). *Lilith: A Feminist History Journal*. **31**: 33–50. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.22459/LFHJ.31](https://doi.org/10.22459%2FLFHJ.31).

- Henning, G. R. (2022). "The Visit of Major C. H. Douglas to Adelaide in 1934". *History of Economics Review*. **81**: 32–51. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/10370196.2021.1984668](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F10370196.2021.1984668).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["A New Economics for Human Flourishing"](https://thepeoplescredit.com.au). thepeoplescredit.com.au.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Social Credit Australia Facebook Page"](https://www.facebook.com/socialcredit.com.au/). socialcredit.com.au. Retrieved 13 September 2018.

v t e Social credit Movements Canada Abolitionist Party of Canada Alberta Social Credit Party British Columbia Social Credit Party Canada Party Christian Credit Party Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform Les Démocrates Manitoba Social Credit Party New Democracy Pauper Party of Ontario Parti crédit social uni Pilgrims of Saint Michael Ralliement créditiste Ralliement créditiste du Québec Social Credit Board Social Credit Party of Canada Social Credit Party of New Brunswick Social Credit Party of Ontario Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan Oceania Australian League of Rights Country Party (New Zealand) Democratic Labour Party (New Zealand) Douglas Credit Party Social Credit Party (New Zealand) Social Credit-NZ Solomon Islands Social Credit Party Europe British People's Party Irish Monetary Reform Association Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Social Credit Party of Ireland People William Aberhart Lavern Ahlstrom Bruce Beetham W. A. C. Bennett John Horne Blackmore Eric Butler Réal Caouette Vernon Cracknell C. H. Douglas Louis Even A. N. Field Ron Gostick John Hargrave Robert A. Heinlein Norman Jaques Solon Earl Low Hugh MacDiarmid Ernest Manning Roly Marks Neil Morrison Al Overfield Ezra Pound Manasseh Sogavare Ken Sweigard John Turmel History 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt Prosperity certificate Social Credit Party of Canada split, 1963 Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Douglas Credit Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Credit_Party) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Credit_Party?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.