Summary
| Website: | Official Site* (see below) |
| Social Media: | Facebook — Twitter |
| Previous Names: | Companions and Pets Party and End Mass Immigration – Reform AU |
| Slogans: | none |
| Themes: | A desperate urge to get into Parliament somehow |
| Upper House Electorates: | South Eastern Metropolitan |
| Lower House Electorates: | none |
| Preferences: | not yet available |
| Previous Reviews: | 2022 (VIC) (as the Companions and Pets Party) |
Policies & Commentary
Four years ago, this party ran as the Companions and Pets Party in the 2022 Victorian election. They failed to get anyone elected. They regrouped, and ran as End Mass Immigration – Reform AU in the Nepean by-election in May 2026, where their candidate ran last in a field of 8.
Now they’ve changed their name once again, but it’s unclear what else they may have changed, if anything. There is no website for either of their Reform AU incarnations, although the site for Companions and Pets is still up (although not updated since 2022). Their socials are similarly still wearing their original CAP badging.
At this point, it’s unclear what this party stands for, although their shifts in identity read to me as someone trying to find the right issue to find populist voters.
Consider this a placeholder for now – we’ll check back in on them next week to see if there are any changes in their site or socials.
Whew, those name changes giving me whiplash feeling. Wonder what they are up to, haha (and once again appreciate your investigative dedication).
When I first reviewed them four years ago, they seemed sincere about their positions. The name changes have me thinking they’re tending more toward the grifter end of things.
So I think what’s happened here is that Clive Palmer has paid to buy this party, presumably because he couldn’t get enough members to register Trumpet of Patriots for the election but CAP was already registered.
As the Companions and Pets Party, the officebearers were John Hutchison, Robert Britton and Craig Reid, all coming out of the greyhound/dog show industry. Their website hasn’t updated with the new name or direction.
But the new CAP candidates they’re fielding are Milton and Leanne Wilde. Milton’s a former police officer who ran as a “Trumpet of Patriots” (Clive Palmer party) candidate in Deakin at the last federal election. He’s still up on their site, and you can get an idea of his policies there. Possibly they’re planning to run him in Deakin again in 2027-2028.
https://trumpetofpatriots.org/candidates/milton-wilde/
The Wildes clearly have nothing in common with the previous incarnation of the party, and they’re clearly using the column to get Clive Palmer on the ballot by dodgy means.
That’s a good catch on Wilde, I didn’t find his ToP past. He was the candidate this party ran in the Nepean byelection, under the End Mass Immigration banner, though. And Hutchison has been the chairman of the party through all its incarnations – I suspect this might just be that he and Wilde are sympatico on the issues. It’d still be nice to know what those issues are, mind.