Party switching is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding elected office. Party switching also occurs quite commonly in Brazil, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, India, Malaysia , and the Philippines. Australia It is rare in Australia for a member of a major party to switch to another political party. It is more common for a member of parliament to become an independent or form their own minor political party. Notable individual party switchers at federal level include: Agnes Robertson – Liberal to Country, 1955 Don Chipp – Liberal to Democrats (new party), 1977 Peter Richardson – Liberal to Progress, 1977 John Siddons and David Vigor – Democrats to Unite Australia (new party), 1987 Cheryl Kernot – Democrats to Labor, 1997 John Bradford – Liberal to Christian Democrats, 1998 Julian McGauran – Liberal to National, 2006 Cory Bernardi - Liberal to Conservatives, 2017 Craig Kelly - Liberal to United Australia Party, 2021 Mass defections took place on several occasions in the 20th century due to Australian Labor Party (ALP) splits – in 1916 (to the National Labor Party, including the sitting prime minister Billy Hughes), in 1931 (to Lang Labor), in 1940 (to the Non-Communist Labor Party), and in 1955 (to the Anti-Communist Labor Party). India In India, switching party is more frequent rather than common with nearly everyday some legislator switches loyalties and political parties. Aaya Ram Gaya Ram (English: Ram has come, Ram has gone) expression in politics of India means the frequent floor-crossing, turncoating, switching parties and political horse trading in the legislature by the elected politicians and political parties. The term originated in 1967 in Haryana where excessive political horse trading, counter horse trading and counter-counter horse trading took place; triggering several rounds of frequent political defections by the serial-turncoat politicians within a span of few weeks; resulting in the dissolution of the Haryana Legislative Assembly and consequently the fresh elections were held in 1968. It became the subject of numerous jokes and cartoons. After 1967, several parties in India often continued to be involved in this type of political horse-trading to grab the power. To end this trend, the anti-defection law was made in 1985. The trend still continues to surface every now and then, by exploiting the loopholes in existing anti-defection laws to benefit a specific party through further horse-trading, counter-defections, formation of unholy alliances and electoral fraud.