It was founded on 11 November 1969 by Julius Chan and Warren Dutton, forming a caucus of eleven members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea.

Chan’s second Government was brought down by the Sandline Affair and the party suffered in the elections that year.

Chan and acting Prime Minister John Giheno lost their seats, and Michael Nali became the party’s leader in Parliament.

Chan ran as the opposition candidate for Prime Minister, but received the support of only 21 of the 109 members of Parliament.

The party had 5 members in the 111-seat National Parliament of Papua New Guinea as of September 2019 and was part of the governing coalition of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.