[1] It was formed on 26 January (Australia Day) 1975, as a free-market right-libertarian and anti-socialist party, by businessmen John Singleton and Sinclair Hill, in reaction to the economic policies of Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam.

Its Western Australian affiliate, which advocated secession from the rest of Australia,[3][4] did particularly well in the area surrounding Geraldton in the state's Mid West.

On 13 October 1977, sitting Liberal MP Peter Richardson announced that he had defected to the Progress Party and would be its lead Senate candidate in Western Australia at the 1977 federal election.

[11] At the federal election, the Progress Party contested every Western Australian seat in the House of Representatives, but only managed to collect 2.83% of the statewide vote.

[13] The party is believed to have disbanded after that, but academic Marian Sawer has credited it with attracting publicity for neoliberal, economic rationalist ideals.