[13][14] It appears Brunoro may have got the idea for the party from Michael Boddy, who published a food column in The Canberra Times on 1 January 1989 where he wrote: Just as Boddy had called for, the SRWTP advocated for a ban on "gas-coloured fake tomatoes" from the ACT.

[6][16] In February 1989, Brunoro commissioned opinion polling with Billy Bong Research, showing the SRWTP with 3.7% of the vote.

[17] The results were rejected by ACT Labor Party leader Rosemary Follett and Liberak leader Trevor Kaine, with Kaine stating that: "The Sun-Ripened Warm Tomato Party notwithstanding, I think people will see that [the election is] not a joke".

[21] Following the election, federal Liberal Party MP David Hawker attempted to ban "irreverent political party names" for the next ACT election, but the amendment was unsuccessful after the federal Labor government opposed it on the basis that "it would be too difficult to define mischievous in a legal sense".

[23] Although the SRWT applied for re-registration, it was rejected by the AEC because it could not prove it had 100 members, and the party was formally deregistered on 23 November 1991.