Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia
Leader	Tony Abbott
President	Richard Alston
Deputy Leader	Julie Bishop
Founded	31 August 1945
Preceded by	United Australia Party
Headquarters	Cnr Blackall & Macquarie St Barton ACT 2600
Youth wing	Young Liberals
Membership	80,000[1]
National affiliation	Coalition
International affiliation	International Democrat Union
House of Representatives	58 / 150
Senate	23 / 76
Website
www.liberal.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Liberal Party of Australia (also LPA, Liberal and colloquially Libs) is one of the two major Australian political parties. Founded in 1945 to replace the United Australia Party (UAP) and its predecessors, the centre-right Liberal Party competes with the centre-left Labor Party. Federally, the Liberal Party runs in a Coalition with the National Party, the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party, and Queensland Liberal branch the Liberal National Party. Except for a few short periods, the Liberal Party and its predecessors have operated in similar coalitions since the 1920s.

The party leans towards centre-right liberalism. Party ideology has therefore been referred to as liberal, and also as conservative, which features strongly in party ideology. The Liberal Party promotes economic liberalism.

Party founder Robert Menzies, UAP Prime Minister from 1939–41 and Liberal Prime Minister from 1949–66, and John Howard, Liberal Prime Minister from 1996–2007, were Australia's two longest serving Prime Ministers. Despite its late establishment in comparison to the older Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party has spent more time in government than any other federal Australian political party.

At the federal level, the party is currently in government and has been led by Tony Abbott, with Julie Bishop as deputy, since the 2009 leadership spill. The Coalition, in which the Liberal Party is the major party, was elected to government in the 2013 Australian Federal Election on 7 September 2013, and a cabinet led by party leader Tony Abbott was sworn into office on 18 September 2013.^[2] At the state and territory level, the Liberal Party (and its affiliated Queensland Branch the Liberal National Party) is in office in three of six states: Colin Barnett has been Premier of Western Australia since 2008, Will Hodgman Premier of Tasmania since 2014, and Mike Baird Premier of New South Wales since 2014. Adam Giles is also the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory leading a Country Liberal Government since 2013. The party remains in opposition in the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland

Philosophies and factionalism

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Leader of the Liberal Party since 2009.

Sir Robert Menzies, founder of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister 1939–41 (UAP) and 1949–66

Harold Holt, Prime Minister 1966–67

Sir John Gorton, Prime Minister 1968–71

Sir William McMahon, Prime Minister 1971–72

Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister 1975–83

John Howard, Prime Minister 1996–2007

The contemporary Liberal Party generally advocates economic liberalism (see New Right). Historically, the party has supported a higher degree of economic protectionism and interventionism than it has in recent decades, however from its foundation the party has identified itself as anti-socialist. Party founder Robert Menzies envisaged that Australia's middle class would form the party's main constituency.^[3]

The Liberal Party is a member of the International Democrat Union, the only party with the name Liberal to do so. Strong opposition to socialism and communism in Australia and abroad was one of the founding principles of the Liberal Party.

Towards the end of his term as Prime Minister of Australia, in a last address to the Liberal Party Federal Council in 1964, Party founder, and longest serving leader Sir Robert Menzies spoke of the "Liberal Creed" as follows:

As the etymology of our name 'Liberal' indicates, we have stood for freedom. We have realised that men and women are not just ciphers in a calculation, but are individual human beings whose individual welfare and development must be the main concern of government ... We have learned that the right answer is to set the individual free, to aim at equality of opportunity, to protect the individual against oppression, to create a society in which rights and duties are recognised and made effective.

— Robert Menzies^[4]

Soon after the election of the Howard Government, the second longest serving Liberal Prime Minister, John Howard, spoke of his interpretation of the "Liberal Tradition" in a Robert Menzies Lecture in 1996:

Menzies knew the importance for Australian Liberalism to draw upon both the classical liberal as well as the conservative political traditions. ... He believed in a liberal political tradition that encompassed both Edmund Burke and John Stuart Mill – a tradition which I have described in contemporary terms as the broad church of Australian Liberalism.

— John Howard^[4]

Throughout their history, the Liberals have been in electoral terms largely the party of the middle class (whom Menzies, in the era of the party's formation called "The forgotten people"), though such class-based voting patterns are no longer as clear as they once were. In the 1970s a left-wing middle class emerged that no longer voted Liberal. One effect of this was the success of a breakaway party, the Australian Democrats, founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister Don Chipp and members of minor liberal parties; other members of the left-leaning section of the middle-class became Labor supporters. On the other hand, the Liberals have done increasingly well among socially conservative working-class voters in recent years.However the Liberal Party's key support base remains the upper-middle classes; 16 of the 20 richest federal electorates are held by the Liberals, most of which are safe seats.^[5] In country areas they either compete or have a truce with the Nationals, depending on various factors.

Menzies was an ardent constitutional monarchist, who supported the Monarchy in Australia and links to the Commonwealth of Nations. Today the party is divided on the question of republicanism, with some being republicans, as with recent leader Malcolm Turnbull, while others, such as incumbent leader Tony Abbott, are monarchists. The Menzies Government formalised Australia's alliance with America in 1951 and the party has remained a strong supporter of the mutual defence treaty.

Domestically, Menzies presided over a fairly regulated economy in which utilities were publicly owned, and commercial activity was highly regulated through centralised wage-fixing and high tariff protection. Liberal leaders from Menzies to Malcolm Fraser generally maintained Australia's high tariff levels. At that time, the Liberals' coalition partner, the Country Party, the older of the two in the coalition (now known as the "National Party"), had considerable influence over the government's economic policies. It was not until the late 1970s and through their period out of power federally in the 1980s that the party came to be influenced by what was known as the "New Right" – neo-liberal group who advocated market deregulation, privatisation of public utilities, reductions in the size of government programs and tax cuts.

Socially, while liberty and freedom of enterprise form the basis of its beliefs, elements of the party have wavered between what is termed "small-l liberalism" and social conservatism. Historically, Liberal Governments have been responsible for the carriage of a number of notable "socially liberal" reforms, including the opening of Australia to multiethnic immigration under Menzies and Harold Holt; Holt's 1967 Referendum on Aboriginal Rights;^[6] Sir John Gorton's support for cinema and the arts;^[7] selection of the first Aboriginal Senator, Neville Bonner, in 1971;^[8] and Malcolm Fraser's Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976. West Australian Liberal, Ken Wyatt, became the first Indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives in 2010.^[9]

The party has mainly two unorganised factions, the majority conservative right and the minority moderate left. Historically, moderates have at times formed their own parties, most notably the Australian Democrats who gave voice to what is termed small-l liberalism in Australia.

Structure

The Liberal Party's organisation is dominated by the six state divisions, reflecting the party's original commitment to a federalised system of government (a commitment which was strongly maintained by all Liberal governments until 1983, but had been to a large extent abandoned by the Howard government, which had shown strong centralising tendencies). Menzies deliberately created a weak national party machine and strong state divisions. Party policy is made almost entirely by the parliamentary parties, not by the party's rank-and-file members, although Liberal party members do have a degree of influence over party policy.^[10]

The Liberal Party's basic organisational unit is the branch, which consists of party members in a particular locality. For each electorate, notionally above the branches, there is a 'conference' which coordinates campaigning in the electorate and regularly communicates with the member (or candidate) for the electorate. As there are three levels of government in Australia, each branch elects delegates to a local, state, and federal conference.^[10]

All the branches in an Australian state are grouped into a Division. The ruling body for the Division is a State Council. There is also one Federal Council which represents the entire organisational Liberal Party in Australia. Branch executives are delegates to the Councils ex officio and additional delegates are elected by branches, depending on their size.^[10]

Preselection of electoral candidates is performed by a special electoral college convened for the purpose. Membership of the electoral college consists of head office delegates, branch officers, and elected delegates from branches.^[10]

History

Party foundation

The Liberals' immediate predecessor was the United Australia Party (UAP). More broadly, the Liberal Party's ideological ancestry stretched back to the anti-Labor groupings in the first Commonwealth parliaments. The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a fusion of the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party in 1909 by the second prime minister, Alfred Deakin, in response to Labor's growing electoral prominence. The Commonwealth Liberal Party merged with several Labor dissidents (including Billy Hughes) to form the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1917. That party, in turn, merged with Labor dissidents to form the UAP in 1931.

The UAP had been formed as a new conservative alliance in 1931, with Labor defector Joseph Lyons as its leader. The stance of Lyons and other Labor rebels against the more radical proposals of the Labor movement to deal the Great Depression had attracted the support of prominent Australian conservatives.^[11] With Australia still suffering the effects of the Great Depression, the newly formed party won a landslide victory at the 1931 Election, and the Lyons Government went on to win three consecutive elections. It largely avoided Keynsian pump priming and pursued a more conservative fiscal policy of balanced budgets and debt reduction, while stewarding Australia out of the Depression. Lyons' death in 1939 saw Robert Menzies assume the Prime Ministership on the eve of war. Menzies served as Prime Minister from 1939–1941 but resigned as leader of the minority World War II government amidst an unworkable parliamentary majority. The UAP, led by Billy Hughes, disintegrated after suffering a heavy defeat in the 1943 election.

Menzies called a conference of conservative parties and other groups opposed to the ruling Australian Labor Party which met in Canberra on 13 October 1944, and again in Albury, New South Wales in December 1944.^[12][13] From 1942 onward, Menzies had maintained his public profile with his series of "The Forgotten People" radio talks, similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" of the 1930s, in which he spoke of the middle class as the "backbone of Australia" but as nevertheless having been "taken for granted" by political parties.^[14][15]

Outlining his vision for a new political movement in 1944, Menzies said:

...[W]hat we must look for, and it is a matter of desperate importance to our society, is a true revival of liberal thought which will work for social justice and security, for national power and national progress, and for the full development of the individual citizen, though not through the dull and deadening process of socialism.

— Robert Menzies^[16]

The formation of the party was formally announced at Sydney Town Hall on 31 August 1945.^[13] It took the name "Liberal" in honour of the old Commonwealth Liberal Party. The new party was dominated by the remains of the old UAP. The Australian Women's National League, a powerful conservative women's organisation, also merged with the new party. A conservative youth group Menzies had set up, the Young Nationalists, was also merged into the new party. It became the Liberal Party's youth division, the Young Liberals. By September 1945 there were more than 90,000 members, many of whom had not previously been members of any political party.^[13]

Menzies era

Sir Robert Menzies, Dame Enid Lyons (the first woman member of an Australian Cabinet), Sir Eric Harrison, Harold Holt (Menzies' successor) and Tom White, in 1946.

After an initial loss to Labor at the 1946 election, Menzies led the Liberals to victory at the 1949 election, and the party stayed in office for a record 23 years. Australia experienced a prolonged economic growth during the post-war boom period of the Menzies Government (1949–1966) and Menzies fulfilled his promises at the 1949 election to end rationing of butter, tea and petrol and provided a 5 shilling endowment for first born children, as well as for others.^[17] While himself an unashamed anglophile, Menzies' government concluded a number of major defence and trade treaties that set Australia on its post-war trajectory out of Britain's orbit; opened Australia to multi-ethnic immigration; and instigated important legal reforms regarding Aboriginal Australians.

Menzies ran strongly against Labor's plans to nationalise the Australian banking system and following victory in the 1949 election, secured a double dissolution election for April 1951, after the Labor-controlled Senate refused to pass Menzies' banking legislation. The Liberal-Country Coalition was returned with control of the Senate. The Government was returned again in the 1954 election and again after the formation of the anti-Communist Democratic Labor Party split the Australian Labor Party early in 1955 and Australia went to the polls in December 1955. John McEwen replaced Arthur Fadden as leader of the Country Party in March 1958 and the Menzies-McEwen Coalition was returned again at elections in November 1958 – their third victory against Labor's H. V. Evatt. The Coalition was narrowly returned against Labor's Arthur Calwell in the December 1961 election, in the midst of a credit squeeze. Menzies stood for office for the last time in the November 1963 election, again defeating Calwell, with the Coalition winning back its losses in the House of Representatives. Menzies went on to resign from parliament on 26 January 1966.^[18]

Menzies came to power the year the Communist Party of Australia had led a coal strike to improve pit miners working conditions. That same year: Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb; Mao Zedong led the Communist Party of China to power in China; and a year before the invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korea. Anti-communism was a key political issue of the 1950s and 1960s^[19]). Menzies was firmly anti-Communist and committed troops to the Korean War and attempted to ban the Communist Party of Australia in an unsuccessful referendum during the course of the war. The Labor Party split over concerns about the influence of the Communist Party over the Trade Union movement, leading to the foundation of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party(DLP) whose preferences supported the Liberal and Country Party^[20]

In 1951, during the early stages of the Cold War, Menzies spoke of the possibility of a looming third world war. The Menzies Government entered the first formal military alliance outside of the British Commonwealth with the signing of the ANZUS Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States in San Francisco in 1951. External Affairs Minister Percy Spender had put forward the proposal to work along similar lines to the NATO Alliance. The Treaty declared that any attack on one of the three parties in the Pacific area would be viewed as a threat to each, and that the common danger would be met in accordance with each nation's constitutional processes. In 1954, the Menzies Government signed the South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty (SEATO) as a South East Asian counterpart to NATO. That same year, Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov and his wife defected from the Soviet embassy in Canberra, revealing evidence of Russian spying activities and Menzies called a Royal Commission.^[21]

In 1956, a committee headed by Sir Keith Murray was established to inquire into the financial plight of Australia's universities, and Menzies' pumped funds into the sector under conditions which preserved the autonomy of universities.

Menzies continued the expanded immigration program established under Chifley, and took important steps towards dismantling the White Australia Policy. In the early 1950s, external affairs minister Percy Spender helped to establish the Colombo Plan for providing economic aid to underdeveloped nations in Australia's region. Under the scheme, many future Asian leaders studied in Australia.^[22] In 1958 the government replaced the Immigration Act's arbitrarily applied European language dictation test with an entry permit system, that reflected economic and skills criteria.^[23][24] In 1962, Menzies' Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous Australians should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections (prior to this, indigenous people in Queensland, Western Australia and some in the Northern Territory had been excluded from voting unless they were ex-servicemen).^[25] In 1949, the Liberals appointed Dame Enid Lyons as the first woman to serve in an Australian Cabinet. Menzies remained a staunch supporter of links to the monarchy and British Commonwealth but formalised an alliance with the United States and concluded the Agreement on Commerce between Australia and Japan which was signed in July 1957 and launched post-war trade with Japan, beginning a growth of Australian exports of coal, iron ore and mineral resources that would steadily climb until Japan became Australia's largest trading partner.

Menzies retired in 1966 as Australia's longest serving Prime Minister.

Holt Government

Prime Minister Harold Holt (second from left), with SEATO leaders in Manila, in 1966. The Liberal Party was in power through much of the early Post-War period in which Australia's allegiances, immigration and trade policies shifted away from reliance on Britain.

Harold Holt replaced the retiring Robert Menzies in 1966 and the Holt Government went on to win 82 seats to Labor's 41 in the 1966 election.^[26] Holt remained Prime Minister until 19 December 1967, when he was declared presumed dead two days after disappearing in rough surf in which he had gone for a swim.

Holt increased Australian commitment to the growing War in Vietnam, which met with some public opposition. His government oversaw conversion to decimal currency. Holt faced Britain's withdrawal from Asia by visiting and hosting many Asian leaders and by expanding ties to the United States, hosting the first visit to Australia by an American president, his friend Lyndon B. Johnson. Holt's government introduced the Migration Act 1966, which effectively dismantled the White Australia Policy and increased access to non-European migrants, including refugees fleeing the Vietnam War. Holt also called the 1967 Referendum which removed the discriminatory clause in the Australian Constitution which excluded Aboriginal Australians from being counted in the census – the referendum was one of the few to be overwhelmingly endorsed by the Australian electorate (over 90% voted 'yes'). By the end of 1967, the Liberals' initially popular support for the war in Vietnam was causing increasing public protest.^[27]

Gorton Government

John and Bettina Gorton. Prime Minister John Gorton led Australia into the tumultuous decade of the 1970s. Gorton declared himself "Australian to the bootheels" and increased funding for Australian cinema and arts to project a newly assertive Australian nationalism.

The Liberals chose John Gorton to replace Holt. Gorton, a former World War II Royal Australian Air Force pilot, with a battle scarred face, said he was "Australian to the bootheels" and had a personal style which often affronted some conservatives.

The Gorton Government increased funding for the arts, setting up the Australian Council for the Arts, the Australian Film Development Corporation and the National Film and Television Training School. The Gorton Government passed legislation establishing equal pay for men and women and increased pensions, allowances and education scholarships, as well as providing free health care to 250,000 of the nation's poor (but not universal health care). Gorton's government kept Australia in the Vietnam War but stopped replacing troops at the end of 1970.^[28]

Gorton maintained good relations with the United States and Britain, but pursued closer ties with Asia. The Gorton government experienced a decline in voter support at the 1969 election. State Liberal leaders saw his policies as too Centralist, while other Liberals didn't like his personal behaviour. In 1971, Defence Minister Malcolm Fraser, resigned and said Gorton was "not fit to hold the great office of Prime Minister". In a vote on the leadership the Liberal Party split 50/50, and although this was insufficient to remove him as the leader, Gorton decided this was also insufficient support for him, and he resigned.^[28]

McMahon Government

Former treasurer, William McMahon, replaced Gorton as Prime Minister. Gorton remained a front bencher but relations with Fraser remained strained. The McMahon Government ended when Gough Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party out of its 23-year period in Opposition at the 1972 election.

The economy was weakening. McMahon maintained Australia's diminishing commitment to Vietnam and criticised Opposition leader, Gough Whitlam, for visiting Communist China in 1972—only to have the US President Richard Nixon announce a planned visit soon after.^[29]

During McMahon's period in office, Neville Bonner joined the Senate and became the first Indigenous Australian in the Australian Parliament.^[30] Bonner was chosen by the Liberal Party to fill a Senate vacancy in 1971 and celebrated his maiden parliamentary speech with a boomerang throwing display on the lawns of Parliament. Bonner went on to win election at the 1972 election and served as a Liberal Senator for 12 years. He worked on Indigenous and social welfare issues and proved an independent minded Senator, often crossing the floor on Parliamentary votes.^[31]

Following Whitlam's victory, John Gorton played a further role in reform by introducing a Parliamentary motion from Opposition supporting the legalisation of same-gender sexual relations. Billy Snedden led the party against Whitlam in the 1974 federal election, which saw a return of the Labor government. When Malcolm Fraser won the Liberal Party leadership from Snedden in 1975, Gorton walked out of the Party Room.^[32]

Fraser years

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (second right) and Tammie Fraser (left) with US President Ronald Reagan and Nancy at the White House in 1982. Fraser came to power amidst the divisive 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, but went on to lead Australia into the 1980s.

Following the 1974–75 Loans Affair, the Malcolm Fraser led Liberal-Country Party Coalition argued that the Whitlam Government was incompetent and delayed passage of the Government's money bills in the Senate, until the government would promise a new election. Whitlam refused, Fraser insisted leading to the divisive 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. The deadlock came to an end when the Whitlam government was dismissed by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr on 11 November 1975 and Fraser was installed as caretaker Prime Minister, pending an election. Fraser won in a landslide at the resulting 1975 election.

Fraser maintained some of the social reforms of the Whitlam era, while seeking increased fiscal restraint. His government included the first Aboriginal federal parliamentarian, Neville Bonner, and in 1976, Parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, which, while limited to the Northern Territory, affirmed "inalienable" freehold title to some traditional lands. Fraser established the multicultural broadcaster SBS, accepted Vietnamese refugees, opposed minority white rule in Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia and opposed Soviet expansionism. A significant program of economic reform however was not pursued. By 1983, the Australian economy was in recession, amidst the effects of a severe drought. Fraser had promoted "states' rights" and his government refused to use Commonwealth powers to stop the construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania in 1982.^[33] Liberal minister, Don Chipp split off from the party to form a new social liberal party, the Australian Democrats in 1977. Fraser won further substantial majorities at the 1977 and 1980 elections, before losing to the Bob Hawke led Australian Labor Party in the 1983 election.^[34]

Federal opposition, state success

A period of division for the Liberals followed, with former Treasurer John Howard competing with former Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock for supremacy. The Australian economy was facing a deep recession by the early 1990s. Unemployment reached 11.4% in 1992. Under Dr John Hewson, the Liberal-National Opposition proposed a plan of economic reform to take to the 1993 Election, including the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax. Prime Minister Paul Keating won the 1993 Election.

At the state level, the Liberals have been dominant for long periods in all states except Queensland, where they have always held fewer seats than the National Party (not to be confused with the old Nationalist Party). The Liberals were in power in Victoria from 1955 to 1982. Jeff Kennett led the party back to office in that state in 1992, and remained Premier until 1999.

Initially a Liberal and Country Party affiliated party, the Liberal and Country League was in power in South Australia from 1932 to 1965, though with assistance from the Playmander. David Tonkin, as leader of the Liberal Party then became premier in 1979, losing office in 1982, and the Liberals was returned to power in 1993 and remained in office until 2003, before entering an extended period of opposition.

The dual aligned Country Liberal Party ruled the Northern Territory from 1978 to 2001.

The party has held office in Western Australia intermittently since 1947. Liberal Richard Court was Premier of the state for most of the 1990s.

In New South Wales, the Liberal Party has not been in office as much as its Labor rival, and just three leaders have led the party from opposition to government in that state: Sir Robert Askin, who was premier from 1965 to 1975, Nick Greiner, who came to office in 1988 and resigned in 1992, and Barry O'Farrell who would lead the party out of 16 years in opposition in 2011.

The Liberal Party does not officially contest most local government elections, although many members do run for office in local government as independents. An exception is the Brisbane City Council, where both Sallyanne Atkinson and Campbell Newman have been elected Lord Mayor of Brisbane.^[35]

Howard Government

Prime Minister John Howard with APEC leaders in Sydney in 2007. Howard supported the traditional icons of Australian identity and its international allegiances, but oversaw booming trade with Asia and increased multiethnic immigration.

Labor's Paul Keating lost the 1996 Election to the Liberals' John Howard. The Liberals had been in Opposition for 13 years.^[36] With John Howard as Prime Minister, Peter Costello as Treasurer and Alexander Downer as Foreign Minister, the Howard Government remained in power until their electoral defeat to Kevin Rudd in 2007.

Howard generally framed the Liberals as being conservative on social policy, debt reduction and matters like maintaining Commonwealth links and the American Alliance but his premiership saw booming trade with Asia and expanding multiethnic immigration. His government concluded the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement with the Bush Administration in 2004.^[30]

Howard differed from his Labor predecessor Paul Keating in that he supported traditional Australian institutions like the Monarchy in Australia, the commemoration of ANZAC Day and the design of the Australian flag, but like Keating he pursued privatisation of public utilities and the introduction of a broad based consumption tax (although Keating had dropped support for a GST by the time of his 1993 election victory). Howard's premiership coincided with Al Qaeda's 11 September attacks on the United States. The Howard Government invoked the ANZUS treaty in response to the attacks and supported America's campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the 2004 Federal elections the party strengthened its majority in the Lower House and, with its coalition partners, became the first federal government in twenty years to gain an absolute majority in the Senate. This control of both houses permitted their passing of legislation without the need to negotiate with independents or minor parties, exemplified by industrial relations legislation known as WorkChoices, a wide ranging effort to increase deregulation of industrial laws in Australia.

In 2005, Howard reflected on his government's cultural and foreign policy outlook in oft repeated terms:^[37]

When I became Prime Minister nine years ago, I believed that this nation was defining its place in the world too narrowly. My Government has rebalanced Australia's foreign policy to better reflect the unique intersection of history, geography, culture and economic opportunity that our country represents. Time has only strengthened my conviction that we do not face a choice between our history and our geography.

— John Howard

The 2007 federal election saw the defeat of the Howard federal government, and the Liberal Party was in opposition throughout Australia at the state and federal level; the highest Liberal office-holder at the time was Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman. This ended after the Western Australian state election, 2008, when Colin Barnett became Premier of that state.

Post-Howard

Following the 2007 Federal Election, Dr Brendan Nelson was elected leader by the Parliamentary Liberal Party. On 16 September 2008, in a second contest following a spill motion, Nelson lost the leadership to Malcolm Turnbull.^[38] On 1 December 2009, a subsequent leadership election saw Turnbull lose the leadership to Tony Abbott by 42 votes to 41 on the second ballot.^[39] Abbott led the party to the 2010 federal election, which saw an increase in the Liberal Party vote and resulted in the first hung parliament since the 1940 election.^[40]

Through 2010, the party improved its vote in the Tasmanian and South Australian state elections and achieved state government in Victoria. In March 2011, the New South Wales Liberal-National Coalition led by Barry O'Farrell won government with the largest election victory in post-war Australian history at the State Election.^[41] In Queensland, the Liberal and National parties merged in 2008 to form the new Liberal National Party of Queensland (registered as the Queensland Division of the Liberal Party of Australia). In March 2012, the new party achieved Government in an historic landslide, led by former Brisbane Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman.^[42]

Abbott government

Liberal federal leaders

Liberal federal deputy leaders

Shown in chronological order of leadership

Current Liberal state and territory parliamentary leaders

¹ Queensland is represented by the Liberal National Party of Queensland. This party is the result of a merger of the Queensland Division of the Liberal Party and the Queensland National Party to contest elections as a single party.

² The Northern Territory is represented by the Country Liberal Party, which is endorsed as the Territory division of the Liberal Party.

Past Liberal state premiers and territory chief ministers

Liberal federal presidents

R.G. Menzies House, the Liberal Party's national headquarters, in the Canberra suburb of Barton

Shown in chronological order of presidency

• 1945 – Sir Malcolm Ritchie (first term)
• 1947 – Richard Casey
• 1950 – Sir Malcolm Ritchie (second term)
• 1951 – Sir William Anderson
• 1956 – Lyle Moore
• 1960 – Sir Philip McBride
• 1965 – Sir John Pagan
• 1970 – Sir Robert Southey
• 1975 – Sir John Atwill
• 1982 – Dr Jim Forbes
• 1985 – John Valder
• 1987 – John Elliott
• 1990 – Professor Ashley Goldsworthy
• 1993 – Tony Staley
• 1999 – Shane Stone
• 2005 – Chris McDiven
• 2008 – Alan Stockdale
• 2014 – Richard Alston

Federal election results

House of Representatives

Election	Seats won	±	Total votes	Share of votes	Position	Party Leader
1946	15 / 76	15	1,241,650	28.58%	Opposition	Robert Menzies
1949	55 / 121	40	1,813,794	39.39%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1951	52 / 121	3	1,854,799	40.62%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1954	47 / 121	5	1,745,808	38.31%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1955	57 / 122	10	1,746,485	39.73%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1958	58 / 122	1	1,859,180	37.23%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1961	45 / 122	13	1,761,738	33.58%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1963	52 / 122	7	2,030,823	37.09%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Robert Menzies
1966	61 / 124	9	2,291,964	40.14%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	Harold Holt
1969	46 / 125	15	2,125,987	34.77%	Majority gov't (LP-CP)	John Gorton
1972	38 / 125	8	2,115,085	32.04%	Opposition	William McMahon
1974	40 / 127	2	2,582,968	34.95%	Opposition	Billy Snedden
1975	68 / 127	28	3,232,159	41.80%	Majority gov't (LP-NP)	Malcolm Fraser
1977	67 / 124	1	3,017,896	38.09%	Majority gov't (LP-NP)	Malcolm Fraser
1980	54 / 125	13	3,108,512	37.43%	Majority gov't (LP-NP)	Malcolm Fraser
1983	33 / 125	21	2,983,986	34.36%	Opposition	Malcolm Fraser
1984	45 / 148	12	2,951,556	34.06%	Opposition	Andrew Peacock
1987	43 / 148	2	3,175,262	34.41%	Opposition	John Howard
1990	55 / 148	12	3,468,570	35.04%	Opposition	Andrew Peacock
1993	49 / 147	6	3,923,786	37.10%	Opposition	John Hewson
1996	75 / 148	26	4,210,689	38.69%	Majority gov't (LP-NP)	John Howard
1998	64 / 148	11	3,764,707	33.89%	Majority gov't (LP-NP)	John Howard
2001	68 / 150	4	4,244,072	37.40%	Majority gov't (LP-NP)	John Howard
2004	74 / 150	5	4,741,458	40.47%	Majority gov't (LP-NP-CLP)	John Howard
2007	55 / 150	20	4,546,600	36.60%	Opposition	John Howard
2010	44 / 150	11	3,777,383	30.46%	Opposition	Tony Abbott
2013	58 / 150	14	4,134,865	32.02%	Majority gov't (LP-LNP-NP-CLP)	Tony Abbott

See also

• Country Liberal Party (Northern Territory)
• Liberalism in Australia
• List of political parties in Australia
• New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party
• Abbott Ministry
• Young Liberal Movement of Australia

Further reading

• Henderson, Gerard (1994). Menzies' Child: The Liberal Party of Australia 1944–1994, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, New South Wales.
• Jaensch, Dean (1994) The Liberals, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, New South Wales.
• Nethercote, John (ed.)(2001), Liberalism and the Australian Federation, Federation Press, Annandale, New South Wales. ISBN 1-86287-402-6
• Simms, Marian (1982) A Liberal Nation: The Liberal Party and Australian Politics, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, New South Wales. ISBN 0-86806-033-X
• Starr, Graeme (1980) The Liberal Party of Australia: A Documentary History, Drummond/Heinemann, Richmond, Victoria. ISBN 0-85859-223-1
• Tiver, P.G. (1978), The Liberal Party. Principles and Performance, Jacaranda, Milton, Queensland. ISBN 0-7016-0996-6

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liberal Party of Australia.

• Liberal Party of Australia official site
• Liberal Party of Australia ephemera digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
• Records of the Victorian division of the Liberal Party held at the University of Melbourne Archives

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