The Nationals South Australia

National Party
Founded 1962
Headquarters 6–8 Crush Terrace
WAIKERIE SA 5330
Ideology Agrarianism
Conservatism
Website
www.sa.nationals.org.au

The National Party of Australia (S.A.) Inc.,[1] usually called The Nationals South Australia is a political party in South Australia, and an affiliated state party of the National Party of Australia. Like the National Party of Western Australia, it is an independent party and not part of the Liberal/National Coalition. First contesting the 1965 state election, the party has held two seats at alternating periods; Peter Blacker (1973–1993) in Flinders and Karlene Maywald (1997–2010) in Chaffey.

History

The Country Party had previously been affiliated in South Australia from 1917 to 1932, when it merged with the Liberal Federation to form the Liberal and Country League. A separate Country Party was reestablished in 1962. However, it has never been as dominant in rural areas as their counterparts in the eastern states. It became the National Country Party in 1975 and the National Party in 1982.

At the 1973 election, the revived party won a seat for the first time in Flinders, and finished second after preferences in five more LCL seats − Rocky River, Mallee, Alexandra, Goyder and Victoria.

Karlene Maywald was the MP for Chaffey from 1997 and the SA National Party parliamentary leader. She was re-elected at the 2002 and 2006 state elections (three other candidates were fielded in Flinders, Finniss, and MacKillop), announcing that she would support whichever party won government, which happened to be a landslide to the Australian Labor Party. Maywald became a minister in the first term of the Rann government. and signed an agreement with Mike Rann and the Australian Labor Party for reserving the right to not vote with the government, whilst at the same time becoming the Minister for the River Murray amongst other portfolios to the benefit of her constituency. Positions accepted were Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Small Business, and later Minister for Water Security.[2] This informal ALP-NAT coalition (the first since 1935) caused uproar, with Christopher Pyne calling for Maywald's expulsion from the Nationals and Patrick Secker calling for a corruption enquiry into the appointment – neither eventuated.[3]

The SA Nationals received a 6.6 percent primary vote at the 2009 Frome by-election and contributed to the election of independent Geoff Brock whom the party exchanged preferences with. At the 2014 South Australian state election, The Nationals polled well below 1% of the primary vote for both houses of parliament. Unlike their sister branches in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, the South Australian Nationals are no longer a force of any real political significance in their state. This is not only due to South Australia's status as Australia's most centralised state (some three-quarters of the population lives in Adelaide), but because the SA Liberals have built up healthy support bases in rural areas that would tilt National in the rest of the country.

The SA Nationals have never been part of a formal Coalition with the Liberals, unlike their counterparts in most of the rest of Australia. However, had the SA Nationals won any federal seats in 2013, they would have been part of the Coalition.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Current register of political parties". Australian Electoral Commission. 22 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "SA Labor deal promises Nats Cabinet position". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 15 March 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
  3. ↑ "SA Govt recruits National Party MP". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
  4. ↑ Brennan, Ben (4 September 2013). "Joyce takes aim at claim". The Murray Valley Standard. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
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