Liberal Party (Australia)
Liberal Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | LP, LIB, LPA[1] |
| Leader | Peter Dutton |
| Deputy Leader | Sussan Ley |
| Senate Leader | Simon Birmingham |
| Deputy Senate Leader | Michaelia Cash |
| President | John Olsen |
| Founder | Robert Menzies[a] |
| Founded | 13 October 1944[b] |
| Preceded by | United Australia |
| Headquarters | R. G. Menzies House, Barton, Australian Capital Territory |
| Think tank | Menzies Research Centre |
| Student wing | Liberal Students' Federation |
| Youth wing | Young Liberals |
| Women's wing | Federal Women's Committee |
| Overseas wing | Australian Liberals Abroad[9] |
| Membership (2020) |  70–80,000[10][11] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| National affiliation | Liberal–National Coalition |
| Regional affiliation | Asia Pacific Democrat Union |
| International affiliation | International Democracy Union |
| Colours | Blue |
| Governing body | Federal Council |
| Party branches | |
| House of Representatives | 40 / 151 [note 1] |
| Senate | 25 / 76 [note 2] |
| State and territorial governments | 1 / 8 |
| State and territorial lower house members | 166 / 455 |
| State upper house members | 41 / 155 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Liberal Party of Australia (Liberals, or LIB for short), in coalition with the National Party of Australia (Nationals, or NAT for short), is a center-right party that is one of the two main political groups in Australian politics (the other being the Social Democratic Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberals/Nationals are the more conservative of the two main parties. It was founded by Sir Robert Menzies in 1944. They lost government to the ALP in the Australian federal election held on 24 November 2007. This was after 11 years in government under the previous Liberal leader, John Howard.
The Liberal/National coalition were in control in the Federal Parliament of Australia after beating the ALP during an election on 7 September 2013. They lost control after losing many seats in the 2022 election.
The current party leader is Peter Dutton since 30 May 2022.[21]
Liberal Prime Ministers of Australia
[change | change source]
- Robert Menzies - from 1949 until his resignation in 1966.[22]
- Harold Holt - from 1966 until his death in 1967.[23]
- John Gorton - from 1968 until his resignation 1971.[24]
- William McMahon - from 1971 until his loss to Gough Whitlam (ALP) in the 1972 election.[25]
- Malcolm Fraser - from his appointment following the Dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975 until his defeat by Bob Hawke (ALP) in 1983.[26]
- John Howard - from his victory over Paul Keating in 1996 to his defeat by Kevin Rudd (ALP) in 2007.[27]
- Tony Abbott - from his victory over Kevin Rudd in 2013.[28]
- Malcolm Turnbull - from replacing Abbott on 14 September 2015 to his resignation on 24 August 2018.
- Scott Morrison - from replacing Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party on 24 August 2018.
Federal Parliamentary Leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia
[change | change source]- Sir Robert Menzies February 1945 to 26 January 1966
- Harold Holt 26 January 1966 to 19 December 1967
- Sir John Gorton 10 January 1968 to 10 March 1971
- Sir William McMahon 10 March 1971 to 5 December 1972
- Sir Billy Snedden December 1972 to March 1975
- Malcolm Fraser March 1975 to 11 March 1983
- Andrew Peacock March 1983 to September 1985
- John Howard September 1985 to May 1989
- Andrew Peacock May 1989 to March 1990
- John Hewson April 1990 to May 1994
- Alexander Downer May 1994 to January 1995
- John Howard 30 January 1995 to 27 November 2007
- Brendan Nelson 29 November 2007 to 16 September 2008
- Malcolm Turnbull 16 September 2008 to 1 December 2009
- Tony Abbott 1 December 2009 to 14 September 2015
- Malcolm Turnbull 14 September 2015 to 24 August 2018
- Scott Morrison 24 August 2018 to 30 May 2022
- Peter Dutton since 30 May 2022
Current Liberal leaders of States and Territories
[change | change source]- Chief Minister of the Northern Territory: Willem Westra van Holte³, since February 2015.
- Premier of Tasmania: Peter Gutwein since 2014.
- Premier of New South Wales: Gladys Berejiklian, since 2014. .
²In Queensland the Liberal and National parties merged into the Liberal National Party of Queensland ³In the Northern Territory the party is called the Country Liberal Party.
Other notable Liberals
[change | change source]- Enid Lyons - first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives (for the UAP), then served as a Liberal from 1944 to 1951 and was appointed by Robert Menzies as the first woman to sit in the Australian Cabinet.
- Neville Bonner as Senator for Queensland, he became the first Indigenous Australian to sit in the Federal Parliament.
- Nick Greiner - Premier of New South Wales, 1988-1992.
- Jeff Kennett - Premier of Victoria, 1992-1999.
- Cate Carnell - Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, 1995-2000, and first Liberal woman to lead a state or territory.
- Peter Costello - Australia's longest serving Treasurer (1996-2007).
- Alexander Downer - Australia's longest serving Minister for Foreign Affairs (1996-2007).
- Ken Wyatt - first Aboriginal member of the Australian House of Representatives (2010-)
Notes
[change | change source]- ↑ Menzies is the party's most prominent co-founder, having been the party's first and longest serving leader. Furthermore, he is often cited as the "founder"[2] or "father" of the party.[3][4]
- ↑ The Liberal Party acknowledges the party's formation date to be 13 October 1944,[5] which was the first day of a three-day meeting called the "Conference of Representatives of Non-Labour Organisations" in Canberra.[6][7][8] The name and objectives were adopted at the conference, with the party constitution and organisation being decided two months later at the Albury Conference (15–16 December 1944). The only other date that has been cited for the founding of the party is 31 August 1945.
- ↑ The Liberal National Party of Queensland was formed as a merger of the Queensland branch of the Liberal Party and the National Party. It mainly functions at the state-level.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "Political party name abbreviations & codes, demographic ratings and seat status". Australian Electoral Commission. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
- ↑ Brandis, George (24 October 2022). "Taking liberties with Menzies' politics betrays his life and legacy". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
One of the most important differences between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party is a historical one. Labor traces its roots to the trade union movement of the late 19th century; it does not point to any one great figure as its founder. The Liberal Party, by contrast, is unquestionably the creation of a single man, Robert Menzies – its founder and longest-serving leader and Australia's longest-serving prime minister. Both sides of politics acknowledge this: Paul Keating, in a savage speech, once spoke of his desire "to destroy Menzies' creation".
- ↑ Hutchens, Gareth (3 October 2021). "Robert Menzies wouldn't recognise the Liberal Party's employment policies today". ABC News. Archived from the original on 6 January 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
It's why the "father" of the Liberal Party, Robert Menzies, would hardly recognise his party's economic policies today.
- ↑ Walker, Tony (28 August 2018). "Malcolm Fraser's political manifesto would make good reading for the Morrison government". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 6 January 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
Menzies' "forgotten people" were defined as those caught between a union-dominated Labor Party and a conservative establishment. What the father of the Liberal Party had in mind was the artisan and small business class, broadly defined.
- ↑ "Our History". liberal.org.au. Liberal Party of Australia. 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ↑ "Forming the Liberal Party of Australia – Record of the Conference of Representatives of Non-Labor Organisations" (PDF). 16 October 1944. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ↑ "Formation of the Liberal Party of Australia". Party History. Liberal Party of Australia—Queensland Division. Archived from the original on 26 April 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2007.
- ↑ Ian Hancock. "The Origins of the Modern Liberal Party". Harold White Fellowships. National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2007.
- ↑ "Australian Liberals Abroad". 12 June 2013.
- ↑ "Our Structure". Liberal Party of Australia. 2013-06-12. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
- ↑ Davies, Anne (13 December 2020). "Party hardly: why Australia's big political parties are struggling to compete with grassroots campaigns". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ↑ Hancock, Ian (1994). "The Origins of the Modern Liberal Party". Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
History of Liberalism in Australia
- ↑ Steketee, Mike (2021-03-12). "The revolt of the Liberal moderates". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
- ↑ Philip Mendes, ed. (2007). Australia's Welfare Wars Revisited: The Players, the Politics and the Ideologies. Springer Nature. p. 123. ISBN 9780868409917.
- ↑ Rodney Smith; Ariadne Vromen; Ian Cook, eds. (2006). Keywords in Australian Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780521672832. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
The ideology of the Liberal Party has in fact always been a mixture of conservatism, social liberalism and classical or neo-liberalism ...
- ↑ Williams, John R. (1967). "The Emergence of the Liberal Party of Australia". The Australian Quarterly. 39 (1). JSTOR: 7–27. doi:10.2307/20634106. JSTOR 20634106. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
- ↑ Massola, James (2021-03-20). "Who's who in the Liberals' left, right and centre factions?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
- ↑ Nicole A. Thomas; Tobias Loetscher; Danielle Clode; Mike Nicholls (2012). "Right-Wing Politicians Prefer the Emotional Left". PLOS ONE. 7 (5): 4. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...736552T. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.270.2043. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036552. PMC 3342249. PMID 22567166.
The Liberal Party of Australia has an ideology in line with liberal conservatism and is therefore right of centre.
- ↑ Ferguson, Richard (14 April 2021). "Liberals' flag fiasco". The Australian. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ↑ Wilkinson, Jamie (27 June 2016). "A short history of political party branding – Liberals". news.canningspurple.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ↑ "Peter Dutton elected as opposition leader". ABC News. 30 May 2022.
- ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - Robert Menzies (26 April 1939 – 29 August 1941; 19 December 1949 – 26 January 1966) and Pattie Menzies". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - Harold Holt (26 January 1966 – 19 December 1967) and Zara Holt". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - John Gorton (10 January 1968 – 10 March 1971) and Bettina Gorton". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - William McMahon (10 March 1971 – 5 December 1972) and Sonia McMahon". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - Malcolm Fraser (11 November 1975 – 11 March 1983) and Tamie Fraser". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - John Howard (11 March 1996 – 3 December 2007) and Janette Howard". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 26 February 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ corporateName=National Archives of Australia; address=Queen Victoria Terrace, Parkes. "About - Tony Abbott (September 2013 –) and Margaret Abbott". primeministers.naa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
