141-612: The Victorian Liberal Party , officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) and branded as Liberal Victoria , is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in Victoria . It was formed in 1944. It became the Liberal and Country Party (LCP) in 1949, and simplified its name to the Liberal Party in 1965. The party sits on the centre-right to right-wing of
282-491: A 2-to-1 advantage in the state parliament , even though they contained less than half of the population. Two-thirds of seats were to be located in rural areas ("the country"). This arrangement was retained even as Adelaide , the state capital, grew to two-thirds of the state's population. Even allowing for a smaller chamber, the LCL suffered heavy losses at the 1938 election , winning just 15 of 39 seats. However, Labor picked up only
423-503: A Coalition in the 1996 , which the Liberals won majority in its own right again, and 1999 , which the Coalition was defeated. McNamara's successor as Nationals leader, Peter Ryan , ended the Coalition agreement. Since then, Liberals and Nationals had a strained relationship . Ryan uttered several sharp criticisms of the Liberals' most prominent figures, particularly their no-tolls policy on
564-563: 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
705-529: A Senate seat soon afterward, and was succeeded by Dale Baker . By 1992, however, Baker had been unable to gain much ground on Labor despite festering anger over its handling of the collapse of the State Bank of South Australia . Baker resigned as leader and called for a spill of all leadership positions. Olsen resigned from the Senate soon afterward, and Baker intended to hand the leadership back to Olsen as soon as Olsen
846-543: 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. The McMahon government ended when Gough Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party out of its 23-year period in Opposition at
987-521: A coal strike to improve pit miners' working conditions. That same year Joseph Stalin 's Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb , and Mao Zedong led the Chinese Communist Party to power in China; a year later came the invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korea . Anti-Communism was a key political issue of the 1950s and 1960s. Menzies was firmly anti-Communist; he committed troops to
1128-746: A federal structure, with autonomous divisions in all six states and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The Country Liberal Party (CLP) of the Northern Territory is an affiliate. Both the CLP and the Liberal National Party (LNP), the Queensland state division, were formed through mergers of the local Liberal and National parties. At state and territory level, the Liberal Party is in office in two states and one territory. The party
1269-477: A few Liberal MPs including Guy resigned from O'Brien's shadow cabinet or from parliamentary party positions. O'Brien refused to step down as party leader as "he believed he had the support of the majority of MPs" ahead of a possible leadership challenge. The following day, Guy replaced O'Brien as party leader in a leadership spill . Cindy McLeish was replaced by David Southwick as deputy party leader. According to The Age , between November 2018 and November 2021,
1410-844: 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
1551-603: A heavy defeat in the 1943 election . In New South Wales, the party merged with the Commonwealth Party to form the Democratic Party , In Queensland the state party was absorbed into the Queensland People's Party . 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
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#17328701295121692-643: A landslide at the resulting 1975 election . Fraser maintained some of the social reforms of the Whitlam era, while seeking increased fiscal restraint. His majority 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. The Fraser government also established
1833-591: A larger extent during the Howard Liberal government (most famously the GST), while unemployment benefits and bulk billing were re-targeted for a time by the Abbott Liberal government. Labor's Paul Keating lost the 1996 Election to the Liberals' John Howard . The Liberals had been in Opposition for 13 years. With John Howard as prime minister, Peter Costello as treasurer and Alexander Downer as foreign minister,
1974-452: A leadership spill. At the 1997 state election , the Liberals withstood a swing slightly larger than the one that swept them to power four years earlier, this time 9.4 percent. However, they only lost 11 seats, allowing Olsen to cling to power with a minority government supported by conservative crossbenchers. Olsen was forced to resign in 2001 after a finding that he had misled the House about
2115-636: A mandate to govern based on winning the two-party vote. He insisted that he would not resign unless Rann demonstrated he had support on the House floor to govern. Three weeks of deadlock ended in March, when Kerin called a confidence motion in his own government. He lost, and stood down in favour of Rann. Kerin resigned as leader following a landslide loss in 2006 . Factional battles resulted in three leaders in less than three years– Iain Evans , Martin Hamilton-Smith and
2256-558: A more conservative fiscal policy of debt reduction and balanced budgets as a means of 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 to 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
2397-505: A new Coalition agreement with the Nationals. After the 2010 Victorian state election , the Liberal and National Coalition held government under Baillieu's leadership. On 7 March 2013, Baillieu resigned from his position of Premier of Victoria; he was replaced by Denis Napthine. Napthine led the Coalition to a defeat in the 2014 Victorian state election . After the 2014 election, Matthew Guy
2538-585: A new platform, appointed new young party officials and organisers, modelling after the Victorian Liberals . In July 1975, David Tonkin challenged Eastick for party leadership, and became leader unopposed after Eastick stood aside. This would be the last time that a Liberal leader was elected unopposed until 2013. Hall's Liberal Movement dissolved in 1976 and three of its four state parliamentary members ( Martin Cameron , John Carnie , David Boundy ) rejoined
2679-708: A row in October 2016 . The Liberals fared little better in 2017 with the Barnett-led Liberal-National government in Western Australia also suffered a landslide defeat in March . Liberal and Country League The South Australian Liberal Party , officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) , and often shortened to SA Liberals , is the South Australian Division of
2820-626: A significant program of economic reform was never pursued. By 1983, the Australian economy was suffering with the early 1980s recession and 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. The Liberal Party lost to the Bob Hawke -led Australian Labor Party in
2961-505: A small number of additional seats. In an unprecedented result, the crossbench swelled massively, with no less than 14 independents elected from a combined independent primary vote of 40 percent, higher than either major party (33 percent for the LCL, 26 percent for Labor). Butler and the LCL had to rely on the crossbench for confidence and supply to remain in government. Only months later, Butler resigned in favour of Tom Playford to make an unsuccessful attempt to enter federal politics. From
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#17328701295123102-417: A swing against of 6.52%. Following the election defeat at the 2022 state election , Marshall resigned as leader of the party. In April 2022, David Speirs was elected as party leader, securing 18 votes compared to Josh Teague 's five and Nick McBride 's one. John Gardner was elected as deputy party leader. David Speirs resigned as Liberal leader on the 8th of August, 2024, announcing that "I don't have
3243-679: Is a centre-right political party in Australia . It is one of the two major parties in Australian politics , the other being the Australian Labor Party . The Liberal Party was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Australia Party . Historically the most successful political party in Australia’s history, the Liberal Party is now in opposition at a federal level, although it presently holds government in Tasmania , Queensland and
3384-400: 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. The formation of the party was formally announced at Sydney Town Hall on 31 August 1945. It took
3525-525: Is illegal by federal or state law, recruiting members to the party by paying for their membership, and adding party members to seats under fake residential addresses. Bastiaan's activities were allegedly endorsed by Michael Sukkar , another conservative federal MP who was a minister within the Morrison ministry . Just a week earlier, internal audit by the party found some members breached party rules by paying for other people's membership fees. On 6 September 2021,
3666-446: Is in opposition in the states of New South Wales , Victoria , South Australia , and Western Australia , and in the ACT. The party's ideology has been referred to as liberal , conservative , liberal-conservative , conservative-liberal , and classical liberal . The Liberal Party tends to promote economic liberalism and social conservatism . The National Right faction of
3807-502: Is led by Vincent Tarzia since 12 August 2024. During its 42-year existence as the Liberal and Country League, it spent 34 years in government, mainly due to an electoral malapportionment scheme known as the Playmander . The Playmander was named after LCL leader Sir Tom Playford , who was the Premier of South Australia for 27 years from 1938 until his election loss in 1965. The Playmander
3948-571: Is the Brisbane City Council , where both Sallyanne Atkinson and Campbell Newman have been elected Lord Mayor of Brisbane . 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 . On 1 December 2009, a subsequent leadership election saw Turnbull lose
4089-464: Is to date the last Liberal Prime Minister from Victoria. His immediate successor Andrew Peacock , who served from 1983 to 1985, and again from 1989 to 1990, is the most recent Victorian federal Liberal leader. The Liberal Party continued to hold government in the Victorian state parliament until 1982 under the leaderships of Bolte, Rupert Hamer and Lindsay Thompson . The Liberal Party was defeated in
4230-523: The 1941 election onward, the Playford LCL would regain and keep a parliamentary majority, albeit narrowly. Additionally, turnout crashed to a record-low 50 percent in 1941, triggering the Playford LCL to introduce compulsory voting from the 1944 election . In January 1945, the Liberal and Country League became the South Australian division of the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia . However,
4371-514: The 1982 Victorian state election after governing Victoria for 27 years. Following the Liberals' defeat, Jeff Kennett became the leader of the party. He was deposed as leader following the 1988 Victorian state election , and was replaced by Alan Brown . During Brown's leadership, the Liberals reached a new Coalition agreement with the Victorian Nationals , led by Pat McNamara since 1988. Kennett became party leader again in 1991 and led
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4512-506: The 1983 election . 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 the early 1990s recession . Unemployment reached 11.4% in 1992. Under Dr John Hewson , in November 1991, the opposition launched the 650-page Fightback! policy document—a radical collection of dry ( economic liberal ) measures including
4653-478: The 1993 election , led by Premiers Dean Brown , John Olsen and Rob Kerin through two terms, until their defeat at the 2002 election . They remained in opposition for 16 years, under a record five opposition leaders , until Steven Marshall led the party to victory in 2018. The dual aligned Country Liberal Party governed the Northern Territory from 1978 to 2001. The party has held office in Western Australia intermittently since 1947. Liberal Richard Court
4794-531: The 2014 election , under Stephen Marshall's leadership the Liberals won a total 22 seats and 53% of Two-party-preferred vote against the Labor Party but failed to formed a minority government with the two independents who were elected. At the 2018 election , Stephen Marshall led the Liberals to victory after winning 25 seats, despite a swing against it and the Labor Party, following the newly created centralist party SA Best led by Nick Xenophon contesting 36 of
4935-488: The 2022 federal election , forming the Abbott (2013–2015), Turnbull (2015–2018) and Morrison (2018–2022) governments. The current party leader is Peter Dutton , who replaced former prime minister Scott Morrison as leader after the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 federal election. Two past leaders of the party, Sir Robert Menzies and John Howard , are Australia's two longest-serving Prime Ministers . The Liberal Party has
5076-572: 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. The Liberals chose John Gorton to replace Holt. Gorton,
5217-541: The Australian Democrats . One vote one value was introduced by Labor following the 1975 election where the Liberal Party won a 50.8 percent two-party vote but fell one seat short of forming government. Labor would regain their vote and majority at the 1977 election , however Dunstan resigned in the months prior to the 1979 election where the Liberals won government for one term. At that election, David Tonkin , who succeeded Eastick as party leader in 1975, led
5358-634: The Australian political spectrum . There was a previous Victorian division of the Liberal Party when the Liberal Party was formed in 1945, but it ceased to exist and merged to form the LCP in March 1949. Robert Menzies , who was the Prime Minister of Australia between 1939 and 1941, founded the Liberal Party during a conference held in Canberra in October 1944, uniting many non-Labor political organisations, including
5499-632: The Cold War , Menzies spoke of the possibility of a looming third world war. The Menzies government entered Australia's 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
5640-632: The Governor , Sir Winston Dugan , to form a government, when it became clear that the Victorian Legislative Assembly would not grant supply to the Dunstan government. The Liberals were defeated by the Labor Party in the election a month later . By the 1947 Victorian state election , the Liberals were again in coalition with the Country Party (renamed from United Country Party) and contested
5781-679: The House of Representatives , it took an additional two seats to hold six of the state's seven seats. In the bloc-voting winner-take-all Senate , it took the three seats up for election. Encouraged by this success, the Liberal Federation (the SA branch of the United Australia Party ) and the SA Country Party merged to form the LCL on 9 June 1932, with former Liberal Federation leader Richard Layton Butler as its first leader. Liberal Federation itself
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5922-672: 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
6063-519: The Korean War and attempted to ban the Communist Party of Australia in an unsuccessful referendum during the course of that 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 whose preferences supported the Liberal and Country parties. In 1951, during the early stages of
6204-680: The Liberal National government in Queensland was defeated just three years after its historic landslide victory. The New South Wales Liberal-National Coalition, however, managed to win re-election in March 2015 . In 2016 the Federal Liberals narrowly won re-election in July 2016 while the Liberal-affiliated Country Liberals suffered a historic defeat in the Northern Territory and Canberra Liberals lost their fifth election in
6345-450: The Liberal Party of Australia . It was formed as the Liberal and Country League (LCL) in 1932 and became the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party when the Liberal Party was formed in 1945. It retained its Liberal and Country League name before changing to its current name in 1974. It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia , the other being the Australian Labor Party (SA Branch) . The party
6486-501: The Motorola affair . He was succeeded by Deputy Premier Rob Kerin . Kerin only held office for three months before leading the Liberals into a statutory general election in 2002 . The Liberals lost two seats to Labor, but won a paper-thin majority of the two-party vote. The balance of power rested with four conservative crossbenchers. They unexpectedly announced their support for Labor, making Labor leader Mike Rann premier-designate by one seat. However, Kerin announced that he still had
6627-423: The Northern Territory at a sub-national level. The Liberal Party is the dominant partner in the Coalition with the National Party of Australia . At the federal level, the Liberal Party has been in coalition with the National Party (under various names) in both government and opposition since its creation, with only brief interruptions. The Coalition was most recently in power from the 2013 federal election to
6768-401: The Playmander . The LCL's Steele Hall governed for one term from the 1968 election to the 1970 election and during this time began the process of dismantling the Playmander. David Tonkin , as leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia , became premier at the 1979 election for one term, losing office at the 1982 election . The Liberals returned to power at
6909-524: 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
7050-413: The United Australia Party (UAP) and the Australian Women's National League (AWNL). The UAP was a major conservative party in Australia and last governed Victoria between May 1932 and April 1935, under Stanley Argyle 's leadership. Argyle lost the premiership when the UAP's coalition partner, the United Country Party , led by Albert Dunstan , ended the coalition and formed a minority government with
7191-407: The Victorian Labor agreed to support a minority Country Party government led by McDonald. In December 1951, Hollway and his deputy Trevor Oldham were replaced by Les Norman and Henry Bolte , as party leader and deputy leader respectively. In September 1952, Hollway and seven LCP members were expelled from the LCP after a dispute over electoral reform. In October, the Labor Party moved to defeat
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#17328701295127332-405: The Victorian Liberal Party , replacing the Electoral Reform League. Despite the name, it was a separate party to the LCP and the federal Liberal Party. Following the Australian Labor Party split of 1955 that led to the weakening of the governing Victorian Labor , the LCP, led by Bolte, won the 1955 Victorian state election and formed government for the next 27 years, without a coalition with
7473-559: 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 that scheme many future Asian leaders studied in Australia. 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. In 1962, Menzies' Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous Australians should have
7614-446: The early 1980s recession resulted in him narrowly losing the 1982 election to Labor under John Bannon . John Olsen succeeded Tonkin as leader in 1982, and led the Liberals to defeats at the 1985 and 1989 . In the latter, the Liberals won a bare majority of the two-party vote. However, much of that majority was wasted on landslides in their rural heartland, allowing Labor to eke out a two-seat majority. Olsen resigned to take up
7755-519: The state election in December 1952, Hollway contested Norman's seat of Glen Iris and won. Neither Country Party, the LCP, nor the Electoral Reform League won enough seats to form government. With Norman losing his seat, Oldham was elected as leader, with Bolte remaining as deputy leader. Oldham and his wife died in a plane crash in India on 2 May 1953, on their way to England to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II , and Bolte succeeded him as LCP leader. In 1954, Hollway and his supporters formed
7896-442: The two-party vote to Labor opposition by comprehensive margins at several elections: 1944 , 1953 , 1962 and 1968 . For instance, in the 1944 and 1953 elections, Labor took 53 percent of the two-party vote, which would have normally been enough to deliver a solid majority for the Labor leader– Robert Richards in 1944 and Mick O'Halloran in 1953. However, on both occasions, the LCL managed to just barely hold onto power. By
8037-412: The "one vote one value" reforms left most of the Liberal vote locked in comfortably safe rural seats. Despite taking six seats off Labor, the Liberals only won 13 seats in Adelaide. As a result, despite winning a margin that would have been large enough for a strong majority government in the rest of Australia, the Liberals won only 25 seats, a bare majority of two. Tonkin survived for only one term before
8178-514: The 1950s, a number of Labor figures had despaired of ever winning power. O'Halleran, for instance, felt he needed to maintain a cordial relationship with Playford in hopes of getting Labor-friendly legislation through the House of Assembly. Playford had become synonymous with the LCL over his record 27-year tenure as Premier of South Australia . The LCL became so strongly identified with Playford that during election campaigns, it branded itself as "The Playford Liberal and Country League". Playford gave
8319-408: The 1970s had been considered a "Dunstan Decade." However, Brown was unable to rein in the factional battles in his large party room. By late 1996, the Liberals' poll numbers had tailed off markedly less than a year before a statutory general election. This led two of Brown's fellow moderates, Joan Hall and Graham Ingerson , to throw their support to Olsen, which was enough for Olsen to defeat Brown in
8460-399: The 1972 election. Following Whitlam's victory, John Gorton played a further role in reform in October 1973 by successfully moving a motion, seconded by Labor minister Moss Cass , which decriminalised homosexuality on a federal and territory level . Billy Snedden led the party against Whitlam in the 1974 federal election , which saw a return of the Labor government. When Malcolm Fraser won
8601-466: The 47 seats. It was the first time since 2002 that the non-Labor side in South Australia had won the most seats while also winning a majority of the Two-party-preferred vote. At 2002 election the Liberal party won 20 seats whilst 3 independents and one Nationals were also elected. The Marshall government was defeated after one term at the 2022 election after winning only 16 seats out of the total of 47. The Two-party-preferred vote had dropped to 45.41% after
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#17328701295128742-412: The Bush administration in 2004. 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
8883-509: The Coalition to victory in the 1992 Victorian state election . The Liberals actually gained a majority of seats in their own right and although Kennett had no need for the support of the Nationals, he retained the Coalition with McNamara as his Deputy Premier. The Liberal and National Coalition held government from 1992 to 1999 under Kennett's leadership. The Kennett government privatised many government services, including closing down over three hundred schools. The Liberals and Nationals fought as
9024-426: The Coalition's Legislative Council members voted with the Andrews Government's position 28.9% of the time; of the parties in the Legislative Council, only the Liberal Democratic Party had a lower figure (22.1%). In May 2022, Bernie Finn was expelled from the Victorian Liberal Party for "a series of inflammatory social media posts", including calling for abortion to be made illegal in all circumstances, and comparing
9165-401: The Country Party was not convinced and never joined the new party. The LCP, Country Party and Labor Party were the principal contestants at the 1949 Legislative Council election in June. John Lienhop , who was a member of the Bendigo Province and previously elected as a Country Party member, contested the election as an LCP member and managed to retain his seat. Despite their differences,
9306-419: The Country Party. All members of Hollway's Victorian Liberal Party, including Hollway, lost their seats in the election, and the party ceased to exist. As one of the conditions of the Country Party supporting the government's supply bill in the Legislative Council on 27 October 1964, the 'and Country' was to be dropped from the name of the Liberal and Country Party. During the party's State Council in March 1965,
9447-416: The Fightback package, and particularly against the GST, which he described as an attack on the working class in that it shifted the tax burden from direct taxation of the wealthy to indirect taxation as a broad-based consumption tax . Pressure group activity and public opinion was relentless, which led Hewson to exempt food from the proposed GST—leading to questions surrounding the complexity of what food
9588-439: The Government's money bills in the Senate , until the government would promise a new election. Whitlam refused, yet Fraser insisted, leading to the divisive 1975 Australian constitutional crisis . The deadlock came to an end when the Whitlam government was controversially 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
9729-411: The LCP and Country Party agreed to endorse the same candidates for 10 seats in Victoria for the 1949 federal election in December, minimising three-cornered contests. The federal Liberal/Country coalition led by Robert Menzies won the election, securing 20 out of the 33 lower house seats in Victoria. The LCP continued to govern Victoria independently as a minority government until 27 June 1950, when
9870-400: The Liberal Party has also been referred to as right-wing , and right-wing populist . 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 (Anti-socialist) Party and
10011-432: The Liberal Party leadership from Snedden in 1975, Gorton walked out of the Party Room, and quit the party shortly afterwards; he would go on to denounce the dismissal of the Whitlam Government , and endorsed and voted for Labor in the 1975 election . Following the 1974–75 Loans Affair , the Malcolm Fraser -led Liberal-Country Party Coalition argued that the Whitlam government was incompetent and so delayed passage of
10152-410: The Liberal Party on 30 January 1945. The UAP and its parliamentary members (including Hollway) joined the Liberal Party on 5 March 1945, with the state parliamentary UAP becoming the state parliamentary Liberal Party. As a result, Hollway became the first parliamentary leader of the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party. On 2 October 1945, deputy Liberal Party leader, Ian Macfarlan , was commissioned by
10293-493: The Liberal Party was in opposition throughout Australia at the state and federal level; the highest Liberal office-holder at the time was Lord Mayor of Brisbane Campbell Newman . This ended after the 2008 Western Australian state election , when Colin Barnett became premier of that state. 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
10434-589: The Liberal Party. Hall, who was elected to the Senate in 1974 and 1975 as a Liberal Movement member, also rejoined the Liberal Party and joined the federal Liberal Party room. The remaining Liberal Movement state parliamentary member was Millhouse, who refused to rejoin the Liberal Party, founding the New Liberal Movement instead. His new party merged with the Australia Party a year later in 1977 to become
10575-514: The Liberal and Country parties had already happened in South Australia in 1932, with the formation of the Liberal and Country League . The Liberal Party conference on 22 February 1949 endorsed the idea of a merger. However, the idea was rejected by the Country Party and argued it was a takeover attempt of the Country Party, and to eliminate the Country Party from Victorian politics entirely. However, six Country Party MPs were willing to be part of
10716-453: The Liberals to victory against a weakened Labor Party. It was the first time in 20 years that the non-Labor side in South Australia had won the most seats while also winning a majority of the vote. However, despite winning 55 percent of the two-party vote, the largest two-party-preferred margin since the end of the Playmander at the time, the Liberals only won 25 of the 47 seats. This was because
10857-659: The McDonald government by working with two of Hollway's supporters in the Victorian Legislative Council to block supply. Hollway was commissioned by the governor, Sir Dallas Brooks , to form a minority government with the seven former LCP members, known as the Electoral Reform League , and the backing of the Labor Party on confidence and supply. However, 70 hours later, Brooks forced Hollway to resign and recommissioned McDonald as premier. Two months later. at
10998-575: The Melbourne Eastlink freeway and on former leader Robert Doyle 's remarks that the Liberals were twenty seats from government, a statement that assumed that the Nationals would support a Liberal government. Relations soured further at the beginning of 2006 when Victorian Senator Julian McGauran defected from the Nationals to the Liberals. The Liberal Party was the sole opposition party in Victoria until 2008, when Liberals under Ted Baillieu formed
11139-693: 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
11280-563: The National 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. In South Australia, initially a Liberal and Country Party affiliated party, the Liberal and Country League (LCL), mostly led by Premier of South Australia Tom Playford , was in power from the 1933 election to the 1965 election , though with assistance from an electoral malapportionment , or gerrymander , known as
11421-722: 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 . 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 . In March 2013,
11562-486: The October 1944 conference, the AWNL was recognised by Menzies as one of the long-standing non-Labor organisations in Victoria. The Liberal Party in Victoria was established between December 1944 and January 1945, with the names of the provisional state executive revealed on 29 December 1944, and the first meeting held a week later, on 5 January 1945. The state executive included AWNL's leaders Couchman and Wedgwood. The AWNL joined
11703-424: The Playmander, Labor only picked up a two-seat swing, leaving it one short of a majority. The two independents threw their support to the LCL, allowing Playford to remain in office. This election showed how grossly distorted the Playmander had become; by this time, Adelaide accounted for two-thirds of the state's population, but elected only one-third of the legislature. A year later, the LCL received another jolt with
11844-444: The Playmander. The LCL was thus caught unawares when O'Halloran's successor as state Labor leader, Frank Walsh , eschewed a statewide campaign in favour of targeting marginal LCL seats. Walsh's strategy almost paid off at the 1962 election . Labor won a decisive 54.3 percent of the two-party preferred vote to the LCL's 45.7 percent. In the rest of Australia, this would have been enough for a comprehensive Labor victory. However, due to
11985-554: The Queensland People's Party did not become part of the Liberal Party until July 1949, when it became the Queensland division of the Liberal Party. 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— the longest unbroken run ever in government at the federal level. Australia experienced prolonged economic growth during
12126-437: The SA division continued to be known as the LCL. Under the scheme, a vote in a low-population rural seat had anywhere from double to ten times the value of a vote in a high-population metropolitan seat. For example, at the 1968 election the rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes. The scheme allowed LCL to win sufficient parliamentary seats even when it lost
12267-597: The Soviet embassy in Canberra , revealing evidence of Russian spying activities; Menzies called a Royal Commission to investigate. In 1956, a committee headed by Sir Keith Murray was established to inquire into the financial plight of Australia's universities, and Menzies injected funds into the sector under conditions which preserved the autonomy of universities. Menzies continued the expanded immigration programme established under Chifley, and took important steps towards dismantling
12408-529: 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 in history. Harold Holt replaced
12549-571: 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
12690-478: The Victorian Premier to Adolf Hitler . Following the 2022 Victorian state election, the party's director Sam McQuestin, stepped down citing 'internal challenges' in the months leading into the state election. McQuestin is set to be replaced by West Australian Liberal party state director Stuart Smith after a three-month search. John Pesutto was elected leader of the Liberal Party on 8 December 2022, winning
12831-665: The Western Australian Liberal-National government won re-election, and Tony Abbott led the party to government at the 2013 Australian federal election . The party won government in Tasmania in 2014 and lost their fourth election in a row at the South Australian election . However, the Victorian Liberal-National government, now led by Denis Napthine , became the first one term government in Victoria in 60 years. Similarly, just two months later,
12972-417: The abolition of state payroll taxes and the privatisation of a large number of government owned enterprises − representing the start of a very different future direction to the keynesian economic policies practised by previous Liberal/National Coalition governments. The 15 percent GST was the centrepiece of the policy document. Through 1992, Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating mounted a campaign against
13113-400: The area around Glenelg and Holdfast Bay . Due to its paper-thin base in the capital, Playford's LCL often won just barely enough seats to govern alone; the party never held more than 23 seats at any time during Playford's tenure. Despite this, the LCL party machine had become moribund as leaders had become lulled into a false sense of security due to the extended run of election wins aided by
13254-599: The communist People's Republic of China in July 1971 — only to have the US President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger announce a planned visit soon after. During McMahon's period in office, Neville Bonner joined the Senate and became the first Indigenous Australian in the Australian Parliament . Bonner was chosen by the Liberal Party to fill a Senate vacancy in 1971 and celebrated his maiden parliamentary speech with
13395-542: The conservative parties' traditional enemies. Hollway forced McDonald to resign as deputy, and Wilfrid Kent Hughes , deputy leader of Liberal Party, was appointed Deputy Premier. In February 1949, the Liberal Party planned to form a new Liberal and Country Party (LCP), with metropolitan and country interests proposed to be represented on a 50–50 basis. Hollway hoped this would unite the two "anti-socialist" parties of Liberal Party and Country Party together, an idea supported by Liberal Party and Country Party voters. A merger of
13536-503: The election together. The coalition won the election and governed Victoria as majority government from 20 November 1947 to 3 December 1948, with Liberal leader Hollway as Premier and Country leader John McDonald as Deputy Premier . During a series of transport strikes in 1948, the moderate Hollway had dealt amicably with the transport unions and the Trades Hall Council, but McDonald heavily criticised his conciliatory approach to
13677-440: The energy to fight for a leadership that quite frankly in the current circumstances I just don't want to pursue any more." His successor, Vincent Tarzia, MP for Hartley, was elected leader on August 12th, defeating fellow Moderate Josh Teague by 18 votes to four. On August 19th, Tarzia unveiled his new cabinet. In the 1990s and 2000s, ongoing division continued based on both ideologies and personalities, with sides forming between
13818-558: 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: When I became Prime Minister nine years ago, I believed that this nation
13959-719: The formation of the Liberal Movement , a socially progressive or "small-l liberal" wing of the LCL in 1972. The divisions culminated in the Liberal Movement becoming a separate party in 1973, with Hall and fellow parliamentarians Martin Cameron and Robin Millhouse resigning from the LCL to join the newly formed party. Hall claimed that the Party had 'lost its idealism [and] forgotten...its purpose for existence'. Bruce Eastick succeeded Hall as LCL leader after Hall's resignation from
14100-668: The formation of the anti-Communist Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and the consequent split in the Australian Labor Party early in 1955 helped the Liberals to secure another victory 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
14241-495: The grounds of "disloyalty". Treasurer Billy Snedden replaced Gorton as deputy and Fraser was reinstated into the ministry, although Fraser remained unpopular within Liberal ranks for some time over the events of March 1971; Gorton never forgave Fraser and never spoke to him again. The economy was weakening as the post-war economic boom was drawing to a close. McMahon withdrew Australia's remaining combat troops from Vietnam, but criticised Opposition leader Gough Whitlam for visiting
14382-461: The impression that the LCL membership were there solely to raise money and run election campaigns; his grip on the party was such that he frequently ignored LCL convention decisions. This treatment of rank and file party members continued to cause resentment throughout the party. This split mirrored the dissatisfaction amongst the Establishment faction, which had been steadily losing its power within
14523-439: The introduction of a goods and services Tax (GST), various changes to Medicare including the abolition of bulk billing for non- concession holders , the introduction of a nine-month limit on unemployment benefits , various changes to industrial relations including the abolition of awards , a $ 13 billion personal income tax cut directed at middle and upper income earners, $ 10 billion in government spending cuts,
14664-463: The leadership to Tony Abbott by 42 votes to 41 on the second ballot. 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 . Through 2010, the party remained in opposition at the Tasmanian and South Australian state elections and achieved state government in Victoria . In March 2011,
14805-530: The legislature, conventional wisdom held that Hall knew he was effectively handing the premiership to Labor leader Don Dunstan at the next election. That election took place in 1970 when Stott crossed the floor to vote against the LCL. As expected, the LCL was defeated. Hall remained as the Leader of the Opposition . One vote one value would later be introduced by Labor following the 1975 election . The party's problems had already emerged in public spats, most notably
14946-542: The middle class as the "backbone of Australia" but as nevertheless having been "taken for granted" by political parties. 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. Outlining his vision for a new political movement, Menzies said: [W]hat we must look for, and it
15087-423: The moderate Chapman and conservative Evans family dynasties , complicated further by the moderate Brown and conservative Olsen rifts. Since the 1970s, five parliamentary Liberal leaders have served as Premier of South Australia : David Tonkin (1979–1982), Dean Brown (1993–1996), John Olsen (1996–2001), Rob Kerin (2001–2002) and Steven Marshall (2018–2022). All leaders have served as Leader of
15228-621: The more radical proposals of the Labor movement to deal the Great Depression had attracted the support of prominent Australian conservatives. 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 Keynesian pump-priming and pursued
15369-509: The most comprehensive state-level victories since Federation, taking 37 seats on 60.9 percent of the two-party vote and a swing of almost nine percent–in all three cases, the largest on record in South Australia. Along the way, the Liberals won all but nine seats in Adelaide, a city where they had been all but nonexistent even after adopting the Liberal banner. These figures led to talk of a generation of Liberal government in South Australia, much as
15510-411: The multicultural broadcaster SBS , accepted Vietnamese refugees, opposed minority white rule in apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia and opposed Soviet expansionism, but Liberal minister Don Chipp split off from the party to form a new centrist - social liberal party, the Australian Democrats in 1977. The Liberals under Fraser won substantial majorities at the 1977 and 1980 elections, but
15651-519: The name Liberal in honour of the old Commonwealth Liberal Party. The new party was dominated by the remains of the old UAP; with few exceptions, the UAP party room became the Liberal Party room. 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
15792-531: 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. 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
15933-486: The new parliamentary session" and "should carry on with it", so the incumbent cabinet composition was unchanged. The LCP succeeded the old Victorian Liberal Party as the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and federal members endorsed by the LCP sat with the Liberals in Canberra and belonged to the federal parliamentary Liberal Party. Future Prime Minister, John Gorton , was one of those appointed to
16074-587: The new party. It became the nucleus of 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. In New South Wales, the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party replaced the Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party between January and April 1945. In Queensland,
16215-433: The party and was appalled at the " nouveau riche (new money) commoners", such as Millhouse, that had infiltrated the parliamentary wing of the LCL. The LCL's grip on power began to slip in the 1950s; they would lose seats in every election from 1953 onward. Even at the height of Playford's popularity, the LCL was almost nonexistent in Adelaide, winning almost no seats in the capital outside the wealthy "eastern crescent" and
16356-435: The party debated for more than an hour on its party name. It was revealed through a letter from Menzies that he did not like the "Liberal and Country Party" name because "liberalism catered for people in the city and in the country". With the letter, Bolte managed to persuade the party to support the motion of change of name back to the original name of Liberal Party. Malcolm Fraser , the Prime Minister between 1975 and 1983,
16497-461: The party in 1973. During Eastick's leadership, the Liberal and Country League assembled at a meeting of the State Council on 22 July 1974 to rename itself to "Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division)". The renaming initiative was welcomed by federal Liberal leader and opposition leader Billy Snedden , who was present at the meeting. The party also revised its constitution, adopted
16638-464: The party room ballot by one vote against Brad Battin . Under Pesutto's leadership, in March 2023 he attempted to expel Liberal MP Moira Deeming from the party room after she spoke at an anti-trans rally outside the Victorian Parliament, but the vote failed 18–11. Two months later, Deeming threatened to sue Pesutto following the first attempt to expel her and associate her with Neo Nazis. She
16779-425: The party's first female leader, Isobel Redmond . The last serving parliamentarian from the LCL era, Graham Gunn , retired in 2010; he had been elected in 1970 , the next-to-last election that the party fought under the LCL banner. On 4 February 2013, Steven Marshall was elected unopposed as Liberal leader. Vickie Chapman was elected as deputy leader after a contest with former party leader Iain Evans . At
16920-614: The post-war boom period of the Menzies government (1949–66) and Menzies fulfilled his promises at the 1949 election to end rationing of butter, tea and petrol and provided a five-shilling endowment for first-born children, as well as for others. 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 up Australia to multi-ethnic immigration; and instigated important legal reforms regarding Aboriginal Australians. Menzies
17061-474: The reformation of a separate Country Party . Although a shadow of its former self, the reformed Country Party served as a wakeup call to Playford that there were problems within the LCL. Labor finally beat the Playmander against the odds at the 1965 election . Despite winning the same two-party vote as it had three years earlier, the Playmander was strong enough that Labor was only able to win government by two seats. Playford resigned as party leader in 1966 and
17202-644: The retiring Robert Menzies in 1966 and the Holt government went on to win 82 seats to Labor's 41 at the 1966 election . 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. His body has never been found. 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
17343-444: 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). 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
17484-446: The state executive of the LCP. He had supported the Country Party since before the war, but became frustrated with the party's squabbles with the Liberal Party and its willingness to co-operate with the Labor Party. While being part of the LCP state executive, he had addressed Country Party gatherings in a few occasions, urging its members to join the new party and stressing that it would not neglect rural interests, as many feared. However,
17625-620: The support of the Labor Party . After Argyle's death in late 1941, Thomas Hollway became the leader of the UAP in Victoria. During his time as UAP leader, he was the Deputy Premier in a Dunstan coalition government from September 1943. The AWNL was a conservative women's organisation founded and originally based in Victoria, but had expanded across Australia since World War I . Its leaders included Dame Elizabeth Couchman and future senator Ivy Wedgwood , both of whom were from Victoria. During
17766-425: The three Labor factions combined. Butler then became the Premier of South Australia . Traditionally a socially conservative party, the LCL contained relatively distinct factions whose ideologies often conflicted: The urban middle class continued to support the party although they had little say in its running. Indeed, it was not until the election of Robin Millhouse in 1955 that someone from this third faction
17907-426: The united party. On 22 March 1949, they joined the Liberals in forming the Liberal and Country Party (LCP). Hollway was chosen as leader of the new party and continued to be Premier. Hughes also continued as deputy leader of the new party and Deputy Premier. The six former Country MPs were eligible for Cabinet positions in the new LCP government, but turned them down since "the present cabinet had prepared legislation for
18048-405: The vote. Concerned by the level of publicity and public protest about the issue, Hall committed himself to reducing the rural weighting. Under his watch, the lower house was expanded 39 to 47 seats, 28 of which were located in Adelaide. It fell short of " one vote one value ", as Labor had demanded, since rural areas were still over-represented. Nonetheless, with Adelaide now electing a majority of
18189-537: 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. Foreign Affairs minister William McMahon replaced Gorton as prime minister. Gorton initially served as McMahon's deputy leader as well as Defence Minister, although Gorton would be forced to resign in August 1971 by McMahon on
18330-527: Was and wasn't to be exempt from the GST. Hewson's difficulty in explaining this to the electorate was exemplified in the infamous birthday cake interview , considered by some as a turning point in the election campaign. Keating won a record fifth consecutive Labor term at the 1993 election . A number of the proposals were later adopted into law in some form, to a small extent during the Keating Labor government, and to
18471-472: 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. The 2007 federal election saw the defeat of the Howard federal government, and
18612-485: Was dismantled through an electoral reform in 1968, with the first election under the new boundaries in 1970 . Since the electoral reform, the party has won only 4 of the 17 state elections: 1979 , 1993 , 1997 and 2018 . The Liberal and Country League had its roots in the Emergency Committee of South Australia , which ran as the main non-Labor party in South Australia at the 1931 federal election landslide. In
18753-748: Was elected leader. The Coalition arrangement was maintained while the Liberals and Nationals were in opposition. The coalition lost the 2018 election and suffered a significant swing against it, leading to the resignation of Guy as leader of the Liberal Party. He was replaced by Michael O'Brien as party leader. Branch stacking allegations in the party had been linked to conservative powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan since 2016. In late August 2020, his activities in branch stacking were revealed by Nine/The Age, which included directing taxpayer-funded electorate staff working for federal MP Kevin Andrews to be involved with party activities such as recruitment of party members, which
18894-569: Was elected to parliament. Millhouse, often considered during his term as the most progressive member of the LCL, continually criticised the conservative wing of the party. He eventually resigned in 1973 and joined the splinter Liberal Movement party. The Butler LCL introduced the electoral malapportionment scheme later known as the Playmander in 1936. The House of Assembly was also reduced from 46 members elected from multi-member districts to 39 members elected from single-member electorates. The electorates consisted of rural districts enjoying
19035-494: 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 at 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. Menzies came to power the year the Communist Party of Australia had led
19176-558: Was preceded by Liberal Union (1910–1923) with the latter created from a tri-merger between the Liberal and Democratic Union (formed 1906), the Farmers and Producers Political Union (formed 1904) and the National Defence League (formed 1891). In its first electoral test, the 1933 state election , the LCL took advantage of a three-way split in the state Labor government to win a smashing victory, taking 29 seats versus only 13 for
19317-595: 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 led 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
19458-417: Was safely back in the legislature. This gambit backfired, however, former Tonkin minister Dean Brown , returned to politics after a seven-year absence. Olsen, like Baker, was from the conservative wing of the party, while Brown was from the moderate wing. Brown narrowly defeated Olsen in the leadership vote. The Liberals went into the 1993 election as unbackable favourites. At that election, Brown won one of
19599-472: Was strongly opposed to Labor's plans under Ben Chifley to nationalise the Australian banking system and, following victory at the 1949 election, secured a double dissolution election for April 1951 , after the Labor-controlled Senate rejected his banking legislation. The Liberal-Country Coalition was returned with control of the Senate . The Government was re-elected again at the 1954 election ;
19740-690: Was subsequently expelled from the party room 19 votes to 11. Following that vote, Pesutto was Booed by supporters of Deeming during a state council speech. The Victorian Liberal Party endorsed candidates for the first time in the party's history for the 2024 Melbourne City Council election . 1945–1948: William Anderson 1948–1949: Magnus Cormack 1949–1950: Dan Mackinnon 1950–1952: William Anderson 1952–1956: John Anderson 1956–1959: Rutherford Guthrie 1959–1962: John Buchan 1962–1965: William Snell 1965–1966: Andrew Peacock 1966–1970: Robert Southey 1970–1973: Phillip Russell Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia
19881-410: Was succeeded by Steele Hall . At the 1968 election , Labor won a 53.2 percent two-party vote to the LCL's 46.8 percent, but suffered a two-seat swing, resulting in a hung parliament . The lone independent in the chamber, Tom Stott , threw his support to the LCL, allowing Hall to form a minority government. Hall was embarrassed that his party was in a position to win power despite having clearly lost
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