Liberal Party, Australia

Liberal Party, Australia The first Liberal Party emerged at national level from a fusion of anti-Labor parties (mainly Protectionists and Free Traders) under Deakin in 1909, but after a brief spell in government it merged with the National Labor Party to form the Nationalist Party in 1917. The Liberal name was revived for the new party that emerged from a fusion of most of the United Australia Party (UAP) and other groups to form Australia's largest and most successful conservative party. It was chosen for its associations with former prominent leaders with a social conscience, such as Deakin, Isaacs, and Barton. Much better organized than the UAP, it fashioned itself into a voice of the urban middle classes. It was ideologically more flexible than its predecessor, and was thus able to become an active proponent of limited government while at the same time enacting major welfare legislation to benefit the working and the middle classes of society (such as health and university education).

Benefiting from the postwar mood of opportunity within Australian society, it won the 1949 election under the leadership of Menzies, who remained Prime Minister until 1966. In coalition with the Country Party (National Party), it continued to benefit from the weakness and the divisions within the Australian Labor Party and remained in office until the Whitlam government of 1972. Its ferocious opposition to the latter ensured that it regained office under Fraser in 1975. However, defeated by Hawke in 1983, it began an unprecedented period of opposition, which continued under the prime ministership of Keating. As the Australian Labor Party took the political middle ground, and responding to the loss of its experienced leadership, it developed a right-wing policy and rhetoric modelled on that of Thatcher and Reagan. Led by John Howard, it won the 1996 election with a landslide majority, gaining an absolute majority of seats (76 out of 148), and it formed its usual coalition with the National Party. From 1999, the party was faced with a resurgent Labor Party at the political left-of-centre, as well as the growth of the One Nation Party on the far right. In response, Howard adopted a more nationalist, anti-immigration platform while trying to continue to appeal to the political centre, a policy that allowed the Liberal Party to be re-elected in 2001.

http://www.liberal.org.au