Liberal Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader |
|
| Founders |
|
| Founded | 25–27 May 1909 |
| Dissolved | February 1917 |
| Merger of | |
| Merged into | Nationalist |
| Ideology | |
| National affiliation | Liberal Union |
| Associated bodies | |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Liberalism in Australia |
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The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fusion.
The creation of the party marked the emergence of a two-party system, replacing the unstable multi-party system that arose after Federation in 1901. The first three federal elections produced hung parliaments, with the Protectionists, Free Traders, and Australian Labor Party (ALP) forming a series of minority governments. Free Trade leader George Reid envisioned an anti-socialist alliance of liberals and conservatives, rebranding his party accordingly, and his views were eventually adopted by his Protectionist counterpart Deakin. Objections towards Reid saw Deakin take the lead in coordinating the merger. The Fusion was controversial, with some of his radical supporters regarding it as a betrayal and choosing to sit as independents or join the ALP.
The new party formed Australia's first federal majority government and allowed Deakin to return for a third term as prime minister. However, it lost the 1910 election to the ALP in a landslide and had little electoral success thereafter, winning a majority in the House of Representatives only once and never in the Senate. Following the ALP split over conscription in 1916, Deakin's successor Joseph Cook led the Liberals into an alliance with Prime Minister Billy Hughes' new National Labor Party. The two parties formally merged under Hughes' leadership a few months before the 1917 federal election, with the resulting Nationalist Party becoming the new primary opponent of the ALP in the two-party system.
Unlike the ALP, the Liberal Party did not have a single external organisation supporting the parliamentary party and had only loose links with equivalent parties at state level. Deakin attempted to form a national organisation under the name "Commonwealth Liberal Party", but it failed to spread beyond Victoria. In each state various similar bodies were created to endorse candidates and provide campaign financing, while the party also enjoyed the support of pre-existing organisations like the Australian Women's National League. The "Liberal" identity was retained by some state parties after 1917 and revived by Nationalist breakaways in the 1920s, eventually being re-adopted by the modern Liberal Party of Australia.
- ^ a b Brett, Judith (2003). Australian Liberals and the Moral Middle Class: From Alfred Deakin to John Howard. Cambridge University Press.