New South Wales Liberal Party

New South Wales Liberal Party
The Liberal Party of Australia,
New South Wales Division
Abbreviation
  • NSWLP
  • LPNSW
  • LIB
  • LP
LeaderMark Speakman
Deputy LeaderNatalie Ward
PresidentDon Harwin
State DirectorChris Stone[a][1]
FounderRobert Menzies[2]
Founded16 October 1944; 80 years ago (16 October 1944)
Merger of
Preceded byUnited Australia
Headquarters131 Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000
Membership (2023)Increase 12,963[3]
Ideology
Political position
National affiliationFederal Liberal
Political allianceLiberal–National Coalition
Colours  Blue
Legislative Assembly
24 / 93
Legislative Council
9 / 42
House of Representatives
9 / 47
(NSW seats)
Senate
5 / 12
(NSW seats)
Local Government
115 / 1,480
Website
nswliberal.org.au

The New South Wales Liberal Party, officially called The Liberal Party of Australia, New South Wales Division,[9] and colloquially known as the NSW Liberals, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in New South Wales. The party is currently in Opposition in New South Wales in a coalition with the National Party. The party is part of the federal Liberal Party.

Following the Liberal Party's formation in October 1944, the NSW division of the Liberal Party was formed in January 1945. For the following months, the Democratic Party and Liberal Democratic Party joined the Liberal Party and were replaced by the new party's NSW division.

In the 74 years since its foundation, the party has won eight state elections to the Labor Party's 13, and has spent 27 years in office (1965 to 1976, 1988 to 1995 and 2011 to 2023) to Labor's 46. Eight leaders have become Premier of New South Wales; of those, five, Sir Robert Askin, Nick Greiner, Barry O'Farrell, Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian, have won at least one state election.


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  1. ^ Smith, Alexandra (3 September 2024). "NSW Liberals forced into 10-month federal takeover after council fiasco". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024. Former NSW state director Chris Stone has been drafted back to the party in a temporary role after his successor Richard Shields was sacked over the debacle. Harwin initially survived, heaping all the blame on Shields and threatening legal action against the NSW Electoral Commission.
  2. ^ "Our History". nswliberal.org.au. Archived from the original on 16 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  3. ^ Maddison, Max (1 June 2023). "NSW Liberal membership declines as battle over democracy heats up". The Australian. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2024. Handed to state executive members on Friday evening, the leaked snapshot of the Liberal division's membership underlines the continuing existential struggle the major parties have in attracting millennials and Gen Z-ers to their cause. The research revealed the party's membership marginally increased to 12,963 as of May, a rise of 585; with 10,319 fee-paying and 2018 non-financial members. The figure has slipped from 13,376 at the end of 2019, and about 70,000 in 1970.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b "The Liberal brand is tarnished. Some hard truths must be faced in the wake of another election loss | NSW election 2023 | the Guardian".
  6. ^ a b ""We're Not Victoria" Insist Extremely Nervous NSW Liberals". 27 November 2018.
  7. ^ a b Rabe, Tom; Maley, Jacqueline (8 August 2019). "Conservative Christian plot to take 'control' of NSW Liberal Party". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  8. ^ a b Rose, Tamsin (22 March 2022). "NSW Liberal MP criticised after speaking at anti-vaccination rally". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Constitution of the Liberal Party of Australia, New South Wales Division" (PDF). elections.nsw.gov.au. New South Wales Liberal Party. 5 August 2022. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 August 2023. The name of the Division is 'The Liberal Party of Australia, New South Wales Division'.