The Coalition Liberal–National Coalition | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | L/NP, LNP[a] |
| Leader | Peter Dutton |
| Deputy Leader | David Littleproud |
| Founded | 1923; 1934; 1940 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right to right-wing |
| Colours | Blue |
| Federal member parties | |
| State/territory member parties | Liberal: National: Other: |
| House of Representatives | 55 / 151 |
| Senate | 31 / 76 |
| State/territory lower houses | 149 / 465 |
| State upper houses | 50 / 155 |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in Australia |
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The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as the Coalition or the LNP,[a] is an alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. The two partners in the Coalition are the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia (the latter previously known as the Country Party and the National Country Party). Its main opponent is the Australian Labor Party (ALP); the two forces are often regarded as operating in a two-party system. The Coalition was last in government from 2013 to 2022. The group is led by Peter Dutton, who succeeded Scott Morrison after the 2022 federal election.
The two parties in the Coalition have different geographical voter bases, with the Liberals – the larger party – drawing most of their vote from urban areas and the Nationals operating almost exclusively in rural and regional areas. They occupy a broadly similar place on the right of the political spectrum. The partnership between the two current parties dates back to 1946, shortly after the Liberal Party was formed, and has continued almost uninterrupted since then. The Country Party also maintained similar alliances with the Liberal Party's predecessors, the United Australia Party and Nationalist Party, and similar parties at state level. The first such federal arrangement was formed in 1923, as a solution to the hung parliament that resulted from the 1922 federal election.
The Liberals and Nationals maintain separate organisational wings and separate parliamentary parties, but co-operate in various ways determined by a mixture of formal agreements and informal conventions. There is a single Coalition frontbench, both in government and in opposition, with each party receiving a proportionate number of positions. By convention, the leader of the Liberal Party serves as the overall leader, serving as prime minister when the Coalition is in government and leader of the opposition when the Coalition is in opposition. The leader of the National Party becomes the deputy prime minister during periods of Coalition government. The two parties co-operate on their federal election campaigns, run joint Senate tickets in most states, and generally avoid running candidates against each other in the House of Representatives.
A merger of the Liberals and Nationals has been suggested on a number of occasions, but has never become a serious proposition. The relationship between the two parties varies at state and territory level. The situation in New South Wales and Victoria broadly mirrors that at federal level, while in Western Australia the parties are much more independent of each other. In the Northern Territory the territorial parties merged in 1974 to form the Country Liberal Party (CLP), and in 2008 the Queensland state-level parties merged, forming the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP). LNP and CLP members elected to federal parliament do not form separate parliamentary parties, joining either the Liberals or Nationals. In South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, the Nationals have no sitting MPs and little or no organisational presence.
- ^ "Political Parties". Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). 11 August 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "Why are voters abandoning the Liberal Party? What does liberalism stand for today?". ABC News. 9 April 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
The Liberal-National Coalition (LNP) looks increasingly on the nose with the electorate
- ^ "How the Coalition vote is 'trending poor'". Australian Financial Review. 28 May 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- ^ "'The LNP are feeling threatened': the growing ambition of independents challenging Coalition MPs". Guardian Australia. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- ^ "LNP comfortably retains Queensland seat of Callide in by-election". ABC News. 18 June 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- ^ Crockford, Toby (19 June 2022). "Queensland's youngest MP elected after LNP claims Callide byelection". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
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