The Centre Right Faction or Centre Right Group is a

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

within the

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Australian Liberal Party that makeup one of its three major factions. It holds the middle position between the three factions: Moderate being to its left, the National Right being to its right. Beginning in 2009, the faction held its most dominant position in 2021–2022, and, as of 2023 only has a total of six federal MPs. The faction's main

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

can be seen as a soft mix of both the adjacent factions' ideologies. As noted by ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' in 2021: “The entre Rightgroup's unifying philosophy is pragmatism – that means an adherence to

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(but with enough flexibility to splash billions to prop up the economy during the

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) and relatively conservative social values.” The ideological position, and pragmatism ("to yield results"), of the Centre Right Faction, is one of the reasons Scott Morrison was appointed leader of the party in

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. As its nickname under Scott Morrison (Morrison Club) signifies, its figurehead was then-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Scott Morrison, with Alex Hawke known as the leader of the faction. During the Morrison government years, the Centre-Right was the largest faction, with 32 of 91 Liberal MPs belonging to the group. However, the

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, sought to win a fourth conse ...

saw a significant realignment of factional affiliations within the Liberal Party, with the Centre-Right going from being the largest faction to the smallest faction, plummeting from 32 members to just 6, caused by a combination of members losing seats as well as members moving to other factions; the aftermath of the election saw the emergence of a "Centrist" faction consisting of former Moderate and Centre-Right MPs, mostly hailing from Victoria, with this group espousing similar ideological leanings to the Centre-Right faction in being more economically dry than the National Right and more socially conservative than the Moderates. In 2021 it was reported by ''

'' that the Centre Right Faction of the Liberal Party was the most dominant within the party, having thirty-two sitting MPs at the time (including the then-

Scott Morrison), ten more than the

Moderate Faction Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American p ...

and three more than the National Right Faction. However, following the Liberal/National defeat at the 2022 federal election (including five factional MPs) and the resignation of

Leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...

from Scott Morrison, the Centre Right lost vast factional power, with six Centre Right members moving to the National Right Faction. Most of the factional power following the election defeat and leadership change was transferred to the Conservative Right lead by the new

Party Leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian politician who has been leader of the opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Dickson in the House of Representatives sinc ...

Notes

References

{{Liberal Party of Australia Liberal Party of Australia factions Conservatism in Australia Liberalism in Australia Pragmatism