The Liberal Party was a
parliamentary party
A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council.
Parliame ...
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
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refe ...
, replacing the unstable
multi-party system
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...
that arose after
Federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...
in 1901. The first three
federal elections produced
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...
s, with the Protectionists, Free Traders, and
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...
(ALP) forming a series of
minority governments. Free Trade leader
George Reid
Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales fr ...
envisioned an
anti-socialist
Criticism of socialism (also known as anti-socialism) is any critique of socialist models of economic organization and their feasibility as well as the political and social implications of adopting such a system. Some critiques are not directed ...
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
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
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 National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pr ...
. 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
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
. 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 Australian Women's National League (AWNL) was an Australian political lobby group federation first established in 1904. It acted in many ways like a political party, with an extensive branch network and the capability to run its own candidates ...
. 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
The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
.
History
Background
George Reid
Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales fr ...
adopted a strategy of trying to reorient the party system along Labour vs non-Labour lines – prior to the
1906 election, he renamed his
Free Trade Party to the Anti-Socialist Party. Reid envisaged a spectrum running from socialist to anti-socialist, with the
Protectionist Party in the middle. This attempt struck a chord with politicians who were steeped in the
Westminster tradition and regarded a
two-party system
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refe ...
as very much the norm.
Foundation
The Liberal Party, also known as the Commonwealth Liberal Party, was founded between three conferences on 25–27 May 1909.
The party was a merger, or ''Fusion'', of at least three political parties operating at federal level at the time:
Protectionist Party,
Anti-Socialist Party and the
Western Australian Party
The Western Australian Party (WAP) was a short-lived Australian political party that operated in 1906. It was intended as a liberal party to protect the rights of Western Australians and to oppose the increasingly successful Labor Party, and d ...
.
[ These parties, although sharing different ideologies and policies, merged to form a single non-]Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
opposition. The party merger was voted with few in attendance being opposed to it.[ The most prominent being ]William Lyne
Sir William John Lyne KCMG (6 April 1844 – 3 August 1913) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901, and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best kno ...
.[ Alfred Deakin was voted leader unanimously.][
The Liberal Party was formed in response to Labor forming its second government under ]Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...
in 1908. Under considerable pressure from middle- and upper-class interests, Alfred Deakin, the leader of the Protectionists, and Joseph Cook, leader of the Anti-Socialists, joined forces in order to counter Labor's growing popularity. In 1909, the two parties at a meeting in Melbourne's Parliament House agreed to merge into a single party, based on a shared anti-Labor platform. Deakin was the new party's first leader, with Cook as deputy leader. The merger didn't sit well with several of the more liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Protectionists, who defected to Labor or sat as independents.
Between them, the Protectionists and Anti-Socialists held a majority of seats on the floor of the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
. As a result, the newly merged party used its numbers to force Fisher to hand power to Deakin. However, the Liberals were defeated by Labor at the 1910 election, which saw Labor with an elected majority in both houses, the first federal occurrence for a party.
Cook took over the leadership from Deakin shortly before the 1913 election and won government by a single seat. However, only a year later, Cook deliberately introduced a bill abolishing preferential treatment for public-service union members. Cook knew the Labor-controlled Senate would vote the bill down, giving him an excuse to call a double dissolution election, the first time one would be called. When the Senate rejected the bill twice, Cook called the 1914 election. The Liberal Party was again defeated with Labor again winning a majority in both houses.
The Liberals remained in opposition until November 1916, when it reached a confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parl ...
agreement with Prime Minister Billy Hughes, who had recently been expelled from Labor for supporting conscription in World War I and organised his followers as the National Labor Party
The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pr ...
. In February 1917, the Liberals and National Labor formally merged to form the Nationalist Party. Although the merged party was dominated by former Liberals, Hughes became its leader with Cook as his deputy. Hughes would stay on as Prime Minister until the 1922 election where the new Country Party of Australia (later The Nationals) stripped the Nationalists of their majority, and demanded his resignation in exchange for confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parl ...
. Stanley Bruce
Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party.
Born ...
subsequently became Prime Minister.
The Liberal Party of 1909 is often referred to by the retronym
A retronym is a newer name for an existing thing that helps differentiate the original form/version from a more recent one. It is thus a word or phrase created to avoid confusion between older and newer types, whereas previously (before there were ...
"Deakinite Liberal Party" in order to distinguish it from the later Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
, which was officially founded in 1945. According to David Kemp, "the common reference to the Federal Liberal Party as the 'Commonwealth Liberal Party' is not correct, as this name was given only to Deakin's state party".
Electoral results
Federal elections
Leader
Party leaders
Associated bodies
Australian Liberal Union
The Australian Liberal Union was established in November 1911, following a conference in Melbourne attended by representatives of liberal organisations in each state. The conference resolved that the state-based organisations should co-operate more closely during federal election campaigns. The council of the new body was to consist of three representatives from each state.
A second interstate conference was held in Melbourne in May 1912, with Senator Joseph Vardon
Joseph Vardon (27 July 1843 – 20 July 1913) was an Australian politician. Born in Adelaide, he received a primary education before becoming a farm worker and apprentice printer, running his own printing business by 1871. He sat on Hindmar ...
presiding. A constitution for the Australian Liberal Union was adopted, where it was agreed that the organisation would be governed by an annual conference. The constitution provided that the union would regularly confer with the federal parliamentary party, and that its work would be confined to federal politics. The state organisations would remain in charge of state politics, but would select federal candidates. The conference also debated a fighting platform for the next federal election, which was not issued until 13 June. It comprised 20 planks.
A third conference was held in Melbourne in August 1913, postponed and moved from Sydney due to a smallpox outbreak. The inaugural address at the conference was given by the incumbent prime minister and parliamentary Liberal leader Joseph Cook. David Gordon was elected president of the organisation. An updated platform was issued in October. Another meeting was held in March 1914, and in October 1915 Joseph Cook stated that a meeting of the executive was planned to be held.
State bodies
Victoria
In Victoria, Deakin formed an organisation to support the parliamentary Liberals under the name Commonwealth Liberal Party (CLP). It was formed at a meeting in Melbourne on 5 April 1909, with the aim "to organise the Liberal voters, both men and women, throughout Australia". It was officially launched by Deakin with himself as president on 25 May 1909 at the Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall is the central city town hall of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a historic building in the state of Victoria since 1867. Located in the central business district on the northeast corner of the intersection between S ...
.
According to Deakin's biographer Judith Brett
Judith Brett (born 1949, Melbourne) is an Emeritus Professor of politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She retired from La Trobe in 2012, after a restructuring of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in which the School of ...
, the CLP did not spread beyond Victoria and "in fact scarcely beyond Deakin and his family, who provided most of its office bearers". His son-in-law Herbert Brookes
Herbert Robinson Brookes (20 December 1867 – 1 December 1963) was an Australian businessman, philanthropist, and political activist. He inherited substantial holdings from his father, and served as president of the Victorian Chamber of Manufac ...
was Deakin's "right-hand man", serving as party treasurer and chief fundraiser, while Deakin's daughter Ivy Brookes was founder and secretary of the CLP women's section, intended to form a liberal counterpart to the more conservative Australian Women's National League
The Australian Women's National League (AWNL) was an Australian political lobby group federation first established in 1904. It acted in many ways like a political party, with an extensive branch network and the capability to run its own candidates ...
. In 1911, the CLP renamed itself the People's Liberal Party, as part of an abortive merger with the People's Party, a rural liberal organisation. In July 1911, the PLP launched a monthly magazine, the ''Liberal'', which was financed and edited by Herbert Brookes. Deakin wrote anonymous articles for the publication, which was short-lived.
New South Wales
The New South Wales Federal Liberal League was established in July 1909 to help elect Liberal candidates to federal parliament. It was established by delegates from the Liberal and Reform Association, the People's Reform League, the Liberal and Progressive League, and the three equivalent women's branches. Dugald Thomson
Dugald Thomson (28 December 1849 – 27 November 1922) was an Australian politician. He campaigned for Federation as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (1894–1901), and was subsequently elected to the new federal House of Re ...
was chosen as the organisation's president and Archdale Parkhill
Sir Robert Archdale "Archie" Parkhill Order of St Michael and St George, (27 August 1878 – 2 October 1947) was an Australian politician who served in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives from 1927 to 1937. He bega ...
as its secretary. Joseph Cook was given the title of "leader". The league began conducting preselection
Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presele ...
ballots and endorsing candidates for federal parliament later in the year.
Other states
Organisations supporting the federal parliamentary Liberals in other states included the People's Progressive League in Queensland, the Liberal Union in South Australia (1910), the Tasmanian Liberal League
The Tasmanian Liberal League was a political party in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was founded in 1909 and merged into the Nationalist Party in 1917. During its existence it formed a two-party system in the Parliament of Tasmania with th ...
, and the Liberal League of Western Australia.
See also
* Liberalism in Australia
Liberalism in Australia dates back to the earliest Australian pioneers and has maintained a strong foothold to this day. Liberalism in the country is primarily represented by the centre-right Liberal Party. The Liberal Party is a fusion of libe ...
* List of political parties in Australia
The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition. Federally, 16 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...
Notes
References
Australian Dictionary of Biography – Alfred Deakin
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
Australia 1901
Defunct political parties in Australia
Political parties established in 1909
Political parties disestablished in 1917
1909 establishments in Australia
1917 disestablishments in Australia