The North Australia Party (NAP) was a short-lived political party in Australia's

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, primarily active in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

and the surrounding areas of

Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...

. It was founded in 1965 under the leadership of

Lionel Rose Lionel Edmund Rose MBE (21 June 1948 – 8 May 2011) was an Australian former professional boxer who competed from 1964 to 1976. He held the undisputed WBA, WBC, and ''The Ring'' bantamweight titles from 1968 to 1969, becoming the first Ind ...

and contested the

Northern Territory Legislative Council The Northern Territory Legislative Council was the partly elected governing body of the Northern Territory of Australia from 1947 until its replacement by the fully elected Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1974. Prior to 1947, there ha ...

election later that year, winning a single seat. The party has been cited as a predecessor of the modern

Country Liberal Party The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP) is a centre-right political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In local politics it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal ...

(CLP).

History

The creation of the NAP was announced on 12 August 1965 by

, an independent member of the Legislative Council, who said it had been established at a meeting in Alice Springs the previous week. Rose was described as the party's leader, although Alice Springs businessman Peter Leunig has also been cited as a founder of the party. The NAP printed its own newspaper, ''The Times'', and employed a full-time organiser in the lead-up to the Legislative Council elections in October 1965. A Darwin branch of the party was established in September. The NAP was "vigorously opposed" by both the Darwin-based ''

Northern Territory News The ''Northern Territory News'' (also known and branded as the ''NT News'') is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published every week from Monday to Saturday. It prim ...

'' and the Alice Springs-based ''

Centralian Advocate The ''Centralian Advocate'' is an Australian regional online newspaper based at Alice Springs, Northern Territory. The ''Centralian Advocate'' is part of News Corp Australia, and serves under the ''Northern Territory News'' banner, containing hea ...

''. The ''News'' claimed that the party was a front for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and implied that it was being funded by external sources. The 1965 election was the first in which a majority of candidates were members of political parties and the first at which the

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 the f ...

(ALP) had faced an organised opponent. The NAP fielded five candidates – three in Central Australia, one in Darwin and one in

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...

– compared with seven for the ALP. The party won a single seat, with Tony Greatorex winning a large majority in the sparsely populated seat of Stuart. Rose was defeated in Alice Springs by 17 votes. The results in both seats were controversial, with the unsuccessful candidates claiming that their opponents had engaged in illegal conduct to secure the votes of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

constituents. Rose claimed that the ALP candidate Charles Orr in Alice Springs had bribed voters with alcohol and petitioned the

Court of Disputed Returns The Court of Disputed Returns is a court, tribunal, or some other body that determines disputes about elections in some common law countries. The court may be known by another name such as the Court of Disputed Elections. In countries that derive ...

to overturn the result. David Smith, the ALP candidate in Stuart, petitioned the court to unseat Greatorex on the grounds that campaign voters had intimated and misled Aboriginal voters. The NAP unsuccessfully contested a Legislative Council

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek ( wrm, Jurnkkurakurr) is town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western termin ...

seat in February 1966. In the same month, the party won all five seats on the Alice Springs Town Management Board, albeit on a turnout of 17 percent. However, the party "soon faded away". Its role as primary opponent to the ALP in the Northern Territory was taken by the Country Party, which contested its first Legislative Council by-election in November 1966. Greatorex was re-elected to the Legislative Council in 1968 under the Country Party banner.

Policies

Rose stated that the "first object of the party would be to promote the economic, social and political development of northern Australia". He believed that the Northern Territory had been neglected by the federal government and that a party dedicated to the Territory should be established. However, the party "appealed to conservative opinion" and effectively functioned as the opposition to the ALP in the absence of any organised parties. In announcing the party's formation, Rose stated that it was intended to operate not only in the Northern Territory but also in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

and the Kimberley region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Its establishment was welcomed by the People the North Committee, a Queensland-based organisation, which promised co-operation with the new party.

Legacy

The NAP has been cited as a predecessor of the modern

(CLP), which was established in 1974, in that the CLP inherited its "strong regional orientation". A number of NAP members, including future senator

Bernie Kilgariff Bernard Francis Kilgariff AM (30 September 1923 – 13 April 2010) was an Australian politician. He was one of the founders of the Country Liberal Party and served as a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly which included a stin ...

, were involved in establishing the local branch of the Country Party, the immediate predecessor of the CLP. However, the party's founders did not join the CLP – Rose had no further political involvement in politics, while Leunig joined the ALP and stood for the party at the 1974 Legislative Assembly election.

References

Sources

* {{Defunct political parties in Australia 1965 establishments in Australia 1966 disestablishments in Australia Defunct political parties in the Northern Territory Political parties established in 1965 Political parties disestablished in 1966