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IntroductionThe earliest pioneers of the federation movement, men such as Alfred Deakin and Samuel Griffith, were generally self-described "liberals". The degree of progressive sentiment varied from colony to colony: social liberals were prominent in Victoria and South Australia, for instance. At any rate, Australia's parliamentary institutions, especially at a national level, were brand-new, so it was difficult for anyone to be labelled "conservative" in a traditional sense. The two largest political parties, the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party, could both loosely be described as "liberal" in the terms of the time. They were moderates with a strong belief in parliamentary institutions, financially orthodox and attached to the British Empire, with a distaste for radicalism. The third major political force was the trade union movement represented by Australian Labor Party. The rise in popularity of the Labor party began to become the major pre-occupation of these two other parties.
The result was the Fusion in 1909 of the Free Traders and the two wings of the Protectionists. The Fusion soon began calling itself the Liberal Party, proclaiming its adherence to classical liberalism. After Deakin's departure, the fervent anti-socialist Joseph Cook became leader of the party and it became the dominant right-wing force in Australian politics. The pattern of a non-Labor party defining itself as liberal rather than conservative and deriving support from a middle-class base continued to the formation of the present-day Liberal Party, founded in 1945 and led initially by Sir Robert Menzies. In his memoir, Afternoon Light, Menzies described the decision to call the Party Liberal in these terms, "We took the name Liberal because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary but believing in the individual, his rights and his enterprise." The "wet" (moderate) and "dry" (conservative) wings of the Liberal party co-operated fairly harmoniously, but in the early 1970s as conservatives started to dominate in South Australia liberals led by Steele Hall broke off to form the Liberal Movement. In 1977, other dissident small-l liberal forces led by Don Chipp created the Australian Democrats. Contemporary Australian Liberalism
Federal "small-l liberals", such as Joe Hockey[3][4] and Malcolm Turnbull serve in Federal Cabinet, Christopher Pyne, George Brandis and Bruce Billson serve in the Ministry. and and others such as Petro Georgiou and Marise Payne are active in policy formation. At the state level, "small-l liberals" have substantial influence particularly in Victoria and South Australia. The Democrats fractured under the leadership of Cheryl Kernot and Natasha Stott-Despoja the party moved towards the left. Party leader Meg Lees formed the more avowedly centrist Australian Progressive Alliance in 2003. In 2002, Tasmanian Liberal Candidate Greg Barns was disendorsed following comments opposing Government action taken over the Tampa Affair. Barns joined the Australian Democrats, with the view of returning a strong liberal platform to the party. So far Barns has served in a support capacity in the last federal election and various state elections. Barns is a strong advocate of human rights for Asylum seekers, and also supports the case for an Australian republic. He served as chair of the Australian Republican Movement 1999-2002. IdeologyLiberalism in Australia has been notably lacking in a coherent philosophical underpinning: it is strongly pragmatic, rather than ideological, defined chiefly in antithesis to Labor. The governments of Menzies, Fraser and Howard differ each other in both social and economic approaches. Insofar as there is a unifying thread running through Australian liberalism, it has been based on:
Again, all these currents are only apparent inasmuch as they are a point of difference with Labor: advancing these ideas to deride Labor as socialist, unpatriotic, or under the thrall of powerful unions. The timelineFrom Protectionist Party and Free Trade Party to Commonwealth Liberal Party
From Commonwealth Liberal Party and Australian Labor Party dissidents to Liberal Party of Australia
From Australian Women's National League to Liberal Party of Australia
From Liberal Party of Australia dissidents to Australian Democrats
From Australian Democrats dissidents to Janet Powell Independents' Network
From Australian Democrats dissidents to Australian Progressive Alliance
Liberal leaders
See also
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