The Liberal Party of Australia is a major centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP). It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Australia Party (UAP). The Liberal Party is the largest and dominant party in the Coalition with the National Party of Australia. In two states and territories of Australia the parties have merged, forming the Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory and the Liberal National Party of Queensland. Except for a few short periods, the Liberal Party and its predecessors have operated in similar coalitions since the 1920s. The party’s leader is Scott Morrison and its deputy leader is Josh Frydenberg. The pair were elected to their positions at the August 2018 Liberal leadership ballot, with Frydenberg and Morrison as replacements for Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull respectively, the latter of whom Morrison consequently succeeded as Prime Minister of Australia. Now the Morrison Government, the party had been elected at the 2013 federal election as the Abbott Government which took office on 18 September 2013. At state and territory level, the Liberal Party is in office in three states: Will Hodgman, Premier of Tasmania since 2014, Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales since 2017 and Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia since 2018. The party is in opposition in the states of Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and in both the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The party’s ideology has been referred to as conservative, liberal-conservative, conservative-liberal, and classical liberal. The Liberal Party tends to promote economic liberalism (which in the Australian usage refers to free markets and small government). Two past leaders of the party, Sir Robert Menzies and John Howard, are Australia’s two longest-serving Prime Ministers.
Political views
Ideologies:
Liberal conservatism, Economic liberalism
Policies:
See the complete list of 170 policies for the Liberal
