The Liberal Party of Australia

Description

Agent TypeOrganisationHistoryIn 1944, the Liberal Party of Australia was founded after a three-day meeting held in a small hall not far from Parliament House in Canberra. The meeting was called by the then Leader of the Opposition (United Australia Party) Robert Menzies.
Robert Menzies had already served as Prime Minister of Australia (1939-41), but he believed that the non-Labor parties should unite to present a strong alternative government to the Australian people.
Eighty men and women from 18 non-Labor political parties and organisations attended the first Canberra conference.
They shared a common belief that Australians should have greater personal freedom and choice than that offered under Labor’s post-war socialist plans.
Robert Menzies believed the time was right for a new political force in Australia - one which fought for the freedom of the individual and produced enlightened liberal policies.
In his opening address at that meeting, he said:
It is often said that Robert Menzies stood for the ‘forgotten people’ of Australia; those mainstream Australians whose goals, needs and aspirations had been ignored by Government.
On October 16, 1944, the name The Liberal Party of Australia was adopted, uniting the many different political organisations. Two months later, at the Albury Conference, the Party’s organisational and constitutional framework was drawn up.
The name Liberal was chosen deliberately for its associations with progressive nineteenth century free enterprise and social equality. By May 1945 membership of the Liberal Party had swelled to 40,000.
It fought its first election in 1946 with some success and in 1947, the Liberal Party won State Government in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria. In 1949 the Liberals, in coalition with the Country Party, were first elected to national government.
Sir Robert Menzies went on to lead Australia and the Liberal Party for 17 years, before he retired from politics in 1966.
The Liberal Party has become Australia’s most successful postwar party; it was elected to Government for 23 years from 1949 to 1972, and for another term of more than seven years from 1975 to 1983.
In 1996, the Australian people again re-elected the Liberal Party, in Coalition with the National Party of Australia, to govern Australia in a landslide win, and in 1998, 2001 & 2004 that government was re-elected.
In 2013, the Abbott Coalition Government took office. In September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull was elected Liberal Party Leader and became Australia’s 29th Prime Minister.
Source: https://www.liberal.org.au/our-history

Sound

Who Owns Big Business. Episode 175 / M.H.R. Episode 176

Island Adventure. Episode 164 / The Decline and Fall of Mr Quick. Episode 165 [Copy]

Island Adventure. Episode 164 / The Decline and Fall of Mr Quick. Episode 165

Mission From Moscow. Episode 162. / You Land & Mine- John Batman. Episode 163

Educate or Perish. Episode 143 / Let's Get Busy. Episode 144

The Strongest Link of All. Episode 131 / How to Plan a Revolution. Episode 132

Pattern For Peace. Episode 123 / Guilty Men. Episode 124

Freedom Isn't Free. Episode Unknown / Outside The Law. Episode 118

Threat From the Wilderness. Episode 112 / The Enemy Within. Episode 115

Creeping Paralysis. Episode 104 / Van Winkle Wakes Up. Episode 106

The Low Down on Communism. Episode 1C / Hello Suckers. Episode 2C [Copy]

The Low Down on Communism. Episode 1C / Hello Suckers. Episode 2C

Does Shopping Shorten Women's Lives. Episode 1A / Where Was Your Son Last Night. Episode 5C

People and Organisations

Eggleton, Tony

Howson, Peter

Fraser, John Malcolm

Maclellan, Robert

Lynch, Phillip R.

Accession

[1989.0137] John Henry Austral gramophone records

Dates

Date1944-

University of Melbourne Archives

Archives

Menu

The Liberal Party of Australia