Coalition (Australia)
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The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a pragmatic grouping of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement between two parties since 1922 (and three since 1975), with only brief breaks (e.g., in 1987):
- Liberal Party of Australia (formerly United Australia Party/Nationalist Party of Australia)
- National Party of Australia (formerly National Country Party/Country Party)
- Country Liberal Party
Coalitions between these parties operate at the federal level (three-party), as well as in New South Wales (two-party). There is currently no coalition between the Liberal and National parties for state parliamentary purposes in Western Australia, Victoria, and South Australia, though past coalitions have often applied in those states; and relevant federal parliamentarians continue to participate in the coalition which binds them. In Queensland, the Liberals and Nationals have merged into the Liberal National Party, while in the Northern Territory they form the Country Liberal Party.
At the federal level, the Coalition agreement was broken in April 1987, while the parties were in opposition. During the subsequent 1987 federal election campaign, the Labor government drew attention to the disunity of the Coalition parties and was returned to office. The Coalition agreement was renewed on 6 August 1987.[1] Party dictates cannot be enforced against dissenting individual parliamentarians, who may speak out against Coalition policy or "cross the floor" in a vote. A recent Coalition example has been the National Party senator, Barnaby Joyce, whose party is, however, not numerous enough to qualify for formal party status in the Senate.[2]
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[edit] Overview
Coalition arrangements are facilitated by Australia's preferential voting systems which enable Liberals and Nationals to compete locally while exchanging preferences in elections, thereby avoiding "three-cornered-contests", usually with the Australian Labor Party (ALP), which would weaken their prospects under first past the post voting. From time to time, friction is caused by the fact that the Liberal and National candidates are campaigning against each other, usually without undue long-term damage to the relationship.
Indeed, the whole point of introducing preferential voting was to allow safe spoiler-free three-cornered contests. It was a government of the forerunner to the modern Liberal party that introduced the necessary legislation.
For example, this preferential voting system was implemented in October 1918, after a by-election for a federal seat in Western Australia caused an ALP candidate to win after the conservative vote was split in two. Two months later, a by-election held under preferential voting caused the initially-leading ALP candidate to lose after some lower-placed candidates' preferences had been distributed.
As a result of variations on the preferential voting system used in every state and territory, the Coalition has been able to thrive, wherever both its member parties have both been active. The National Party is not organised in Tasmania and in recent years has attracted little support in South Australia and Western Australia, but has long been a major player in rural areas of Queensland, New South Wales, and to a lesser extent in Victoria. The preferential voting system has allowed the Liberal and National parties to compete and cooperate at the same time. By contrast, a variation of the preferential system known as Optional Preferential Voting has proven a significant handicap to coalition co-operation in Queensland and New South Wales, because significant numbers of voters don't bother to express all useful preferences.
In South Australia, the only National Party member of State Parliament, Karlene Maywald, has since 2004 been a Minister in the Rann Labor government, informally creating a coalition between the ALP and the National Party at South Australia's state level of government. The National Party, however, rejects the notion that it's in a coalition with Labor at the state level. State National Party President John Venus told journalists that: "We (The Nationals) are not in coalition with the Labor Party, we aren't in coalition with the Liberals, we are definitely not in coalition with anyone. We stand alone in South Australia as an independent party." Flinders University political scientist Haydon Manning disagrees, saying that it is "churlish to describe the government as anything but a coalition".[citation needed]
[edit] Liberal/National Merger
Merger plans came to a head in May 2008, when the Queensland state Liberal Party gave an announcement not to wait for a federal blueprint but instead to merge now. The new party, the "Liberal-National Party", has a self-imposed deadline of late July for party registration.[3]
[edit] Terminology
For the sake of convenience, most commentators and the general public use the term "two-party" given the traditional arrangement. Surveys conducted on a two-party-preferred-vote basis refer to a comparison of Labor and the Coalition.
[edit] References
- ^ The Nationals - An Introduction, National Party Document, p.12
- ^ Formal party status in the Senate is conferred on groups having a minimum of five senators. It attracts valuable privileges of staffing and accommodation. Regardless of this formality, senators are not prevented from identifying with a minor party affiliation.
- ^ A conservative marriage | The Courier-Mail
[edit] External links
- Liberals site
- Nationals site
- CLP site
- History of preferences page at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation site
