|
The W2N.net - Wikipedia |
Link Ads Questz World |
|
|
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) |
| Country Liberal Party | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Terry Mills |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Office | 107 Woods Street Darwin NT 0800 |
| Political Ideology | Liberal conservatism |
| Website | Country Liberal Party |
The Country Liberal Party (CLP) is a Northern Territory political party affiliated with both the Liberal and National parties. It is a member of the Coalition.1
The CLP dominated the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from its establishment in 1974 to 2001, but lost Government in 2001 and was reduced to four parliamentary members in 2005. At the 9 August 2008 Legislative Assembly general election it gained a significant swing, gaining 11 out of the 25 Northern Territory Legislative Assembly seats.
Senator Nigel Scullion is the CLP's sole representative in federal parliament, is the deputy leader of the National Party and sits with the National Party in the Senate on the crossbenches.
Contents |
 |
This article or section needs to be updated. Please update the article to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. |
The Country Liberal Party (CLP) was established in the Northern Territory when territories gained voting rights, replacing both as the centre-right party there. The state Country Party members first contested the 1919 federal election, with an established federal Country Party contesting the 1922 federal election. The 1922 election saw the main anti-Labor party, the Nationalist Party of Australia deprived of a majority, and were required to form a coalition in order to command a majority on the floor of parliament. The price for such support was the resignation of Nationalist (ex-Labor) Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, who was replaced by Stanley Bruce.
In 1966, the Country Party was well established in the territory, while the Liberal Party was small. In recognition of this, the local Liberals supported the Country candidate for the sole NT seat from 1969 to 1972. An alliance had formed, primarily against the conservatives' arch-rivals the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
After the 1974 federal election and subsequent Joint Sitting of parliament, legislation was passed which created a unicameral Legislative Assembly, as well as members with full voting rights at a federal level. The local Country and Liberal Party members decided to form an independent "Country Liberal Party" (CLP) to field candidates for the Legislative Assembly which first sat in 1974.
Northern Territory Self-Government occurred on 1 July 1978.
In 1979, the CLP formally affiliated with both the Liberal Party and the then-National Country Party. These affiliations remain to this day, and relations with both parties are close. However, the CLP has had no major opportunities to sway the actions of either.
Both the Liberals and the Nationals receive Country Liberal Party delegations, and the party president has full voting rights with the National Party and observer status with the Liberal Party. The party also directs its federal members and senators as to which of the two other parties they should sit with in the parliamentary chamber. The CLP vote is often tabulated together with either of its coalition partners in many election results tables, or included within a single Coalition vote.
The CLP has contested Northern Territory Legislative Assembly elections since 1974. General elections were held in 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2008.
The CLP won control of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at every election until 2001, when the ALP won. The loss marked a major turning point in Northern Territory politics, a result which was exacerbated when, at the 2005 NT election, the ALP won a second landslide victory, reducing the once-dominant party to a total of just four members in the Legislative Assembly.
The Legislative Assembly general election held on 9 August 2008 saw the CLP reverse its earlier election losses, increasing its representation from four to 11 members.
The CLP has also contested many Legislative Assembly by-elections.
|
||||||||||||||||
The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the copyrighted Wikipedia "Country Liberal Party" article.
