About The Nationals
Australia is a democracy. It enjoys free and fair elections at all Federal, State and Local levels every three of four years. Governments may change at elections, and the people accept the verdict of the majority.
The National Party, commonly known as The Nationals, has been an important and influential part of Australian politics, Federal and State, since the early 1900s. The Party celebrated its centenary on the 22nd January 2020.
The party’s primary political concentration has been on improving the services provided to and the lifestyles of the almost eight million people who live and work beyond the nation’s capital cities, as well as on increasing international trade opportunities for the country’s wealth producing agricultural and mining industries.
The party’s basic philosophy is conservative, in that it supports maximum development of private enterprise and minimum intervention by Government. It believes Australians should be able to manage their own affairs in a prospering private sector-led economy, enhanced by appropriate Government policies, especially for those in genuine need.
The Nationals believe the prime responsibility of the Commonwealth Government should be to ensure freedom of choice and opportunity for all citizens; to provide an economic framework that rewards individual effort; to preserve the family as the foundation of society; to guarantee freedom of speech, communication and assembly for all people; to promote loyalty to and pride in Australia, its Constitution, National Flag and National Anthem; to maximise international trade; to ensure modern and adequate defence structures that can interact with international partners; and to preserve democratic elections for Governments at Federal, State and Local levels.
The National Party is Australia’s second oldest political party.
Federally, it was created on 22 January 1920, when nine members of Parliament, elected in December 1919 supporting the objectives of the Australian Farmers’ Federal Organisation, agreed to form an independent political party, known as the Australian Country Party (ACP), which would act independently of all other political organisations. These nine members were joined by two more on 24 February, giving the Country Party a parliamentary strength of 11.
The party has maintained an unbroken presence in the Commonwealth Parliament to this day and, after 100 years, remains the most influential of all political parties in representing the needs and interests of Australians living and working beyond the capital cities.
In short, The Nationals are a specialist party, concentrating on improving the lifestyle and livelihood of people across regional Australia and increasing the competitiveness of regional business, industry and tourism, and the sustainable development of agriculture and mining.
If there is a stand out achievement of the party, it is that it has forced all other parties to pay greater attention to the development of non-metropolitan Australia than would otherwise have been the case.
Country parties were first established in the States by farm organisations to improve the lot of primary producers who were overburdened by taxes, tariffs, inadequate transport and other infrastructure, and a lack of local services.
The first Country Party was formed by the Farmers and Settlers’ Association of Western Australia in March 1913. It was followed by Country parties in Victoria in 1915, Queensland and South Australia in 1918, New South Wales, initially as the Progressive Party, in 1919, the ACP in Commonwealth Parliament in 1920, and Tasmania in 1922.
The first ACP Federal parliamentarians elected the Tasmanian Member for Franklin, William McWilliams, as their Leader and agreed that, after a settling in period of about 12 months, new leadership elections would be held. McWilliams relinquished the position to the New South Wales Member for Cowper, Earle Page, on 5 April 1921. Page continued as Leader until 13 September 1939.
The Country Party won 14 seats at the elections on 16 December 1922 and held the balance of power. Page recognised that the best opportunity for the party to get its policy objectives on the statute books would be by being a partner in Government, while maintaining the party’s separate entity. But he refused overtures to form a Coalition with the Nationalists – forerunners of the United Australia Party and later Liberal Party – while Billy Hughes remained its Leader.
This resulted in Hughes standing aside for Stanley Bruce and paving the way for the first Coalition between the two non-Labor parties. Published on 9 February 1923, it became the foundation agreement upon which all others have been modelled to the present time. The separate identity of both parties was maintained, the composite Cabinet of 11 members saw the Country Party hold five portfolios, including that of Treasurer. Page took precedence in the ministry after the Prime Minister – effectively Deputy Prime Minister – and the administration was called the Bruce-Page ministry.
From that point, the Country/National Party has been a strong, reliable and trustworthy partner in Coalition Governments with the United Australia Party and subsequent Liberal Party of Australia for nearly 60 years, with its Federal Leader always being the Deputy Prime Minister and acting as Prime Minister during that person’s absence. The position of Deputy Prime Minister was not formalised in parliamentary records until established, at the behest of a former Country Party Leader, John McEwen, by Prime Minister John Gorton in January 1968.
During periods when the parties form a Coalition Opposition, which have been more often than not, the Country/National Party Leader has assumed the role of Opposition Leader during absences of the Opposition Leader.
While the Country Party was established to further the political interests of primary producers, it saw a broader role, to represent the ‘country townsman’ and, through that, fight for the betterment of services and facilities across regional Australia.
Over the years its parliamentary representatives have brought a deep knowledge of their communities – from the remotest outposts to the villages, towns and cities of regional Australia – to the Commonwealth Parliament, and have fought tenaciously for better services, schools, health services and hospitals, roads, railways and communications, throughout their electorates.
The party has never been encumbered with the sometimes conflicting interests of an organisation representing city as well as regional interests.
Explaining the party’s objectives to Parliament on 10 March 1920, its first Leader, William McWilliams, said the primary producer was determined that ‘he shall now take his proper place’ in the context of political consideration, adding that ‘we have no quarrel with the consumers in the cities. We regard them, in part, as our best customers’.
In the broader context, he said the party would fight the ‘cursed system of centralization, under which hundreds of thousands of pounds are squandered in our city Departments, whilst necessary adjuncts to civilization, in the way of telephonic communication and mail services are denied to the residents of our back-blocks’.
Arthur Fadden, who was Federal Leader from 1940 to 1958, saw the party’s role in the following terms in 1946:
Here, then, is the reason why the Country Party must maintain its separate entity as a force in the Australian political sphere. We maintain that the rural producer and every country dweller are entitled to fair prices, proper living conditions, adequate wages, and general improvement in amenities of country life. Other political parties, which draw their main political support either from the employer or the employee in secondary industry can be regarded as representing a section of the community, which, for a long time past, has participated unduly in the national income at the expense of the rural producer … What I have said indicates the line of cleavage between Australian political parties, and supplies the reason why the Australian Country Party will never be absorbed into other groups.
The combination of national interest and equality of services for country people was put in these terms by John McEwen, the Federal Leader from 1958 to 1971, in 1968:
The most important thing is that we have a total national concept of the Australian need. … So we conceive our role as a dual one of being at all times the specialist party with a sharp fighting edge, the specialists for rural industries and rural communities. At the same time we are the party which has the total co-ordinated concept of what is necessary for the growth and safety of the whole Australian nation. … Summed up, our philosophy and our intent are the determination to have a safe Australia and a secure Australia, a growing Australia, a rich Australia.
McEwen also noted that the Country Party was a middle party that attracted to its ranks ‘a tremendous number of people’ who had been shearers, share farmers or soldier settlers, many of whom had originally been Labor supporters:
They remained Labor people for a time, and then recognised that the Country Party had particular policies and they became Country Party. But they never lose something of a hankering for the Labor Party. I’m utterly sure that the Country Party could not carry all its membership into a merger [with the Liberals]. I’m absolutely sure that quite a sizeable chunk of the Country Party voters in those circumstances would revert to Labor. From the point of view of stable Government, we are carrying into the non-Labor side of the House a substantial proportion of voters who still have an affinity with Labor.
Coming to more recent times, John Anderson, Federal Leader from 1999 to 2005, highlighted that the party was still living up to its commitment to regional development and being influential in many policy outcomes of his Coalition Government with Prime Minister John Howard:
I don’t feel any need at all to be defensive about this party’s identity or its performance. We are dedicated to improving the lives of people who live outside the major cities. Each member of the [parliamentary] National Party team contributes to the Government team. Each player, whether ministers or members of backbench committees or whatever, pull their weight as part of the team – and I am proud of what we achieve.
Another key role of the party has been to keep the balance between political extremes. Doug Anthony, Federal Leader from 1971 to 1984, put it this way to the party’s Federal Council in October 1972:
A strong Country Party does keep the balance – the balance of stable Government, dependable Government; the balance of development between the city and the country areas; the balance of economic activity; a balance between the rural industries and the other sectors of the community. We went to see a balance of opportunity for education and employment; a balance of special justice between different sections of the community; a proper balance between the powers and responsibilities of the State Governments and the Commonwealth Government, with neither becoming over-dominant, but working in partnership. We keep a balance between extremes of political thought.
John Anderson articulated a similar view in June 2005:
We bring an earthiness to Cabinet because we know and understand how life outside the mad sophisticated cities works; we have practical experience … I’ve always seen my role, and that of our party, as being to support economic reforms that will bring national wealth and employment to the highest levels, but then to redistribute some of those gains to the people and communities who would otherwise miss out. And it’s imperative that we do this, because rural communities contribute more than what they are rewarded for.
Three Country Party leaders have been commissioned as Prime Minister, all under difficult circumstances – Earle Page, on the death of Prime Minister Joe Lyons in April 1939, Arthur Fadden, on the resignation of Robert Menzies in August 1941, and John McEwen on the death of Harold Holt at the end of 1967.
They each held the office for brief periods, and none were elated by the circumstances that put them there. McEwen, however, expressed gratification that ‘once again a person in my position [Country Party Leader] was called upon to accept the position of head of the Australian Government’.
The Country Party prime ministers are often regarded as merely stop-gap, or caretaker leaders. But each was commissioned in his own right with full authority and led Governments that made decisions regarding foreign policy, legislation, and senior judicial or public service appointments – all of which went well beyond the traditional limits of caretaker conventions.
All Country and National Party leaders in Government have acted as Prime Minister for extensive periods during absences overseas or through illness of the Prime Minister. Page said he had been acting Prime Minister for 540 days during his 18 years as Country Party Leader. Fadden was acting Prime Minister for a total of 692 days and McEwen for 550 days. In addition to other periods as acting Prime Minister, Doug Anthony fulfilled the role for 76 consecutive days from November 1982 when the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, was incapacitated with a back condition that required surgery.
The National Party is different from most others in that the State parties are autonomous organisations operating under their own constitutions. Each has its own governing body, generally known as the Central Council, supported by a State Secretariat.
The affiliated State parties are the National parties of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP), which was formed on 26 July 2008 as a result of a merger of the National and Liberal parties in that State.
The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party (CLP) is associated with both the National and Liberal parties in Canberra and its parliamentarians generally split themselves evenly between the two conservative parties in the Commonwealth Parliament.
Men and women who join these affiliated or associated parties pay an annual membership subscription and are allocated to a local branch, usually one nearest their place of residence. A primary strength of the State parties is the participation by branch members in all the processes of the organisations.
Members have the opportunity to be directly involved in the selection of candidates for election and in the development of party policy at Federal and State levels. They may stand for preselection themselves, or for elected office, and may also become directly involved in election campaigning.
Most branch members live and work in regional Australia, whereas the bulk of the Liberal and Labor parties’ members are in the capital cities.
The Federal National Party organisation came into being in March 1926 with the adoption of the first Federal constitution. Originally known as the Australian Country Party Association, it is made up of delegates from the affiliated State parties, who come together to form what is today known as the Federal Council and is the supreme governing body of the Federal party. The CLP also has delegates, with limited voting rights, on the Federal Council.
Federal Council usually meets once a year in Canberra. It considers, among other issues, policy motions submitted from affiliated State party conferences, women’s sections and the Young Nationals, and also elects its office bearers and its Federal Management Committee, which meets as necessary between meetings of Federal Council to manage the day to day affairs of the organisation. Only Federal Council has the power to alter the party’s Federal constitution.
The party convenes a Federal Conference once in the life of each Commonwealth Parliament, or once every three years. Conference includes delegates from all the affiliated State party Federal Electorate Councils throughout Australia and specifically considers party policy matters.
The Federal Parliamentary National Party is made up of those people who have been preselected by their State organisations and have won election to the Senate or House of Representatives.
The parliamentary party operates under its own rules, providing they are not inconsistent with the party’s Federal constitution. It has the right if necessary to adopt policy positions that are different from those of Federal Council or Conference, providing the Federal Leader explains the reasons to the Federal Management Committee. It also has the right to decide whether or not to enter into, or terminate, a Coalition agreement, after consultation with the Federal Management Committee.
The entire parliamentary party (senators and members) elects its Federal Leader, Deputy Leader and parliamentary Whips for the House of Representatives. The party’s senators alone elect their Senate Leader, Deputy and Whip.
The total parliamentary strength of the National Party in Canberra in 2018 was 21 members and senators. The highest representation in the party’s history was 31 (23 members and 8 senators) after the December 1975 federal election.
The party has a Federal Secretariat in Canberra, John McEwen House, named after the former Leader and the man who drove its establishment and opening by the Prime Minister, John Gorton, on 4 November 1968.
The Secretariat provides an additional policy research facility for the Federal Parliamentary Party, and co-ordinates and organises meetings of Federal Council and its standing committees, Federal Conference, Federal Management Committee, Women’s Federal Council, and the Young Nationals. During Federal election and referendum campaigns, the Secretariat co-ordinates the Federal Leader’s campaign and provides campaign material to State Secretariats and candidates throughout Australia.
The first woman member of the Federal Parliamentary Party was Agnes Robertson from Western Australia. Originally elected to the Senate for the Liberal Party at the December 1949 election – becoming the fifth woman to enter the Commonwealth Parliament – she switched to the Country Party from 1955 until her retirement in June 1962.
Other party women elected to the Commonwealth Parliament have been Flo Bjelke-Petersen (Senate, Queensland), De-Anne Kelly (Dawson, Queensland), Kay Hull (Riverina, New South Wales), Fiona Nash (Senate, New South Wales), Bridget McKenzie (Senate, Victoria), and Michelle Landry (Capricornia, Qld).
At organisational level, the party has led the field. Shirley McKerrow became the first woman to lead a State political party as President of the Victorian party from 1976 to 1980. She then became the first female to head a party federally, as Federal President of the National Country/National Party from 1981 to 1987.
The first women chief executive officers of political organisations in Australia were Helen Tiller, State Director of the National Country Party in South Australia from 1978 to 1983; Jenny Gardiner, General Secretary of the New South Wales National Party from 1984 to 1991; and Cecile Ferguson, Federal Director of the National Party of Australia from 1992 to 1997. Another woman, Jenny Bailey, was acting Federal Director from 1977 to 1979, and Gaye White was Federal Director from 2000 to 2001.
At each annual meeting of their governing bodies, the affiliated State parties elect women delegates to represent their State on the Women’s Federal Council (WFC), which held its first formal meeting on 24 November 1960. This does not mean that women were ignored in party affairs before that time; far from it. The inaugural Federal party constitution of 1926 provided for a woman delegate from each State to be on the Australian Country Party Association, and the State parties involved women on their Central Councils from an early time. Today, the Federal and State party organisational bodies are strongly represented by women, including at executive level.
The former Federal Leader, Doug Anthony, pointedly highlighted the importance to the party – and indeed, to wider society – of recognising women more during his policy speech for the December 1972 Federal election:
The Country Party believes that there must be a fundamental reappraisal of the role of women in our society. This will mean looking harder at the opportunities provided for women to become more closely involved in the commercial, industrial, social and political life of the community. … In short, there must be a complete reshaping of some of our old thinking so that the women of our society have the chance to be what they should be – total women, totally involved.
The WFC today considers resolutions from State women’s organisations or delegates and undertakes research to help in the development of Federal party policy on a wide range of issues affecting women and families, notably in regional Australia, including on health services, education, drug and alcohol abuse, transport, domestic violence, and communications. The WFC President is a delegate to the Federal Management Committee and Federal Council and Conference.
State National Party organisations, and the LNP in Queensland, strongly support the development of their ‘young party’ – youth, after all, are the future of the parties. Even in States where there is no formal Young Nationals body, younger members, generally aged up to 30, are encouraged to be active within the Federal Young Nationals.
Formed in 1967 as the Young Australian Country Party, its first President was Mike Ahern, who went on to become a prominent Queensland parliamentarian from 1968 to 1990 and was State Premier from 1987 to 1989.
The Young Nationals Federal President is a member of the Federal Management Committee and a delegate to Federal Council and Federal Conference. Each State National Party, either through its Young Nationals’ organisation, or through its Central Council, nominates further delegates to Federal Council and Federal Conference, so the younger party members are represented at all levels of the organisation.
Federally, the Young Nationals convene an annual conference to consider their own policy motions, as well as those submitted by the affiliated State Young National parties. These may then be submitted to the agenda for Federal Council or Federal Conference consideration.
No other political organisation in Australia has had to grapple with the challenge of change as much as the National Party.
Economic and demographic changes, which in some areas have seen diminishing regional populations – meaning fewer country electorates – and huge advances in communications’ technology, have totally altered lifestyles, work opportunities and associated political challenges across regional Australia.
Almost from the day of its birth, the Country Party was written off by its detractors as an organisation that was unnecessary and that would die on the vine.
But it hasn’t. It has adapted to change and remains relevant, indeed, essential to the political framework of regional Australia.
To meet evolving challenges, it has changed its name a number of times and broadened its policy interests and activities so that they now cover the broad spectrum of all Government administrative areas.
Despite extensive periods in partnership, the question of Coalition with another political organisation, particularly in Opposition, has been controversial from time to time within the Federal and State Country/National parties. There have been some spectacular ‘spats’ over Coalition:
Despite these tensions, the Coalition between the non-Labor parties in Canberra has been enduring. It has only been broken for two short periods since December 1949 – by agreement between the party Leaders, Billy Snedden and Doug Anthony, in the Opposition period from December 1972 to May 1974, and from April to August 1987.
Largely because of their successes in influencing Government policy, the State and Federal Country/National parties, have over the years come under pressure to amalgamate with the United Australia Party and subsequent Liberal Party.
Indeed, Liberals have from time to time pushed for amalgamation because they have been jealous of the party’s successes in Government – wielding more power than its numerical strength should warrant. Federally, The Nationals make no apology for such successes, and have rejected amalgamation overtures, choosing instead to maintain their position as an independent party, working positively to influence and enhance Coalition policy.
State National parties have generally done likewise. The exception has been Queensland, where political circumstances are markedly different. In Queensland, unlike other States, the Country/National Party was the senior of the two conservative parties for many years. There was an amalgamation between the then Country and Nationalist parties in 1929, forming the Country and Progressive National Party, which existed until 1936, when the two independent non-Labor parties re-emerged. Then, after many years of Labor Government, the National Party led successive Coalition governments from 1957 to 1989.
The Queensland Nationals, seeing amalgamation with the State Liberals as the best way to defeat incumbent Labor Governments, led the way to establish the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP), which was formed on 8 July 2008.
Amalgamation has been successful in the Northern Territory. The Federal Country Party, on the instigation of John McEwen and supported by the NSW party, formed the Australian Country Party – Northern Territory in 1966. In 1974, Country and Liberal Party interests in the Territory combined to form the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party (CLP), which exists to this day.
Our priorities are building stronger regional economies and secure communities, delivering opportunity and prosperity for all regional Australians, and ensuring a sustainable environment.
Stronger, more secure, sustainable local communities that provide the opportunity for everyone to prosper will deliver a stronger, more secure and sustainable nation.
The Nationals commitment to the national interest does not stop there. The Nationals provide a considered and common sense perspective on all elements of Government policy and a balance between Australia’s political extremes.
