Liberal National Party of Queensland

Liberal National Party of Queensland
Leader	Campbell Newman
President	Bruce McIver
Founder	Bruce McIver
Founded	2008
Headquarters	Brisbane
Ideology	Australian conservatism, Australian liberalism, Agrarianism
Political position	Centre-right
Colours	Blue
House of Representatives	20 / 150
Senate	6 / 76
Parliament of Queensland	78 / 89
Website
www.lnp.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Liberal National Party (LNP) is a political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed on 26 July 2008 by the merger of the Queensland divisions of the centre-right Liberal and National parties.

The party is considered to be on the centre-right of Queensland politics. In Australia, the term Liberalism refers to centre-right economic liberalism, rather than centre-left social liberalism as in some other English-speaking countries such as the U.S.A. Party ideology has therefore been referred to as liberalism, distinct from its meaning in U.S. English-speaking countries, but also as conservatism, which features strongly in party ideology.

The newly established party won government for the first time at the 2012 state election, winning 78 out of 89 seats, a record majority in the unicameral Parliament of Queensland. Its leader, Campbell Newman, is the Premier of Queensland.

History

On 30 May 2008, an agreement in principle to merge was established between the Queensland divisions of the Liberal and National parties. A plebiscite of members of each party was then conducted with a large majority of respondents favouring the proposed merger.

The background to the merger was the unusual situation in which the National Party and Liberal Party, having been in a long-standing centre-right coalition at the federal level, found themselves in frequent competition with one another for seats in Queensland. In most parts of Australia the Liberal Party is the larger party, concentrated in urban areas, with the Nationals a junior partner operating exclusively in the bush. However, in Queensland, the urban-rural divide is not as pronounced as it is in the rest of the country. The capital, Brisbane, accounts for just under 45 percent of Queensland's population; in most other states, 60 percent or more of the population lives in and around the state capitals. The National Party—formerly the Country Party—had been the senior partner in the non-Labor Coalition since 1924, and thus did not confine itself to rural areas.

Another factor in the merger was a desire to increase the non-Labor side's standing in Brisbane. Since the dismantling of the old zonal electoral system in 1992, Brisbane has elected 40 of the 89 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland—almost half of the legislature. Consequently, it is extremely difficult to form a government without a strong base in Brisbane. Labor was in government for all but three years from 1989 to 2012 in large part because it won at least 30 seats in greater Brisbane at every election. Even when it was briefly consigned to opposition by the Rob Borbidge-led Coalition, it still won 31 seats in Brisbane. While it was taken for granted that the Liberals needed to improve their standing in Brisbane in order for the Coalition to have any chance of winning power, a Liberal resurgence would have almost certainly threatened the Nationals' traditional status as senior partner.

The agreement in principle and a draft constitution were considered by separate meetings of the parties held over 26–27 July 2008, and the LNP was created on 26 July 2008. The inaugural conference of the LNP was held following the adoption of the constitution. The two parties had been meeting in adjoining rooms of the Sofitel Hotel in Brisbane. In an emotional scene, the wall between the two meetings was removed after the merger was formally approved.

The formation of the LNP was actually the third attempt to unite the non-Labor side in Queensland. In 1925, the United Party—the Queensland branch of the urban-based Nationalist Party—and the Country Party merged as the Country and Progressive National Party. This party won government in 1929 under former Queensland Country leader Arthur Edward Moore, but was defeated in 1932 and split apart in 1936. In 1941, the United Australia Party and Country Party merged as the Country-National Party, under Frank Nicklin of the Country side. However, this merger only lasted until 1944.

Federal Queensland Liberal and National party representatives and senators remained affiliated to their respective parties until after the 2010 Federal Election, with senators retaining their affiliation until the new Senate sat in July 2011.

Currently, 16 of the LNP's 21 federal MPs sit with the Liberals, while five — including federal Nationals leader Warren Truss — sit with the Nationals. In the Senate, two LNP Senators — Barnaby Joyce (the Nationals Senate leader) and Ron Boswell — sit with the Nationals while four sit with the Liberals. While incumbent MPs retained their previous national affiliations, the LNP has worked out an informal agreement with its national counterparts regarding the affiliations of newly elected members. Members who regain seats from Labor will sit with the previous Coalition MP's party — i.e., if the LNP takes a seat off Labor that was previously held by a Liberal, the LNP member will sit with the Liberals. A division of seats was decided upon for new seats or seats that have never been won by the Coalition.

After the July 2008 merger, the party had 25 members in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the sole chamber of the Parliament of Queensland: 17 originally elected as Nationals, 8 originally elected as Liberals. National Party leader Lawrence Springborg became the merged party's first leader, and remained as Leader of the Opposition. Liberal Party leader Mark McArdle became Deputy Leader of the new party, and Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

The LNP fought its first election as a unified party at the 2009 state election. It managed an eight-seat swing in a house of 89 seats and finished one percentage point behind Labor on the two-party-preferred vote (with optional preference voting). However, it came up 11 seats short of forming government mainly due to winning only six seats in Brisbane. Springborg resigned as leader, later becoming deputy leader under his successor, John-Paul Langbroek. Langbroek was from the Liberal side of the merger.

On 22 March 2011, Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman announced that he would seek preselection for the Ashgrove, a seat with a 7.1 percent Labor majority, and if successful, would challenge Langbroek for the party leadership. Newman, like Langbroek, is from the Liberal side of the merger. Langbroek and Springborg resigned as leader and deputy leader hours later. Under normal circumstances, an LNP MP from a safe seat would have resigned so Newman could get into the chamber via a by-election. However, a by-election could not be arranged. To solve this problem, Jeff Seeney was elected as interim parliamentary leader, while Newman would lead the party into the 24 March 2012 state election. Seeney agreed to cede the parliamentary leader's post to Newman if he was elected to parliament.

The 2012 state election saw Newman lead the LNP to a landslide victory. The LNP scored a 14.5 percent swing from Labor, just short of 50 percent of the primary vote, and won an additional 44 seats. In the process, the LNP took all but three seats in the Brisbane metropolitan area, in some cases on swings of 10 percent or more. Overall, the LNP won 78 seats to Labor's seven, the largest majority government in Queensland history. Newman won Ashgrove on a swing of 12.7 percent, almost double what he needed to take the seat off Labor. He was sworn in as premier two days later, heading the state's first non-Labor majority government in 23 years.

Party leaders

Leader	Term	Leader's seat
Campbell Newman	2011–present	Ashgrove
John-Paul Langbroek	2009–2011	Surfers Paradise
Lawrence Springborg	2008–2009	Southern Downs

Parliamentary leaders

Leader	Term	Leader's seat
Campbell Newman	2012–present	Ashgrove
Jeff Seeney (interim)	2011–2012	Callide
John-Paul Langbroek	2009–2011	Surfers Paradise
Lawrence Springborg	2008–2009	Southern Downs

Deputy leaders

Deputy Leader	Term	Deputy's seat
Jeff Seeney	2011–present	Callide
Lawrence Springborg	2009–2011	Southern Downs
Mark McArdle	2008–2009	Caloundra

See also

• Clive Palmer
• Liberal-National party merger
• Queensland state election, 2012
• Young LNP – youth division of party

External links

• Official website