New South Wales Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division)
Leader	Gladys Berejiklian
President	Philip Ruddock
Founded	1944 (as United Democratic Party)
Headquarters	East Sydney
Ideology	Liberal conservatism
Political position	Centre-right
National affiliation	Liberal Party of Australia
Legislative Assembly	36 / 93
Legislative Council	13 / 42
NSW Seats in the House of Representatives	16 / 46
NSW Seats in the Senate	3 / 12
NSW Local Councillors	184 / 1,480
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division), commonly known as the New South Wales Liberals, is the state division of the Liberal Party of Australia in New South Wales. The party currently governs in New South Wales in coalition with the National Party of Australia (NSW). The party is part of the federal Liberal Party which governs nationally in Coalition with the National Party of Australia.

The party traces its roots to August 1944, when the Democratic Party and Liberal Democratic Party, which had both emerged from the remains of the NSW branch of the United Australia Party, merged as the United Democratic Party. A year later, with the formation of the federal Liberal Party, the UDP became the NSW branch of the new party.

In the 66 years since its foundation the party has won seven state elections to the Labor Party's 13, and has spent 20 years in office (1965 to 1976, 1988 to 1995 and 2011 to the present) to Labor's 46. Seven leaders have become Premier of New South Wales; of those, four, Sir Robert Askin, Nick Greiner, Barry O'Farrell and Mike Baird, have won at least one state election.

Parliamentary party leaders

Leader of the Liberal Party
Incumbent The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP since 23 January 2017
Inaugural holder	Reginald Weaver
Formation	20 April 1945
Deputy	The Hon. Dominic Perrottet MP

The position of leader of the Liberal Party of Australia New South Wales Division is a formal role held by a Liberal member of the Parliament of New South Wales. As the Liberal Party has, since its foundation in 1945, been either the largest or second largest party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, its leader is usually either the Premier or the Leader of the Opposition, depending on the majority or minority respectively of the party. The current leader of the Liberal Party is Gladys Berejiklian, and the deputy leader is Dominic Perrottet. Both have served in those roles since 23 January 2017. Berejiklian is currently Premier of New South Wales, a post she has held since 23 January 2017.

The role is selected by state members of the parliamentary party, but the position is non-fixed in duration, and is usually only vacated upon resignation, retirement from politics, or a spill motion with the support of the majority of the parliamentary members.

The leader only has a role in a parliamentary context; the party division as a whole is governed by a President and Vice-Presidents, who act on the advice of the party division's Director and Deputy Directors. The division also gathers annually at a State Conference to vote on and develop policy to be used by the party's elected representatives. The majority of the twenty Liberal Leaders have been deposed, either after losing elections or when their colleagues determined they could not win an election.

#	Party leader	Assumed office	Left office	Premier	Reason for departure	Time in office
1	Reginald Weaver	20 April 1945	12 November 1945		Death in office	206 days
2	Alexander Mair	13 November 1945	20 March 1946	1939–1941	Resignation; Premier under UAP	127 days
3	Sir Vernon Treatt	20 March 1946	10 August 1954		Resignation	8 years, 143 days
4	Murray Robson	17 August 1954	20 September 1955		Deposed	1 year, 34 days
5	Pat Morton	20 September 1955	17 July 1959		Deposed	3 years, 300 days
6	Sir Robert Askin	17 July 1959	3 January 1975	1965–1975	Retirement	15 years, 170 days
7	Tom Lewis	3 January 1975	23 January 1976	1975–1976	Deposed	1 year, 20 days
8	Sir Eric Willis	23 January 1976	16 December 1977	1976	Resignation	1 year, 327 days
9	Peter Coleman	16 December 1977	7 October 1978		Loss of seat at 1978 election	295 days
10	John Mason	24 October 1978	29 May 1981		Deposed	2 years, 217 days
11	Bruce McDonald	1 June 1981	12 October 1981		Loss of seat at 1981 election	133 days
12	John Dowd	20 October 1981	15 March 1983		Resignation	1 year, 146 days
13	Nick Greiner	15 March 1983	24 June 1992	1988–1992	Resignation prior to no confidence motion	9 years, 101 days
14	John Fahey	24 June 1992	4 April 1995	1992–1995	Resignation following 1995 election	2 years, 284 days
15	Peter Collins	4 April 1995	7 December 1998		Deposed	3 years, 247 days
16	Kerry Chikarovski	7 December 1998	28 March 2002		Deposed	3 years, 111 days
17	John Brogden	28 March 2002	29 August 2005		Resignation	3 years, 154 days
18	Peter Debnam	1 September 2005	4 April 2007		Resignation following 2007 election	1 year, 218 days
19	Barry O'Farrell	4 April 2007	16 April 2014	2011–2014	Resignation	7 years, 9 days
20	Mike Baird	17 April 2014	23 January 2017	2014–2017	Resignation	2 years, 282 days
21	Gladys Berejiklian	23 January 2017	present	2017–present		7 years, 293 days

Deputy leaders

Party Leader	Start of Term	End of Term
Athol Richardson	1945	1945
Vernon Treatt	1946	1946
Walter Howarth	1946	1954
Robert Askin	1954	1959
Eric Willis	1959	1975
John Maddison	1975	1977
John Mason	1977	1978
Bruce McDonald	1978	1981
Jim Cameron	1981	1981
Kevin Rozzoli	1981	1983
Rosemary Foot	1983	1986
Peter Collins	1986	1992
Bruce Baird	1992	1994
Kerry Chikarovski	1994	1995
Ron Phillips	1995	1999
Barry O'Farrell	1999	2002
Chris Hartcher	2002	2003
Barry O'Farrell	2003	2007
Jillian Skinner	2007	2014
Gladys Berejiklian	2014	2017
Dominic Perrottet	2017	present

Election results

Election	Seats won	±	Total votes	%	Position	Leader
1944	12 / 90	2	239,610	18.91%	Opposition	Reginald Weaver
1947	18 / 90	6	470,485	29.60%	Opposition	Vernon Treatt
1950	29 / 94	11	604,428	37.51%	Opposition	Vernon Treatt
1953	22 / 94	9	432,739	27.94%	Opposition	Vernon Treatt
1956	27 / 94	5	594,740	35.11%	Opposition	Pat Morton
1959	28 / 94	1	603,718	35.35%	Opposition	Pat Morton
1962	25 / 94	3	671,716	34.85%	Opposition	Bob Askin
1965	31 / 94	6	807,868	39.59%	Minority Coalition	Bob Askin
1968	39 / 94	4	831,514	38.47%	Coalition	Bob Askin
1971	32 / 96	7	799,801	35.74%	Coalition	Bob Askin
1973	34 / 99	2	843,325	33.85%	Coalition	Bob Askin
1976	30 / 99	4	978,886	36.29%	Opposition	Eric Willis
1978	18 / 99	12	754,796	26.98	Opposition	Peter Coleman
1981	14 / 99	4	775,463	27.62%	Opposition	Bruce McDonald
1984	22 / 99	8	967,395	32.17%	Opposition	Nick Greiner
1988	39 / 109	17	1,147,613	35.80%	Coalition	Nick Greiner
1991	32 / 99	7	1,053,100	34.16%	Minority Coalition	Nick Greiner
1995	29 / 99	3	1,121,190	32.84%	Opposition	John Fahey
1999	20 / 93	9	927,368	24.82%	Opposition	Kerry Chikarovski
2003	20 / 93	0	944,888	24.72%	Opposition	John Brogden
2007	22 / 93	2	1,061,269	26.94%	Opposition	Peter Debnam
2011	51 / 93	29	1,602,457	38.58%	Coalition	Barry O'Farrell
2015	37 / 93	14	1,545,168	35.08%	Coalition	Mike Baird

See also

• National Party of Australia – NSW