Western Australian Party

The Western Australian Party (WAP) was a short-lived Australian political party that operated in 1906. It was intended as a liberal party to protect the rights of Western Australians and to oppose the increasingly successful Labour Party, and drew its supporters from the Protectionist Party and the Anti-Socialist Party. John Forrest, a minister in Alfred Deakin's government, accepted the leadership of the party. Candidates were endorsed for all electorates in the 1906 federal election, including Forrest, but by the time of the election enthusiasm for the venture had diffused, and Forrest did not run under its banner. However, the party did elect one member, William Hedges, as the member for Fremantle; he remained officially a member of the WAP, although he sat as an independent and, like Forrest, joined the Commonwealth Liberal Party when it formed.