31-561: William Everett Sykes (born 3 October 1948) is an Australian politician. He was the Nationals member of the Victorian parliament, representing Benalla , from 2002 to 2014, after a career as a veterinarian and businessman. Sykes was also a Victorian Football League (VFL) footballer, playing 48 games of football for Fitzroy , and later coaching Shepparton , Benalla and Benalla & District junior football teams. As well as being
62-641: A mixed farm on scientific principles, while Paterson also bred Clydesdale horses . He joined the Victorian Farmers' Union in 1916 as a member of the Springfield branch, and was elected vice-president in 1920 and state president in 1922. Paterson joined the Victorian Farmers' Union in 1916, became its president in March 1922 and in November 1922 chaired a conference that led to the creation of
93-779: A leading role in the creation of the Victorian Country Party as the political arm of the Victorian Farmers' Union . Paterson was born on 20 November 1882 in Aston , Birmingham , England. He was the son of Scottish parents Elizabeth Mitchell (née Donald) and George Paterson. Paterson attended King Edward's School, Birmingham , and Ayr Grammar School in Scotland. He left school after his father's death in 1897 and began working for footwear retailer Morton's, his father's former employer. He worked in England and Scotland as
124-439: A major upset, Labor 's Denise Allen narrowly defeated Sykes to become the first Labor member ever to win the seat. Labor was re-elected in a landslide in the 2002 election , yet Sykes won Benalla back with only 26% of the primary vote to give a 52% two party preferred vote over Allen. He won the seat on the third count when Liberal candidate Andrew Dwyer's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him. The seat reverted to form at
155-662: A member of parliament, Sykes and his wife Sally also run a beef cattle and sheep property just out of Benalla. Together, the Sykes have been involved in a wide range of community activities including school councils, youth groups, sporting clubs, Landcare , fire brigade and the Victorian Farmers Federation . Sykes was also instrumental in the establishment of the Benalla Trust Foundation, a trust to assist local people in times of crisis, and
186-711: A new Coalition agreement with the Liberals. The Liberals and Nationals fought the 1992 , 1996 and 1999 elections as a Coalition under Jeff Kennett . The Liberals actually won majorities in their own right in 1992 and 1996. Although Kennett thus had no need for the support of the Nationals, he retained the Coalition, with McNamara as Deputy Premier. However, after the Kennett government's shock defeat in 1999, McNamara's successor as Nationals leader, Peter Ryan , tore up
217-674: A political activity of the Victorian Farmer's Union , which became involved in state politics in 1916. It was then known as the Country Party for many years, until becoming "The Nationals" in 1975. In state parliament it is presently the junior partner in a centre-right Coalition with the Liberal Party , forming a joint Opposition bench. During periods of conservative government, the party's leader also serves as Deputy Premier of Victoria . The candidates sponsored by
248-680: A shoe salesman and branch manager, resigning in 1908 in order to immigrate to Australia. Prior to leaving he worked on a farm and attended the Dairy School in Kilmarnock in order to gain experience in agriculture. Together with four other family members, Paterson arrived in Melbourne in December 1908. They joined two of his brothers who had previously established a dairy farming property at Springfield, Victoria . The brothers developed
279-480: A single block. "United" was dropped from the name in March 1947. The party has had a strained relationship with the Liberal Party of Australia for most of the time since the creation of the latter party in 1944. Following the sacking of Country Party leader John McDonald as Deputy Premier by the Liberals in 1948, in March 1949, the Liberals dissolved and formed the Liberal and Country Party, attempting to merge
310-522: A subsidy for dairy exports to be paid for by a tax on Australian consumers and known by opponents as "Paterson's Curse" (referring to the Australian name for Echium plantagineum ). £20 million were paid under this scheme between 1926 and 1933. Paterson was Minister for Markets and Migration from June 1926 to January 1928, Minister for Markets from January to December 1928 and Minister for Markets and Transport from December 1928 to October 1929. He
341-773: The Victorian Farmers' Union from 1916 initially used the same name but in parliament also called themselves the Country Party . The Country Progressive Party split from the party in April 1926. In 1927 the VFU reorganised and renamed as the Victorian Country Party . The CPP and VCP combined in September 1930 as the United Country Party . In 1937, United Country Party federal MP John McEwen
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#1732786809780372-647: The 1937 elections , as a result of the 1936 controversy over the exclusion from Australia of Mabel Freer , a white British woman born in India, who, under the terms of the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act , had failed a dictation test in Italian . During his time as Minister for the Interior, Paterson was praised by William Cooper of the Australian Aborigines' League for his goodwill and support of
403-569: The 2006 state election , and Sykes held the seat without serious difficulty until his retirement in 2014. National Party of Australia %E2%80%93 Victoria The Victorian National Party , officially known as the National Party of Australia – Victoria , is an Australian political party that serves as the state branch of the federal National Party in Victoria . It represents graziers, farmers, miners and rural voters. It began as
434-532: The Upper House were also likely to slash the Nationals from four members to just one. Ten days prior to the election, Ryan gave what one commentator described the "speech of the campaign thus far" when he lambasted the major parties for their planned actions. "Welcome", he said, "to Survivor Spring Street", an exercise in reality politics in which "associations that in some instances have been developed for years, amount to an absolute hill of beans", one in which
465-532: The 1960s some seats were uncontested, which can distort the vote shares. Thomas Paterson Thomas Paterson (20 November 1882 – 24 January 1952) was an Australian politician who served as deputy leader of the Country Party from 1929 to 1937. He held ministerial office in the governments of Stanley Bruce and Joseph Lyons , representing the Division of Gippsland in Victoria from 1922 to 1943. He played
496-766: The Andrews Government's position 28.9% of the time; of the parties in the Legislative Council, only the Liberal Democratic Party had a lower figure (22.1%). Ongoing leadership instability in the Liberal Party driven by John Pesutto's controversial attitude towards female MPs sparked media speculation in June 2023 that the Nationals might break the coalition to distance themselves from the Liberal infighting. Note that until
527-664: The Benalla Young Sportspersons Trust, a trust that assists promising young athletes to compete in interstate and overseas competitions. When former Nationals leader and deputy premier Pat McNamara retired from politics in 2000, Sykes ran as the Nationals' candidate in the ensuring by-election . On paper, Sykes had a significant advantage. Benalla was one of the most conservative seats in Victoria; it had been in National hands for all but nine years since 1920 and without interruption since 1943. However, in
558-476: The Coalition agreement. The Nationals were steadily re-defining themselves as a party distinct from the Liberals. Soon after Ryan took over the leadership, they rebranded themselves as the " VicNats ." Ryan uttered several sharp criticisms of the Liberals' most prominent figures, particularly their no-tolls policy on the Melbourne Eastlink freeway and on former leader Robert Doyle 's remarks that
589-583: The League's requests for greater government assistance to Aboriginal people. Paterson remained prominent in Country Party affairs and helped form a breakaway party from the Victorian Country Party that was loyal to the federal parliamentary Country Party in March 1938. He helped reconcile the federal and Victorian parties in 1943, but did not stand for re-election in 1943 elections . Paterson married Elsie Jane Tyrrell in 1908, one day before
620-583: The Liberals and the Victorian branch of the Country Party together. This was seen by McDonald as a takeover attempt of the Country Party. Six Country MPs defected and joined the new party, which in 1965 became simply known as the Liberals. While its federal counterpart has been in Coalition with the Liberals and their predecessors for all but a few years since 1923, the Victorian Country (and later Nationals) branch fought elections separately from
651-565: The Liberals from 1952 to 1989. Even the presence of Victorian John McEwen as federal Country Party leader and the number-two man in the government from 1958 to 1971 didn't heal the breach. On 24 July 1975 the party changed its name to the National Party , following the Queensland branch who had made the change the previous year. Pat McNamara became leader of the Victorian Nationals in 1988, and two years later reached
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#1732786809780682-578: The Liberals were twenty seats from government, a statement that assumed that the Nationals would support a Liberal government. In mid-2000, McNamara left the parliament and his hitherto safe seat of Benalla was also lost to the ALP. At the 2002 election , the Nationals received 4.3% of the primary vote, maintaining their seven seats in the Assembly and four seats in the Council; the combined total of eleven
713-556: The Nationals from power in 1999), an event which Ryan described as "an impossible dream". Premier Steve Bracks resigned unexpectedly in July 2007. Unlike the Liberal leader, Ted Baillieu , Ryan commended Bracks on his parliamentary career and thanked him for his professionalism. This action is in step with what one commentator describes as "an unprecedented warm relationship with the state Labor Government", which includes reciprocating support for committee chairs. The Nationals stayed on
744-794: The Victorian Country Party . He stood unsuccessfully for the Senate in the 1919 elections and for the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1920 but in 1922 elections he won the federal seat of Gippsland , defeating the Nationalist George Wise . His victory was one of several Country Party gains that forced the Nationalists to go into Coalition with the Country Party in order to stay in office. In parliament , he campaigned for
775-745: The couple migrated to Australia. The couple had two sons; their younger son Archibald was a decorated Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) member but drowned in 1945. Paterson was an elder in the Presbyterian Church . After leaving politics he served as a director of the Phosphate Cooperative Company of Australia and the Victorian Wheat-Growers' Corporation. He died at his home in McKinnon on 24 January 1952, after an illness of three months. He
806-402: The crossbench until 2008, when they formed a Coalition with the Liberals under Ted Baillieu . The renewed Coalition narrowly won the 2010 state election , but was ousted after one term in 2014 . The Coalition arrangement was maintained while the two parties were in opposition. According to The Age, between November 2018 and November 2021, the Coalition's Legislative Council members voted with
837-472: The support offered through long-standing political partnership "is thrown back in your face". The Nationals went on to increase their primary vote to 5.17%, winning two seats in the Assembly which were offset by two losses in the Legislative Council (the upper house). One notable victory was in Mildura , where Peter Crisp defeated the incumbent Russell Savage (one of the three independents who had removed
868-453: The way that this fellow will be treated and reviled for the rest of his days. And justifiably so." Many commentators had stated that The Nationals were facing electoral oblivion at the 2006 election , especially when rumours emerged of a possible preference deal between the Liberals and the ALP which would favour the Liberals against the Nationals, and the ALP against the Greens . Changes to
899-571: Was deputy leader of the parliamentary Country Party from 1929 to 1937, under Earle Page , and was acting leader for several months in 1933 following the death of Page's son. He was appointed Minister for the Interior in the Lyons coalition government in November 1934. Also in November 1934 he made an exclusion order against Czech writer Egon Kisch which was later overturned by the High Court. He resigned as minister and deputy party leader after
930-631: Was expelled from the state branch for accepting a ministry in the Lyons - Page Coalition government. Following a tumultuous party conference in 1938, another federal MP, Thomas Paterson , led a hundred McEwen supporters to form the Liberal Country Party (LCP), a new party loyal to the federal party. In April 1943, the LCP reconciled with the UCP. In the state election in June , the two parties notionally fielded separate candidates but formed
961-533: Was the minimum required to maintain Third Party status. However, they did manage to win back Benalla despite the ALP landslide; the only seat the ALP lost at that election. Relations with the Liberal Party soured further at the beginning of 2006 when Senator Julian McGauran defected from the Nationals to the Liberals. Federal party leader Mark Vaile accused McGauran of betrayal. Ryan was equally unsparing, saying of McGauran, "People treat deserters exactly in