161-601: The United Australia Party ( UAP ) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party . It provided two prime ministers : Joseph Lyons ( 1932–1939 ) and Robert Menzies ( 1939–1941 ). The UAP was created in the aftermath of the 1931 split in the Australian Labor Party . Six fiscally conservative Labor MPs left
322-399: A Royal Commission to investigate Theodore's financial dealings as Premier. The Commission found that Theodore and another former Queensland Premier William McCormack , had corruptly profited by authorising the purchase by the state of a copper mine at Mungana while concealing the fact that they had a financial interest in the mine, which furthermore was not economically viable. In July 1930
483-556: A liberal - conservative divide, or around religious disputes. The spread of the party model of politics was accelerated by the 1848 Revolutions around Europe. The strength of political parties in the United States waned during the Era of Good Feelings , but shifted and strengthened again by the second half of the 19th century. This was not the only country in which the strength of political parties had substantially increased by
644-456: A party chair , who may be different people from the party leader. These executive organizations may serve to constrain the party leader, especially if that leader is an autocrat. It is common for political parties to conduct major leadership decisions, like selecting a party executive and setting their policy goals, during regular party conferences . Much as party leaders who are not in power are usually at least nominally competing to become
805-463: A single-member district electoral system tend to have very few parties, whereas countries that use proportional representation tend to have more. The number of parties in a country can also be accurately estimated based on the magnitude of a country's electoral districts and the number of seats in its legislature. An informative way to classify the party systems of the world is by how many parties they include. Because some party systems include
966-591: A Labor government under John Curtin . Fadden continued on as Leader of the Opposition , with Billy Hughes replacing Menzies as UAP leader. Hughes resigned after the 1943 election , and Menzies subsequently returned as UAP leader and Leader of the Opposition. The UAP ceased to exist as a parliamentary party in February 1945, when its members joined the new Liberal Party of Australia . The contemporary United Australia Party has no connection or relationship with
1127-810: A bowling green, tennis courts, a dispensary and a maternity hospital. Due to his success in Fiji, Theodore was approached by the British administrations in Borneo and the Solomon Islands to lead prospecting expeditions. Neither were successful, and he contracted malaria while in Borneo; upon his return, he was presented with a tabua (polished whale's tooth) and elevated to the chiefly rank of ratu . Theodore took up full-time residence in Fiji, returning to Australia only for business trips and trout-fishing. He had
1288-416: A candidate in one electoral district has an incentive to assist a similar candidate in a different district. Thus, political parties can be mechanisms for preventing candidates with similar goals from acting to each other's detriment when campaigning or governing. This might help explain the ubiquity of parties: if a group of candidates form a party and are harming each other less, they may perform better over
1449-543: A candidate to victory in an election. Some scholars argue that the first modern political parties developed in early modern Britain in the 17th century, after the Exclusion Crisis and the Glorious Revolution . The Whig faction originally organized itself around support for Protestant constitutional monarchy as opposed to absolute rule , whereas the conservative Tory faction (originally
1610-527: A coma, Theodore died at his flat in Edgecliff on 9 February 1950, at the age of 65. His funeral was held at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney , with the mass celebrated by his friend James Duhig , Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane. He was buried at South Head Cemetery . Theodore married Esther Mahoney on 20 December 1909. She worked as a photographic tinter and was the daughter of a cabinetmaker from Toowoomba . The couple had two sons and two daughters. She
1771-403: A community of party members. Parties in democracies usually select their party leadership in ways that are more open and competitive than parties in autocracies, where the selection of a new party leader is likely to be tightly controlled. In countries with large sub-national regions, particularly federalist countries, there may be regional party leaders and regional party members in addition to
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#17327656895961932-496: A consequence of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Australia was ill-prepared for war. A National Security Act was passed, the recruitment of a volunteer military force for service at home and abroad was announced, the 2nd Australian Imperial Force , and a citizen militia was organised for local defence. Troubled by Britain's failure to increase defences at Singapore, Menzies was cautious in committing troops to Europe, nevertheless in 1940–41, Australian forces played prominent roles in
2093-532: A country with multiple competitive parties is not necessarily democratic, and the politics of many autocratic countries are organized around one dominant political party. The ubiquity and strength of political parties in nearly every modern country has led researchers to remark that the existence of political parties is almost a law of politics, and to ask why parties appear to be such an essential part of modern states. Political scientists have therefore come up with several explanations for why political parties are
2254-403: A daily or Sunday newspaper for three years. Theodore invested most of his profits back into Associated Newspapers, buying shares at a low price and selling them later for a 500–600% return. He and Frank Packer subsequently decided to create a new weekly magazine for women, which they titled The Australian Women's Weekly . George Warnecke , an ALP acquaintance of Theodore's, was appointed as
2415-495: A day of prayer, on which Prime Minister Fadden broadcast to the nation an exhortation to be united in the ‘supreme task of defeating the forces of evil in the world". With the Pacific on the brink of war, Opposition leader John Curtin offered friendship and co-operation to Fadden, but refused to join in an all-party wartime national government. Coles and Wilson were angered at how Menzies had been treated, and on 3 October voted with
2576-679: A decade earlier, the party and its organisation now seemed moribund, particularly in NSW. UAP branches tended to become inactive between elections, and its politicians were seen as compromised by their reliance on large donations from business and financial organisations. In New South Wales, the party merged with the Commonwealth Party to form the Democratic Party , which merged with the Liberal Democratic Party
2737-413: A democracy will often affiliate with a specific political party. Party membership may include paying dues, an agreement not to affiliate with multiple parties at the same time, and sometimes a statement of agreement with the party's policies and platform. In democratic countries, members of political parties often are allowed to participate in elections to choose the party leadership. Party members may form
2898-456: A democracy. There have been periods of government exclusively or entirely by one party in some countries that are often considered to have been democratic, and which had no official legal barriers to the inclusion of other parties in the government; this includes recent periods in Botswana , Japan , Mexico , Senegal , and South Africa . It can also occur that one political party dominates
3059-559: A few weeks earlier, this cost Scullin his majority. In November, the UAP and Langites rose to defeat the government on a non-confidence motion, and an election was held in December. Theodore had no base of support in Sydney and he lost his seat to Lang candidate Sol Rosevear . This ended Theodore's political career, although during the 1930s several offers were made to him to return. He was
3220-675: A full-fledged Coalition. The Lyons government followed the conservative economic policies it had promised in opposition, and benefited politically from the gradual worldwide economic recovery as the 1930s went on. Lyons favoured the tough economic measures of the "Premiers' Plan", pursued an orthodox fiscal policy and refused to accept NSW Premier Jack Lang's proposals to default on overseas debt repayments. A dramatic episode in Australian history followed Lyons' first electoral victory when NSW Premier Jack Lang refused to pay interest on overseas State debts. The Lyons government stepped in and paid
3381-426: A large membership base. Further, mass parties prioritize the mobilization of voters and are more centralized than elite parties. The term "catch-all party" was developed by German-American political scientist Otto Kirchheimer to describe the parties that developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of changes within the mass parties. The term "big tent party" may be used interchangeably. Kirchheimer characterized
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#17327656895963542-485: A large number of parties that have a very low probability of winning elections, it is often useful to think about the effective number of parties (the number of parties weighted by the strength of those parties) rather than the literal number of registered parties. In a non-partisan system, no political parties exist, or political parties are not a major part of the political system. There are very few countries without political parties . In some non-partisan countries,
3703-401: A large number of political parties around the world, not all political parties have an organizing ideology, or exist to promote ideological policies. For example, some political parties may be clientelistic or patronage -based organizations, which are largely concerned with distributing goods. Other political parties may be created as tools for the advancement of an individual politician. It
3864-555: A larger membership, greater stability over time, and a deeper connection to the electorate. The idea of people forming large groups or factions to advocate for their shared interests is ancient. Plato mentions the political factions of Classical Athens in the Republic , and Aristotle discusses the tendency of different types of government to produce factions in the Politics . Certain ancient disputes were also factional, like
4025-495: A major upheaval in their politics and have not yet returned to a stable system of political parties. For example, the United States began as a non-partisan democracy, and it evolved a stable system of political parties over the course of many decades. A country's party system may also dissolve and take time to re-form, leaving a period of minimal or no party system, such as in Peru following the regime of Alberto Fujimori . However, it
4186-629: A majority in its own right. However, the five MPs elected from the Emergency Committee of South Australia , which stood in place of the UAP and Country Party in South Australia, joined the UAP party room, giving the UAP a bare majority of two seats. When negotiations with Page broke down, Lyons formed an exclusively UAP government. In 1934, the UAP lost six seats, forcing Lyons to take the Country Party into his government in
4347-630: A member of the ALP, Lyons supported a no confidence motion against the Scullin Labor government. Soon afterward, Lyons, Fenton and four other right-wing Labor MPs— Moses Gabb , Allan Guy , Charles McGrath and John Price —resigned from the ALP in protest of the Scullin government's economic policies. Five of the six Labor dissidents—all except Gabb—formed the All for Australia League and crossed over to
4508-404: A minor gold rush, but by the end of 1936 the three mines were the only ones remaining. By 1943 Loloma alone had yielded $ 10 million worth of gold and paid over $ 2 million in dividends. Theodore took a keen interest in the welfare of the miners. He advised the government on the creation of medical benefits and workers' compensation schemes, while the company town had three schools, a golf course,
4669-399: A nearly universal political phenomenon. One of the core explanations for the existence of political parties is that they arise from pre-existing divisions among people: society is divided in a certain way, and a party is formed to organize that division into the electoral competition. By the 1950s, economists and political scientists had shown that party organizations could take advantage of
4830-511: A number of countries, particularly longstanding European democracies. Political scientists have distinguished between different types of political parties that have evolved throughout history. These include elite parties, mass parties, catch-all parties and cartel parties. Elite parties were political elites that were concerned with contesting elections and restricted the influence of outsiders, who were only required to assist in election campaigns. Mass parties tried to recruit new members who were
4991-438: A particular ideology. However, many political parties have no ideological affiliation, and may instead be primarily engaged in patronage , clientelism , the advancement of a specific political entrepreneur , or be a " big tent ", in that they wish to attract voters who have a variety of positions on issues. Political parties are collective entities and activities that organize competitions for political offices. The members of
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5152-406: A party almost completely bereft of leadership. With no obvious successor to Menzies, the UAP was forced to turn to the 79-year-old former prime minister Billy Hughes as its new leader. With Menzies out and the aged Hughes seen as a stop-gap leader, UAP members jostled for position. The UAP had first won power by winning the 1931 election before losing government on the floor of parliament in 1941
5313-540: A party split and several defections to Lang Labor and the United Australia Party . Theodore was only 47 when he left politics, and went on to have a successful business career as a partner of Frank Packer . Theodore was born on 29 December 1884 in Port Adelaide, South Australia , the second of six children born to Annie (née Tanner) and Basil Stephen Theodore. His parents had met in 1882, on
5474-406: A partyroom meeting to determine whether the party should form a united opposition with the Country Party or go it alone. His preferred option was the latter, and he had intended to re-contest the leadership if he was successful. However, the party voted 19–12 to form a united opposition under the leadership of Fadden. Although the UAP had been in government for a decade, Menzies' resignation revealed
5635-417: A phenonmenon observable among European Green parties during their transformation from radical environmentalist movements to mainstream centre-left parties. An Entrepreneurial party is a political party that is centered on a political entrepreneur , and dedicated to the advancement of that person or their policies. While some definitions of political parties state that a party is an organization that advances
5796-440: A political party contest elections under a shared label. In a narrow definition, a political party can be thought of as just the group of candidates who run for office under a party label. In a broader definition, political parties are the entire apparatus that supports the election of a group of candidates, including voters and volunteers who identify with a particular political party, the official party organizations that support
5957-820: A realistic chance of competing to form government. One current example of a two-party system is the United States , where the national government has for much of the country's history exclusively been controlled by either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party . Other examples of countries which have had long periods of two-party dominance include Colombia , Uruguay , Malta , and Ghana . Two-party systems are not limited to democracies; they may be present in authoritarian regimes as well. Competition between two parties has occurred in historical autocratic regimes in countries including Brazil and Venezuela . A democracy's political institutions can shape
6118-498: A record 23 years. Note: the United Australia Party did not run candidates in South Australia in 1931. The Emergency Committee of South Australia was the main anti-Labor party, but five MPs elected under that banner joined the parliamentary UAP after the election. Political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections . It
6279-419: A residence 10 miles (16 km) outside of Suva , and while at the mines lived in a bure . In March 1939, Prime Minister Joseph Lyons cabled Theodore in Fiji, asking him to return to Australia and co-ordinate the country's national resources for defence purposes. However due to Lyons' defection from Labor being a key contributor to Theodore's political demise, Theodore therefore declined, stating that "in
6440-412: A single best policy choice without some institution constraining their options. Another prominent explanation for why political parties exist is psychological: parties may be necessary for many individuals to participate in politics because they provide a massively simplifying heuristic , which allows people to make informed choices with much less mental effort than if voters had to consciously evaluate
6601-558: A smaller group can be a feature of party leadership transitions in more autocratic countries, where the existence of political parties may be severely constrained to only one legal political party, or only one competitive party. Some of these parties, like the Chinese Communist Party , have rigid methods for selecting the next party leader, which involves selection by other party members. A small number of single-party states have hereditary succession, where party leadership
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6762-405: A source of party income and were often expected to spread party ideology as well as assist in elections. In the United States, where both major parties were elite parties, the introduction of primaries and other reforms has transformed them so that power is held by activists who compete over influence and nomination of candidates. An elite party is a type of political party that was dominant in
6923-479: A specific set of ideological or policy goals, many political parties are not primarily motivated by ideology or policy, and instead exist to advance the career of a specific political entrepreneur . Political ideologies are one of the major organizing features of political parties, and parties often officially align themselves with specific ideologies. Parties adopt ideologies for a number of reasons. Ideological affiliations for political parties send signals about
7084-692: A statement explaining that the offer had been made entirely by the Loan Council and would have to be ratified by cabinet. Theodore eventually agreed in February 1942 to oversee the creation of the Allied Works Council , with himself as Director-General of Allied Works. He subsequently established the Civil Constructional Corps (CCC) to undertake construction work requested by the military. Theodore faced criticism and political interference from his former opponents in
7245-465: A sub-national region of a democratic country that has a competitive national party system; one example is the southern United States during much of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the Democratic Party had almost complete control, with the Southern states being functionally one-party regimes, though opposition parties were never prohibited. In several countries, there are only two parties that have
7406-476: A very large portion of society and it can play substantial roles in civil society that are not necessarily directly related to political governance; one example of this is the Chinese Communist Party . Bans on competing parties can also ensure that only one party can ever realistically hold power, even without completely outlawing all other political parties. For example, in North Korea , more than one party
7567-576: A very popular leader (Lyons had a genial manner and the common touch), the UAP won the elections in December 1931 in a massive landslide which saw the two wings of the Labor Party cut down to 18 seats between them, and Lyons became Prime Minister in January 1932. He took office at the helm of a UAP majority government. The UAP initially hoped to renew the non-Labor Coalition with the Country Party of Earle Page after coming up four seats short of
7728-661: A wage increase for miners at Arltunga . He then decided to try his luck at Broken Hill, New South Wales . In 1906 he left for Cairns , Queensland where he prospected for tin in the Chillagoe area and worked in the Vulcan Mine in Irvinebank . It was among the unorganised workers of Stannary Hills and Irvinebank that the Amalgamated Workers' Association of North Queensland was born. Theodore founded
7889-628: A way that does not conform to the dominant economic left-right divide in politics, in turn emphasising issues that do not attain prominence within the other parties. Further, niche parties do not respond to changes in public opinion to the extent that mainstream parties do. Examples of niche parties include Green parties and extreme nationalist parties, such as the National Rally in France. However, over time these parties may grow in size and shed some of their niche qualities as they become larger,
8050-666: A well-to-do family connected with the Romanian nobility. He and his brother travelled to London in their youth, where they learned English. His parents had intended that he follow his father into the Romanian Orthodox priesthood, but he quit divinity school to join the British Merchant Navy . Theodore's mother was born in Manchester , England, and descended from Irish immigrants. Her father died when she
8211-521: Is also common, in countries with important social cleavages along ethnic or racial lines, to represent the interests of one ethnic group or another. This may involve a non-ideological attachment to the interests of that group, or may be a commitment based on an ideology like identity politics . While any of these types of parties may be ideological, there are political parties that do not have any organizing ideology. Political parties are ubiquitous across both democratic and autocratic countries, and there
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#17327656895968372-423: Is also possible – albeit rare – for countries with no bans on political parties, and which have not experienced a major disruption, to nevertheless have no political parties: there are a small number of pacific island democracies, such as Palau , where political parties are permitted to exist and yet parties are not an important part of national politics. In a one-party system , power
8533-495: Is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics , and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country, as modern party organizations developed and spread around the world over the last few centuries. Although some countries have no political parties , this is extremely rare. Most countries have several parties while others only have one . Parties are important in
8694-576: Is held entirely by one political party. When only one political party exists, it may be the result of a ban on the formation of any competing political parties, which is a common feature in authoritarian states. For example, the Communist Party of Cuba is the only permitted political party in Cuba , and is the only party that can hold seats in the legislature. When only one powerful party is legally permitted to exist, its membership can grow to contain
8855-407: Is inherited by the child of an outgoing party leader. Autocratic parties use more restrictive selection methods to avoid having major shifts in the regime as a result of successions. In both democratic and non-democratic countries, the party leader is often the foremost member of a larger party leadership. A party executive will commonly include administrative positions, like a party secretary and
9016-408: Is largely insignificant as parties use the resources of the state to maintain their position within the political system. Niche parties are a type of political party that developed on the basis of the emergence of new cleavages and issues in politics, such as immigration and the environment. In contrast to mainstream or catch-all parties, niche parties articulate an often limited set of interests in
9177-526: Is officially permitted to exist and even to seat members in the legislature, but laws ensure that the Workers' Party of Korea retains control. It is also possible for countries with free elections to have only one party that holds power. These cases are sometimes called dominant-party systems or particracies . Scholars have debated whether or not a country that has never experienced a transfer of power from one party to another can nevertheless be considered
9338-399: Is often very little change in which political parties have a chance of holding power in a country from one election to the next. This makes it possible to think about the political parties in a country as collectively forming one of the country's central political institutions , called a party system. Some basic features of a party system are the number of parties and what sorts of parties are
9499-442: Is reduced as catch-all parties are financed in part by the state or by donations. In Europe, the shift of Christian Democratic parties that were organized around religion into broader centre-right parties epitomizes this type. Cartel parties are a type of political party that emerged post-1970s and are characterized by heavy state financing and the diminished role of ideology as an organizing principle. The cartel party thesis
9660-432: Is the ideology that is most closely connected to the history of democracies and is often considered to be the dominant or default ideology of governing parties in much of the contemporary world. Many of the traditional competitors to liberal parties are conservative parties. Socialist, communist, feminist, anarchist, fascist, and nationalist parties are more recent developments, largely entering political competitions only in
9821-750: The 1940 election looming, Menzies lost his Chief of the General Staff and three loyal ministers in the Canberra air disaster . The Labor Party meanwhile experienced a split along pro and anti Communist lines over policy towards the Soviet Union for its co-operation with Nazi Germany in the invasion of Poland; this resulted in the formation of the Non-Communist Labor Party . The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) opposed and sought to disrupt Australia's war effort. Menzies banned
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#17327656895969982-763: The Adelaide docks. In 1900, aged 16, he left for the goldfields of Western Australia, working as a labourer at Lennonville and Peak Hill . He then joined a guano mining crew on the Houtman Abrolhos , where he acquired his lifelong love of fishing. After a while, Theodore returned to the mainland and worked as a gold miner at Day Dawn and Kalgoorlie . He went back to Adelaide for Christmas 1902, and then joined his father on an unsuccessful prospecting expedition to Leigh Creek and Bundaleer , where they had hoped to find copper. Later in 1903, Theodore got his first experience in industrial relations, helping negotiate
10143-670: The Australian Labor Party and subsequently from 1912 to 1925 in Chillagoe (the seat of Woothakata renamed). His position in the AWU made him a power in the Parliamentary Labor Party, and when Labor won a majority in the Assembly for the first time in 1915, he became Treasurer and Secretary for Public Works in the government of T. J. Ryan . In 1919, Ryan resigned and Theodore succeeded him as Premier of Queensland, then Australia's only Labor state government, following
10304-648: The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party . By the early 19th century, a number of countries had developed stable modern party systems. The party system that developed in Sweden has been called the world's first party system, on the basis that previous party systems were not fully stable or institutionalized. In many European countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France, political parties organized around
10465-765: The Nika riots between two chariot racing factions at the Hippodrome of Constantinople . A few instances of recorded political groups or factions in history included the late Roman Republic's Populares and Optimates factions as well as the Dutch Republic's Orangists and the Staatsgezinde . However, modern political parties are considered to have emerged around the end of the 18th century; they are usually considered to have first appeared in Europe and
10626-584: The Royalist or Cavalier faction of the English Civil War ) supported a strong monarchy, and these two groups structured disputes in the politics of the United Kingdom throughout the 18th century The Rockingham Whigs have been identified as the first modern political party, because they retained a coherent party label and motivating principles even while out of power. At the end of
10787-665: The state Labor Party . He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in the Scullin Labor government . Theodore was born in Adelaide , the son of a Romanian immigrant. He left school at the age of 12, and spent the next decade working his way around the country. He arrived in Queensland in 1906, and soon became involved in the labour movement . Theodore was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1909, aged just 24. He
10948-578: The " Mungana affair " forced Theodore's resignation. Without Theodore's leadership and financial skills, the Scullin government drifted into deeper crisis. When it became apparent that the Queensland government did not intend charging Theodore with any offence, Scullin re-appointed him as Treasurer, in January 1931. Lyons and Fenton felt that Scullin should have waited until Theodore had been formally cleared, and resigned from cabinet in protest. Two months later, they and three of their supporters crossed
11109-655: The 1932 Imperial economic conference. The Lyons government lowered interest rates to stimulate expenditure. Another point of difference was the issue of establishing national unemployment insurance. Debate on this issue became strained with the Country Party opposing the plan. On this issue, deputy leader Robert Menzies and Country Party leader Earle Page would have a public falling out. According to author Brian Carroll, Lyons had been underestimated when he assumed office in 1932 and as leader he demonstrated: "a combination of honesty, native shrewdness, tact, administrative ability, common sense, good luck and good humour that kept him in
11270-417: The 19th and 20th centuries. Environmentalism, multiculturalism, and certain types of fundamentalism became prominent towards the end of the 20th century. Parties can sometimes be organized according to their ideology using an economic left–right political spectrum . However, a simple left-right economic axis does not fully capture the variation in party ideologies. Other common axes that are used to compare
11431-789: The ALP, particularly Jack Lang and Eddie Ward , the Minister for Labour and National Service. He requested that the Department of Labour and National Service provide the CCC with lists of men available for work, but Ward refused to allow the information to be issued. The corps had to resort to telephone directories and electoral rolls in order to recruit sufficient workers. Ward then attacked Theodore for calling up elderly and deceased men. In September 1942, Theodore tendered his resignation to Curtin, citing Ward's lack of cooperation. Curtin relaxed political controls and gave him additional powers, including
11592-599: The Amalgamated Workers' Association with Bill McCormack . This union used the process and principle of amalgamation to unify with other unions until it became Australia's largest union, the Australian Workers' Union (AWU). Theodore became Queensland state president of the AWU in 1913. Meanwhile, he had been elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Woothakata from 1909 to 1912 for
11753-865: The CPA after the fall of France in 1940, but by 1941 Stalin was forced to join the allied cause when Hitler reneged on the Pact and invaded the USSR. The USSR came to bear the brunt of the carnage of Hitler's war machine and the Communist Party in Australia lost its early war stigma as a result. At the general election in September 1940, there was a large swing to Labor and the UAP-Country Party coalition lost its majority, continuing in office only because of
11914-491: The Country Party leaving the coalition, but a new coalition agreement was reached in March 1940. The 1940 election resulted in a hung parliament and the formation of a minority government with support from two independents . In August 1941, Menzies was forced to resign as prime minister in favour of Arthur Fadden , the Country Party leader; he in turn survived only 40 days before losing a confidence motion and making way for
12075-597: The Country Party preferred a UAP government to that of a Labor government. The growing threat of war dominated politics through 1939. Menzies supported British policy against Hitler's Germany (negotiate for peace, but prepare for war) and – fearing Japanese intentions in the Pacific ;– established independent embassies in Tokyo and Washington to receive independent advice about developments. Menzies announced Australia's entry into World War Two on 3 September 1939 as
12236-667: The Labor Cabinet and Caucus over economic policy, and grappled with the differing proposals of the Premier's Plan, Lang Labor , the Commonwealth Bank and British adviser Otto Niemeyer . While Health Minister Frank Anstey supported Premier of New South Wales Jack Lang's bid to default on debt repayments, Lyons advocated orthodox fiscal management. When Labor reinstated the more radical Ted Theodore as Treasurer in 1931, Lyons and Fenton resigned from Cabinet. The UAP
12397-662: The Lang Government, who then suffered a landslide loss at the consequent 1932 state election. Australia entered the Depression with a debt crisis and a credit crisis. According to author Anne Henderson of the Sydney Institute , Lyons held a steadfast belief in "the need to balance budgets, lower costs to business and restore confidence" and the Lyons period gave Australia "stability and eventual growth" between
12558-583: The Lyons government tripled its defence budget. On 7 April 1939, with the storm clouds of the Second World War gathering in Europe and the Pacific, Joseph Lyons became the first Prime Minister of Australia to die in office. Driving from Canberra to Sydney, en route to his home in Tasmania for Easter, he suffered a heart attack, dying soon after in hospital in Sydney, on Good Friday. The UAP's Deputy leader, Robert Menzies, had resigned in March, citing
12719-750: The Opposition in the House of Representatives to reject Fadden's budget; Fadden promptly resigned. This became a rare moment in Parliament in which a sitting government is defeated in the House. This did not occur in Australia again for another 78 years. Under the prodding of Governor-General Lord Gowrie , who wanted to avoid calling an election given the dangerous international situation, Coles and Wilson threw their support to Labor. Gowrie then duly swore Curtin in as prime minister on 7 October 1941. Eight weeks later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor . On 9 October, Menzies resigned as UAP leader, but not before calling for
12880-530: The Party as such. [...] To establish a new party under a new name, it is, I think, essential to recognise that the new groups and movements which sprang up in the six months before the election were all expressions of dissatisfaction with the existing set-up. [...] The time between now and the next election is already beginning to run out! On 31 August 1945, the UAP was absorbed into the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia , with Menzies as its leader. The new party
13041-401: The UAP suffered a heavy defeat and Menzies re-entered coalition negotiations with the Country Party. In March 1940, troubled negotiations were concluded with the Country Party to re-enter Coalition with the UAP. The replacement of Earle Page as leader by Archie Cameron allowed Menzies to reach accommodation. A new Coalition ministry was formed including a number of Country Party members. With
13202-528: The UAP to a landslide victory at the 1931 federal election , where the party secured an outright majority in the House of Representatives and was able to form government in its own right. After the 1934 election , the UAP entered into a coalition with the Country Party; it retained government at the 1937 election . After Lyons' death in April 1939, the UAP elected Robert Menzies as its new leader. This resulted in
13363-520: The UAP was ill-prepared for a role in opposition. Curtin proved a popular leader, rallying the nation in the face of the danger of invasion by the Japanese after Japan's entry into the war in December 1941. Even allowing for the advantages a sitting government has in wartime, the Labor government seemed more effective than its predecessor, while Fadden and Hughes were unable to get the better of Curtin. By
13524-426: The UAP with a minority government. In addition to the office of Prime Minister, Menzies served as Treasurer. The First Menzies Ministry included the ageing former Prime Minister Billy Hughes and the young future Prime Minister Harold Holt . Menzies tried and failed to have the issue of national insurance examined by a committee of parliamentarians. Though no longer in formal coalition, his government survived because
13685-444: The UAP. A further split, this time of left-wing NSW Labor MPs who supported the unorthodox economic policies of NSW Premier Jack Lang , cost the Scullin government its parliamentary majority. In November 1931, Lang Labor dissidents broke with the Scullin government and joined with the UAP opposition to pass a no-confidence motion, forcing an early election. With the Labor Party split between Scullin's supporters and Langites, and with
13846-559: The United States of America, with the United Kingdom's Conservative Party and the Democratic Party of the United States both frequently called the world's "oldest continuous political party". Before the development of mass political parties, elections typically featured a much lower level of competition, had small enough polities that direct decision-making was feasible, and held elections that were dominated by individual networks or cliques that could independently propel
14007-549: The War Cabinet ;– but this time the Labor caucus refused to support the plan. Menzies announced to his Cabinet that he thought he should resign and advise the Governor General to invite Curtin to form Government. The Cabinet instead insisted he approach Curtin again to form a war cabinet. Unable to secure Curtin's support, and with an unworkable parliamentary majority, Menzies faced continuing problems with
14168-695: The ability to prosecute men who refused to work. He rescinded his resignation and eventually left the position in October 1944. Theodore was a delegate to the Imperial Press Conference in London in 1946. He resumed his work in Fiji and considered moving there permanently. However, the following year he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition. His health declined rapidly and he began handing business responsibilities to his children; he resigned from ACP in January 1949. After several days in
14329-472: The absence of some emergency involving the national safety, I would like to keep out of politics". In the event however Lyons' offer became moot when he died the following month April before anything could be arranged. In May 1940, the Loan Council offered him the position of coordinator of works. This proved highly controversial among members of the government, and Prime Minister Robert Menzies issued
14490-503: The administration of the war effort and the undermining of his leadership by members of his own coalition. Menzies resigned as prime minister on 29 August 1941, but initially stayed on as UAP leader. Following Menzies' resignation, a joint UAP–Country Party meeting chose Fadden to be his successor as prime minister, even though the Country Party was the junior partner in the coalition. Menzies became Minister for Defence Co-ordination. Australia marked two years of war on 7 September 1941 with
14651-405: The base of the volunteer activists and donors who support political parties during campaigns. The extent of participation in party organizations can be affected by a country's political institutions, with certain electoral systems and party systems encouraging higher party membership. Since at least the 1980s, membership in large traditional party organizations has been steadily declining across
14812-475: The century, the United States also developed a party system, called the First Party System . Although the framers of the 1787 United States Constitution did not all anticipate that American political disputes would be primarily organized around political parties, political controversies in the early 1790s over the extent of federal government powers saw the emergence of two proto-political parties :
14973-438: The claim that parties emerge from existing cleavages, or arguing that the claim is not empirically testable. Others note that while social cleavages might cause political parties to exist, this obscures the opposite effect: that political parties also cause changes in the underlying social cleavages. A further objection is that, if the explanation for where parties come from is that they emerge from existing social cleavages, then
15134-482: The coalition's failure to implement a plan for national insurance . In the absence of a UAP deputy, the Governor-General, Lord Gowrie , appointed Country Party leader Sir Earle Page as his temporary replacement, pending the selection of Lyons' successor by the UAP. Robert Menzies defeated Hughes for the UAP leadership and became Prime Minister on 26 April 1939. Page refused to serve under Menzies, leaving
15295-424: The cognitive burden for people to cast informed votes. However, some evidence suggests that over the last several decades, the strength of party identification has been weakening, so this may be a less important function for parties to provide than it was in the past. Political parties are often structured in similar ways across countries. They typically feature a single party leader, a group of party executives, and
15456-413: The collapse of world trade, on which Australia's export-based economy depended. Theodore, an early advocate of Keynesian economics, favoured deficit spending to rejuvenate the economy. However, Works and Railways Minister Joseph Lyons and Trade Minister James Fenton supported a more traditional, deflationary approach. Meanwhile, a conservative government had taken power in Queensland, and appointed
15617-513: The conservative government of Stanley Bruce and became Prime Minister, while Theodore became Treasurer and de facto Deputy Prime Minister . Two days after the Scullin government was sworn in, the US stock market crashed . The effects of the Great Depression were soon felt in Australia, and the Scullin government, like others, was hard pressed to deal with mounting unemployment and
15778-551: The debts and then passed the Financial Agreement Enforcement Act to recover the money it had paid. In an effort to frustrate this move, Lang ordered State departments to pay all receipts directly to the Treasury instead of into Government bank accounts. The New South Wales Governor , Sir Philip Game , intervened on the basis that Lang had acted illegally in breach of the state Audit Act and sacked
15939-575: The distribution of voters' preferences over political issues, adjusting themselves in response to what voters believe in order to become more competitive. Beginning in the 1960s, academics began identifying the social cleavages in different countries that might have given rise to specific parties, such as religious cleavages in specific countries that may have produced religious parties there. The theory that parties are produced by social cleavages has drawn several criticisms. Some authors have challenged it on empirical grounds, either finding no evidence for
16100-601: The drama of the Depression and the outbreak of the Second World War. A lowering of wages was enforced and industry tariff protections maintained, which together with cheaper raw materials during the 1930s saw a shift from agriculture to manufacturing as the chief employer of the Australian economy – a shift which was consolidated by increased investment by the commonwealth government into defence and armaments manufacture. Lyons saw restoration of Australia's exports as
16261-431: The election of that party's candidates, and legislators in the government who are affiliated with the party. In many countries, the notion of a political party is defined in law, and governments may specify requirements for an organization to legally qualify as a political party. Political parties are distinguished from other political groups or clubs, such as parliamentary groups, because only presidents have control over
16422-622: The electorate. The contributions that citizens give to political parties are often regulated by law, and parties will sometimes govern in a way that favours the people who donate time and money to them. Many political parties are motivated by ideological goals. It is common for democratic elections to feature competitions between liberal , conservative , and socialist parties; other common ideologies of very large political parties include communism , populism , nationalism , and Islamism . Political parties in different countries will often adopt similar colours and symbols to identify themselves with
16583-494: The end of the century; for example, around this time the Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell implemented several methods and structures like party discipline that would come to be associated with strong grassroots political parties. At the beginning of the 20th century in Europe, the liberal–conservative divide that characterized most party systems was disrupted by the emergence of socialist parties, which attracted
16744-411: The entire party, and some voters decide how to vote in elections partly based on how much they like the leaders of the different parties. The number of people involved in choosing party leaders varies widely across parties and across countries. On one extreme, party leaders might be selected from the entire electorate; on the opposite extreme, they might be selected by just one individual. Selection by
16905-494: The establishment of an Agricultural Bank, a cold store, a state cannery, a Cheese Pool, and a wheat board . Orderly marketing and controls on price fluctuations were also carried out to develop agriculture, while the Theodore Government also involved itself in the marketing of Queensland fruit produce. In 1925, Theodore resigned as Premier and stood for the Queensland seat of Herbert in the federal election, but
17066-474: The expected Pacific War . With the threat of Japan imminent and with the Australian army suffering badly in the Greek and Crete campaigns, Menzies re-organised his ministry and announced multiple multi-party committees to advise on war and economic policy. Government critics however called for an all-party government. In August, Cabinet decided that Menzies should travel back to Britain to represent Australia in
17227-474: The fighting in the Mediterranean theatre . A special War Cabinet was created;– initially composed of Menzies and five senior ministers ( RG Casey , GA Street, Senator McLeay, HS Gullet and World War I Prime Minister Billy Hughes). In January 1940, Menzies dispatched potential leadership rival Richard Casey to Washington as Australia's first "Minister to the United States". In a consequent by-election,
17388-783: The first political party in Uganda, and its name was chosen as an homage to the Indian National Congress. As broader suffrage rights and eventually universal suffrage slowly spread throughout democracies, political parties expanded dramatically, and only then did a vision develop of political parties as intermediaries between the full public and the government. Political parties are a nearly ubiquitous feature of modern countries. Nearly all democratic countries have strong political parties, and many political scientists consider countries with fewer than two parties to necessarily be autocratic . However, these sources allow that
17549-608: The floor to the non-Labor opposition, and eventually joined forces with the Nationalists to form the United Australia Party , led by Lyons. During 1931 Theodore faced the greatest economic crisis in Australian history. The government imported an advisor from the Bank of England , Dr Otto Niemeyer , who recommended an "orthodox" solution, including sharp reductions in government spending such as pensions and unemployment benefits. The radical Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang , on
17710-574: The following year. In Queensland the state branch was absorbed into the Queensland People's Party . Menzies became convinced that the UAP was no longer viable, and a new anti-Labor party needed to be formed to replace it. He circulated a confidential memorandum expressing his wish for the UAP to be replaced: The name United Australia Party has fallen into complete disregard. It no longer means anything. Many of my own strongest supporters in my own electorate decline to have anything to do with
17871-668: The formation of parties is explicitly banned by law. The existence of political parties may be banned in autocratic countries in order to prevent a turnover in power. For example, in Saudi Arabia , a ban on political parties has been used as a tool for protecting the monarchy. However, parties are also banned in some polities that have long democratic histories, usually in local or regional elections of countries that have strong national party systems. Political parties may also temporarily cease to exist in countries that have either only been established recently, or that have experienced
18032-663: The former party. Joseph Lyons began his political career as an Australian Labor Party politician and served as Premier of Tasmania . Lyons was elected to the Australian Federal Parliament in 1929 and served in Prime Minister James Scullin 's Labor Cabinet. Lyons became acting Treasurer in 1930 and helped negotiate the government's strategies for dealing with the Great Depression . With Scullin temporarily absent in London, Lyons and acting Prime Minister James Fenton clashed with
18193-602: The founding editor. The new publication proved immensely successful, and in 1936 Theodore and Packer joined forces with Denison to form Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), which became the new publisher of the Women's Weekly and Denison's The Daily Telegraph . Theodore served as chairman of the new company, but "interested himself only in the financial and administrative aspects" while Packer concentrated on publishing. In 1933, Theodore learned that gold had been found in Fiji on
18354-468: The great split in the Labor Party over the issue of conscription in World War I . He was a popular and successful Premier, and soon began to be talked about as a possible federal Labor leader. Important educational measures were implemented, which benefited the handicapped and isolated, adult franchise in local government was introduced, and the upper house of Parliament abolished. Workers benefited from
18515-575: The head of government, the entire party executive may be competing for various positions in the government. For example, in Westminster systems , the largest party that is out of power will form the Official Opposition in parliament, and select a shadow cabinet which (among other functions) provides a signal about which members of the party would hold which positions in the government if the party were to win an election. Citizens in
18676-464: The head of government. In both presidential democracies and parliamentary democracies , the members of a party frequently have substantial input into the selection of party leaders, for example by voting on party leadership at a party conference . Because the leader of a major party is a powerful and visible person, many party leaders are well-known career politicians. Party leaders can be sufficiently prominent that they affect voters' perceptions of
18837-471: The ideologies of political parties include ranges from liberal to authoritarian, from pro-establishment to anti-establishment , and from tolerant and pluralistic (in their behavior while participating in the political arena) to anti-system. Party positions for individual political parties are assessed by different published indices, such as the V-Party Dataset . Though ideologies are central to
18998-937: The introduction of a compulsory unemployment scheme, changes in the Safety and Accommodation Acts, and the Profiteering Prevention Act. Improvements in housing were also secured through amendments to the Savings Bank Act, the Workers' Homes Act, and the Fair Rents Act. Agriculture also received much attention through measures like the Agricultural Education Act, the Irrigation Act, the Main Roads Act, and
19159-530: The introduction of universal suffrage resulted in the creation of worker's parties that later evolved into mass parties; an example is the German Social Democratic Party . These parties represented large groups of citizens who had not previously been represented in political processes, articulating the interests of different groups in society. In contrast to elite parties, mass parties are funded by their members, and rely on and maintain
19320-602: The island of Viti Levu . The area of interest had been pegged by Bill Borthwick and leased by Pat Costello, both of whom had connections with Queensland. Theodore contacted Costello, an old acquaintance, about the find, and offered to finance further exploration of the area. He formed a syndicate with Frank Packer, John Wren , and Wren's associate Patrick Cody, with each of them holding a quarter stake. Geological findings were initially unfavourable. Eventually three mines were established – Emperor, Loloma and Dolphin – with Theodore as managing director of all three. Their success sparked
19481-595: The job longer than any previous Prime Minister except Hughes". Lyons was assisted in his campaigning by his politically active wife, Enid Lyons . She had a busy official role from 1932 to 1939 and, following her husband's death, stood for Parliament herself, becoming Australia's first female Member of the House of Representatives, and later first woman in Cabinet, joining the Menzies Cabinet in 1951. Defence issues became increasingly dominant in public affairs with
19642-487: The key to economic recovery. A devalued Australian currency assisted in restoring a favourable balance of trade. Tariffs had been a point of difference between the Country Party and United Australia Party. The CP opposed high tariffs because they increased costs for farmers, while the UAP had support among manufacturers who supported tariffs. Lyons was therefore happy to be perceived as "protectionist". Australia agreed to give tariff preference to British Empire goods, following
19803-404: The long run than unaffiliated politicians , so politicians with party affiliations will out-compete politicians without parties. Parties can also align their member's incentives when those members are in a legislature. The existence of a party apparatus can help coalitions of electors to agree on ideal policy choices, whereas a legislature of unaffiliated members might never be able to agree on
19964-448: The merits of every candidate individually. Without political parties, electors would have to individually evaluate every candidate in every election. Parties enable electors to make judgments about just a few groups, and then apply their judgment of the party to its entire slate of candidates. Because it is much easier to become informed about a few parties' platforms than the positions of a multitude of independent candidates, parties reduce
20125-440: The most successful. These properties are closely connected to other major features of the country's politics, such as how democratic it is, what sorts of restrictions its laws impose on political parties, and what type of electoral systems it uses. Even in countries where the number of political parties is not officially constrained by law, political institutions affect how many parties are viable. For example, democracies that use
20286-432: The national membership and leadership. Parties are typically led by a party leader , who serves as the main representative of the party and often has primary responsibility for overseeing the party's policies and strategies. The leader of the party that controls the government usually becomes the head of government , such as the president or prime minister , and the leaders of other parties explicitly compete to become
20447-434: The nineteenth century before the introduction of universal suffrage. The French political scientist Maurice Duverger first distinguished between elite and "mass" parties, founding his distinction on the differences within the organisational structures of these two types. Elite parties are characterized by minimal and loose organisation, and are financed by fewer larger monetary contributions typically originating from outside
20608-453: The number of parties that it has. In the 1950s Maurice Duverger observed that single-member district single-vote plurality-rule elections tend to produce two-party systems, and this phenomenon came to be known as Duverger's law . Whether or not this pattern is true has been heavily debated over the last several decades. Some political scientists have broadened this idea to argue that more restrictive political institutions (of which first past
20769-411: The only sitting treasurer to lose his seat until Josh Frydenberg in 2022. Theodore left politics entirely after his defeat. In 1932, Theodore began a business relationship with 25-year-old Frank Packer , the son of newspaper industry veteran R. C. Packer . The duo formed Sydney Newspapers Limited with the aim of acquiring The World , a daily newspaper published by the Australian Workers' Union that
20930-529: The opposition benches. On 7 May, the All for Australia League, the Nationalist opposition (hitherto led by John Latham ) and former Prime Minister Billy Hughes ' Australian Party (a group of former Nationalists who had been expelled for crossing the floor and bringing down Stanley Bruce 's Nationalist government in 1929), merged to form the UAP. Although the new party was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons
21091-402: The other hand, campaigned for the repudiation of Australia's debt to bond-holders in London. Theodore rejected both these alternatives and proposed instead an expansion of credit to farmers and small business, through the issue of "fiduciary notes" which could be redeemed after the Depression. His Fiduciary Notes Bill was denounced as financially unsound by orthodox economists and the banks. It
21252-568: The party to protest the Scullin government 's financial policies during the Great Depression . Led by Joseph Lyons, a former Premier of Tasmania , the defectors initially sat as independents , but then agreed to merge with the Nationalist Party and form a united opposition . Lyons was chosen as the new party's leader due to his popularity among the general public, with former Nationalist leader John Latham becoming his deputy. He led
21413-563: The party. Elite parties give little priority to expanding the party's membership base, and its leaders are its only members. The earliest political parties, such as the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists , are classified as elite parties. A mass party is a type of political party that developed around cleavages in society and mobilized the ordinary citizens or 'masses' in the political process. In Europe,
21574-572: The passage from England to Australia. After arriving in Fremantle , Western Australia , they initially went their separate ways; they kept in touch by letter, however, and by the end of the year had married in Perth . They subsequently moved to Adelaide , where their first son Stephen was born the following year. Theodore's father, originally named Vasile Teodorescu, was born in Galați , Romania , into
21735-613: The policies of Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. The formation of the Indian National Congress , which developed in the late 19th century as a pro-independence faction in British India and immediately became a major political party after Indian independence, foreshadowed the dynamic in many newly independent countries; for example, the Uganda National Congress was a pro-independence party and
21896-475: The political foundations of the party and also they include political factions, or advocacy groups, mostly by the fact that a party is focused on electing candidates, whereas a parliamentary group is a group of political parties, a political faction is a subgroup within a political party, and an advocacy group is focused on advancing a policy agenda. This is related to other features that sometimes distinguish parties from other political organizations, including
22057-443: The politics of autocracies as well as democracies , though usually democracies have more political parties than autocracies. Autocracies often have a single party that governs the country, and some political scientists consider competition between two or more parties to be an essential part of democracy. Parties can develop from existing divisions in society, like the divisions between lower and upper classes , and they streamline
22218-401: The post is one example) tend to produce a smaller number of political parties, so that extremely small parties systems – like those with only two parties – tend to form in countries with very restrictive rules. Ted Theodore Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of
22379-413: The presence of ex-Labor MPs with working-class backgrounds allowed the party to present a convincing image of national unity transcending class barriers. This was especially true of the party leader, Lyons. Indeed, he had been chosen as the merged party's leader because he was thought to be more electorally appealing than the aloof Latham, and was thus better suited to win over traditional Labor supporters to
22540-497: The process of making political decisions by encouraging their members to cooperate. Political parties usually include a party leader, who has primary responsibility for the activities of the party; party executives, who may select the leader and who perform administrative and organizational tasks; and party members, who may volunteer to help the party, donate money to it, and vote for its candidates. There are many different ways in which political parties can be structured and interact with
22701-528: The rise of fascism in Europe and militant Japan in Asia. The UAP largely supported the western powers in their policy of appeasement, however veteran UAP minister Billy Hughes was an exception and he embarrassed the government with his 1935 book Australia and the War Today which exposed a lack of preparation in Australia for what Hughes correctly supposed to be a coming war . Hughes was forced to resign, but
22862-403: The shift from the traditional mass parties to catch-all parties as a set of developments including the "drastic reduction of the party's ideological baggage" and the "downgrading of the role of the individual party member". By broadening their central ideologies into more open-ended ones, catch-all parties seek to secure the support of a wider section of the population. Further, the role of members
23023-451: The support of organized trade unions . During the wave of decolonization in the mid-20th century, many newly sovereign countries outside of Europe and North America developed party systems that often emerged from their movements for independence. For example, a system of political parties arose out of factions in the Indian independence movement , and was strengthened and stabilized by
23184-554: The support of two independent MPs, Arthur Coles and Alexander Wilson . The UAP–Country Party coalition and the Labor parties won 36 seats each. Menzies proposed an all party unity government to break the impasse, but the Labor Party under John Curtin refused to join. Curtin agreed instead to take a seat on a newly created Advisory War Council in October 1940. New Country Party leader Arthur Fadden became Treasurer and Menzies unhappily conceded to allow Earle Page back into his ministry. In January 1941, Menzies flew to Britain to discuss
23345-422: The theory is an incomplete story of where political parties come from unless it also explains the origins of these social cleavages. An alternative explanation for why parties are ubiquitous across the world is that the formation of parties provides compatible incentives for candidates and legislators. For example, the existence of political parties might coordinate candidates across geographic districts, so that
23506-524: The time the writs were issued for the 1943 federal election , the Coalition had sunk into a state of near paralysis, and at the election, suffered a landslide defeat, being reduced to only 23 seats nationwide, including 14 for the UAP. After this election defeat, Menzies returned to the UAP leadership, and Fadden handed the post of opposition leader to him as well. However, as the Nationalists had
23667-589: The types of policies they might pursue if they were in power. Ideologies also differentiate parties from one another, so that voters can select the party that advances the policies that they most prefer. A party may also seek to advance an ideology by convincing voters to adopt its belief system. Common ideologies that can form a central part of the identity of a political party include liberalism , conservatism , socialism , communism , anarchism , fascism , feminism , environmentalism , nationalism , fundamentalism , Islamism , and multiculturalism . Liberalism
23828-585: The weakness of Singapore's defences and sat with Winston Churchill 's British War Cabinet . En route he inspected Singapore's defences – finding them alarmingly inadequate – and visited Australian troops in the Mid-East. He at times clashed with Churchill in the War Cabinet, and was unable to achieve significant assurances for increased commitment to Singapore's defences, but undertook morale boosting excursions to war affected cities and factories and
23989-522: Was also elected state president of the Australian Workers' Union in 1913. Theodore became Treasurer of Queensland following Labor's victory at the 1915 state election . In 1919, Theodore succeeded T. J. Ryan as premier. His government pursued various interventionist economic policies, establishing a number of state-run enterprises and introducing new competition and labour market regulations. These perceived steps towards socialism led to Theodore being nicknamed "Red Ted". A notable constitutional reform
24150-606: Was an infant, and she was sent to work in the Lancashire cotton mills. When her mother died, she accepted an invitation to join her step-brother Tom Harrison (an ex-convict) at his farm in Greenough, Western Australia ; however, she stayed there only a few months before returning to Perth to marry. Theodore was educated at Lefevre Peninsula Catholic and Aldgate State schools in Adelaide, but left school at 12 to work on
24311-448: Was chosen as the new party's leader, and thus became Leader of the Opposition , with Latham as his deputy. The Western Australia branch of the Nationalists, however, retained the Nationalist name. Claiming that the Scullin government was incapable of managing the economy, it offered traditional deflationary economic policies in response to Australia's economic crisis. Though it was basically an upper- and middle-class conservative party,
24472-419: Was developed by Richard Katz and Peter Mair , who wrote that political parties have turned into "semi-state agencies", acting on behalf of the state rather than groups in society. The term 'cartel' refers to the way in which prominent parties in government make it difficult for new parties to enter, as such forming a cartel of established parties. As with catch-all parties, the role of members in cartel parties
24633-543: Was dominated by former UAP members; with a few exceptions, the UAP party room became the Liberal party room. The Liberal Party went on to become the dominant centre-right party in Australian politics. After an initial loss to Labor at the 1946 election , Menzies led the new non-Labor Coalition (of the Liberal and Country parties) to victory at the 1949 election , defeating the incumbent Labor government led by Curtin's successor, Ben Chifley . The Coalition stayed in office for
24794-452: Was elected deputy leader to James Scullin . He became Treasurer and de facto Deputy Prime Minister after the 1929 election , but resigned after less than a year amid accusations of corruption . Theodore returned as a Treasurer in early 1931, and served until the government's landslide defeat at the 1931 election , where he lost his own seat. He had little success in combating the Great Depression , and disputes over economic policy led to
24955-481: Was eventually defeated in the Senate , which was still controlled by the conservative opposition. Theodore has been described as a visionary proto-Keynesian for this proposal, although it cannot be known what effect his measures would have had on the Depression had the bill been passed. In March 1931, Lang's supporters in Parliament deserted the main body of Labor. Combined with the defection of Lyons and his supporters
25116-806: Was formed in 1931 by Labor dissidents and a conservative coalition as a response to the more radical economic proposals of Labor Party members to deal with the Great Depression in Australia. Lyons and Fenton's opposition to the economic policies of the Scullin Labor government had attracted the support of a circle of socially prominent Melburnians known as "the Group" or "Group of Six", comprising stockbroker Staniforth Ricketson , insurance company president Charles Arthur Norris, metallurgist and businessman John Michael Higgins , writer Ambrose Pratt , state attorney-general Robert Menzies , and architect Kingsley Henderson . In parliament on 13 March 1931, though still
25277-510: Was in reverse circumstances of how its predecessor the Nationalists came in and out of power. The Nationalists as a new party came into government on the floor of parliament in 1917 before eventually losing power at the 1929 election. Notwithstanding Country Party leader Fadden had led the Coalition into the 1943 election, the Nationalists and UAP leaders never led the Coalition into an election after losing government. Having spent all but eight months of its existence prior to 1941 in government,
25438-488: Was known to be in financial difficulties. For £100, they acquired the rights to lease the masthead and plant for one year. It was subsequently announced that the newspaper would be re-branded as The Star and would be priced at 1d (one penny), compared with 1½d for its major rival The Sun , published by Associated Newspapers Limited. Hugh Denison , the managing director of Associated Newspapers, paid Theodore and Packer £86,500 in return for an agreement for them not to publish
25599-512: Was the abolition of the Queensland Legislative Council in 1922; Queensland remains the only Australian state with no upper house in its parliament. Theodore was popular among the general public, and won two state elections ( 1920 and 1923 ) before resigning in 1925 to enter federal politics. He was defeated at his first attempt, but two years later won a by-election for the Sydney seat of Dalley . In 1929, Theodore
25760-442: Was unexpectedly defeated by Lewis Nott by 268 votes. Theodore was elected to the House of Representatives for the seat of Dalley in Sydney at a 1927 by-election . His status as an outsider in Sydney Labor politics was a permanent problem for him, but he soon made his mark in federal Parliament. In 1929 he became Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and Deputy Opposition Leader under James Scullin . In October 1929 Scullin defeated
25921-533: Was well received by the British press and generally raised awareness in Britain of Australia's contribution to its war effort. He returned to Australia via Canada and the United States – addressing the Canadian parliament and lobbying President Roosevelt for more arms production. After four months, Menzies returned to Australia to face a lack of enthusiasm for his global travels and a war-time minority government under ever increasing strain. In Menzies's absence, Curtin had co-operated with Fadden in preparing Australia for
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