Editing Liberal Party of Australia (section)

==Ideology==
{{Liberalism in Australia|Parties1}}
{{Conservatism in Australia|Parties}} 
{{See also|Liberalism in Australia|Conservatism in Australia}}
From its foundation, the Liberal Party has had a great internal diversity in policy positions among its members, primarily defining itself as an anti-Labor, anti-Socialist party that supports individual freedom and private enterprise.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Emergence of the Liberal Party of Australia |publisher=JSTOR |jstor=20634106 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20634106 |last1=Williams |first1=John R. |journal=The Australian Quarterly |year=1967 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=7–27 |doi=10.2307/20634106 |access-date=4 September 2021 |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904081835/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20634106 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Hancock |first=Ian |title=The Origins of the Modern Liberal Party |date=1994 |url=https://www.nla.gov.au/ian-hancock/the-origins-of-the-modern-liberal-party |quote=History of Liberalism in Australia |access-date=4 September 2021 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606011050/http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/ihancock.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> 

The party's founder and longest-serving leader [[Robert Menzies]] envisaged that Australia's middle class would form its main constituency.

Towards the end of his term as Prime Minister of Australia and in a final address to the Liberal Party Federal Council in 1964, Menzies spoke of the "Liberal Creed" as follows:<ref name="The Australian-2009">{{cite news |date=26 October 2009 |title=We believe: the Liberal party and the liberal cause |url=https://www.theaustralian.com/news/opinion/we-believe-the-liberal-party-and-the-liberal-cause/story-e6frg6zo-1225791120808 |work=The Australian}} {{dead link|date=March 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|As the etymology of our name "Liberal" indicates, we have stood for freedom{{nbs}}... We took the name 'Liberal' because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary but believing in the individual, his right and his enterprise, and rejecting the socialist panacea. We have realised that men and women are not just ciphers in a calculation, but are individual human beings whose individual welfare and development must be the main concern of government{{nbs}}... We have learned that the right answer is to set the individual free, to aim at equality of opportunity, to protect the individual against oppression, to create a society in which rights and duties are recognised and made effective.}}

Soon after the election of the [[Howard government]] the new prime minister [[John Howard]], who was to become the second longest-serving Liberal prime minister, spoke of his interpretation of the "Liberal Tradition" in a Robert Menzies Lecture in 1996:<ref>{{cite speech |last=Howard |first=John |author-link=John Howard |title=The Liberal Tradition: The Beliefs and Values Which Guide the Federal Government |event=1996 Sir Robert Menzies Lecture |date=1996-11-19 |url=https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00010171.pdf |access-date=18 November 2024 |language=en |archive-date=28 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128020250/https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00010171.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Menzies knew the importance for Australian Liberalism to draw upon both the classical liberal as well as the conservative political traditions. He believed in a liberal political tradition that encompassed both [[Edmund Burke]] and [[John Stuart Mill]]—a tradition which I have described in contemporary terms as the [[Broad church#In politics|broad church]] of Australian Liberalism.}}

Until the 2022 election, the Liberals were in electoral terms largely the party of the middle class (whom Menzies, in the era of the party's formation called "[[The forgotten people]]"), though such class-based voting patterns are no longer as clear as they once were. In the 1970s a left-wing middle class emerged that no longer voted Liberal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.auspsa.org.au/sites/default/files/the_australian_greens_and_the_moral_middle_class_robert_simms.pdf|title=The Australian Greens and the Moral Middle Class|first=Robert|last=Simms|publisher=Australian Political Studies Association|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=17 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317001349/https://www.auspsa.org.au/sites/default/files/the_australian_greens_and_the_moral_middle_class_robert_simms.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> One effect of this was the success of a breakaway party, the [[Australian Democrats]], founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister [[Don Chipp]] and members of minor liberal parties. During the prime ministership of John Howard, the Liberals did increasingly well among socially conservative working-class voters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/22355/49047_1.pdf%3Bsequence=1|title=John Howard, Economic Liberalism, Social Conservatism and Australian Federalism|last=Hollander|first=Robyn|year=2008|publisher=Australian Journal of Politics and History|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803152134/https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/22355/49047_1.pdf%3Bsequence=1|url-status=live}}</ref> Until 2022 the Liberal Party's key support base remained the upper-middle classes—in 2010, 16 of the 20 richest federal electorates were held by the Liberals, most of which were safe seats.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/median_income_seats/ |title=Liberals still dominate the top end – Mumble |date=7 December 2010 |access-date=29 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628234504/http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/median_income_seats/ |archive-date=28 June 2012 | url-status=dead}}</ref> Following the 2022 election, 16 of the 20 poorest seats in Australia were held by the Liberal Party,  while it held only five of the 20 wealthiest electorates.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/the-people-who-need-a-voice-are-those-hit-by-rise-in-power-prices-john-roskam/ar-AAXBNKC |title='The people who need a voice are those hit by rise in power prices': John Roskam |publisher=Msn.com |date=2022-05-23 |accessdate=2022-06-08 |archive-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608042723/https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/the-people-who-need-a-voice-are-those-hit-by-rise-in-power-prices-john-roskam/ar-AAXBNKC |url-status=live}}</ref> In country areas they either compete with or have a truce with the Nationals, depending on various factors.

Menzies was an ardent [[Constitutional monarchy|constitutional monarchist]], who supported the [[monarchy in Australia]] and links to the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]. Today the party is divided on the question of republicanism, with some (such as current leader [[Peter Dutton]]) being monarchists,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-11 |title=Australia's PM says referendum on republic not his priority |url=https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-king-charles-iii-prince-philip-australia-government-and-politics-e3ae71c8ab6a368f52ff3e4e9ea8ae0e |access-date= |website=AP News |language=en |archive-date=20 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720141614/https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-king-charles-iii-prince-philip-australia-government-and-politics-e3ae71c8ab6a368f52ff3e4e9ea8ae0e |url-status=live}}</ref> while others (such as his predecessor [[Malcolm Turnbull]]) are [[Australian republicanism|republicans]]. The Menzies government formalised Australia's [[ANZUS|alliance with the United States]] in 1951 and the party has remained a strong supporter of the mutual defence treaty.

Domestically, Menzies presided over a fairly regulated economy in which utilities were publicly owned, and commercial activity was highly regulated through centralised wage-fixing and high [[tariff]] protection. Liberal leaders from Menzies to [[Malcolm Fraser]] generally maintained Australia's high tariff levels. At that time the Liberals' coalition partner, the [[National Party of Australia|Country Party]], the older of the two in the coalition (now known as the National Party), had considerable influence over the government's economic policies. It was not until the late 1970s and through their period out of power federally in the 1980s that the party came to be influenced by what was known as the [[New Right]]—a conservative liberal group who advocated market deregulation, privatisation of public utilities, reductions in the size of government programs and tax cuts.

Socially, while liberty and freedom of enterprise form the basis of its beliefs, elements of the party include both what is termed ''small-l liberalism'' and social conservatism. Historically, Liberal governments have been responsible for the carriage of a number of notable socially liberal reforms, including the opening of Australia to multiethnic immigration under Menzies and [[Harold Holt]]; Holt's [[Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)|1967 Referendum]] on Aboriginal Rights;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs150.aspx |title=Fact sheets – National Archives of Australia |publisher=Naa.gov.au |date=27 May 1967 |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104121728/http://naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs150.aspx |archive-date=4 November 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[John Gorton]]'s [[Australian Council for the Arts|support for cinema and the arts]];<ref>{{cite web |url=http://australianscreen.com.au/chronology/1960s/ |title=Chronology 1960s – ASO |publisher=Australianscreen.com.au |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-date=22 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322233811/http://australianscreen.com.au/chronology/1960s/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and Malcolm Fraser's [[Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976]].

The Liberal Party is a member of the [[International Democracy Union]] and the [[Asia Pacific Democrat Union]].<ref>{{cite web |date=2016 |title=International Democracy Union - Asia Pacific Democrat Union (APDU) |url=http://idu.org/asia-pacific-democrat-union-apdu/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616235358/http://idu.org/asia-pacific-democrat-union-apdu/ |archive-date=16 June 2017 |access-date=12 June 2017 |website=[[International Democracy Union]]}}</ref>