Editing Liberal Party of Australia (section)

===Menzies era===
{{Main|Menzies government (1949–1966)}}
[[File:Robert Menzies 1960 colour (cropped).jpg|left|100px|thumb|[[Robert Menzies|Sir Robert Menzies]], founder of the Liberal Party and prime minister 1939–41 ([[United Australia Party|UAP]]) and 1949–66]]
[[File:Menzies Lyons Harrison Holt AAF.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Menzies|Sir Robert Menzies]], Dame [[Enid Lyons]] (the first female member of an Australian Cabinet), [[Eric Harrison|Sir Eric Harrison]], [[Harold Holt]] (Menzies' successor) and [[Thomas White (Australian politician)|Tom White]], in 1946.]]
After an initial loss to Labor at the [[1946 Australian federal election|1946 election]], Menzies led the Liberals to victory at the [[1949 Australian federal election|1949 election]], and the party stayed in office for a record 23 years— the longest unbroken run ever in government at the federal level. Australia experienced prolonged economic growth during the post-war boom period of the [[Menzies government (1949–66)]] and Menzies fulfilled his promises at the 1949 election to end rationing of butter, tea and petrol and provided a five-shilling endowment for first-born children, as well as for others.<ref>Brian Carroll; From Barton to Fraser; Cassell Australia; 1978</ref> While himself an unashamed Anglophile, Menzies' government concluded a number of major defence and trade treaties that set Australia on its post-war trajectory out of Britain's orbit; opened up Australia to multi-ethnic immigration; and instigated important legal reforms regarding Aboriginal Australians.

Menzies was strongly opposed to Labor's plans under [[Ben Chifley]] to nationalise the Australian banking system and, following victory at the 1949 election, secured a [[double dissolution]] election for [[1951 Australian federal election|April 1951]], after the Labor-controlled Senate rejected his banking legislation. The Liberal-Country Coalition was returned with control of the [[Australian Senate|Senate]]. The Government was re-elected again at the [[1954 Australian federal election|1954 election]]; the formation of the anti-Communist [[Democratic Labor Party (Australia, 1955)|Democratic Labor Party]] (DLP) and [[Australian Labor Party split of 1955|the consequent split in the Australian Labor Party]] early in 1955 helped the Liberals to secure another victory in [[1955 Australian federal election|December 1955]]. [[John McEwen]] replaced [[Arthur Fadden]] as leader of the Country Party in March 1958 and the Menzies-McEwen Coalition was returned again at elections in [[1958 Australian federal election|November 1958]]—their third victory against Labor's [[H. V. Evatt]]. The Coalition was narrowly returned against Labor's [[Arthur Calwell]] in the [[1961 Australian federal election|December 1961 election]], in the midst of a credit squeeze. Menzies stood for office for the last time at the [[1963 Australian federal election|November 1963 election]], again defeating Calwell, with the Coalition winning back its losses in the House of Representatives. Menzies went on to resign from parliament on 26 January 1966.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/elections.aspx |title=Elections – Robert Menzies – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=12 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512011252/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/elections.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Menzies came to power the year the [[Communist Party of Australia]] had led a coal strike to improve pit miners' working conditions. That same year [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Soviet Union]] exploded its first [[Soviet atomic bomb project|atomic bomb]], and [[Mao Zedong]] led the [[Chinese Communist Party]] to power in China; a year later came the invasion of [[South Korea]] by Communist [[North Korea]]. Anti-Communism was a key political issue of the 1950s and 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/australian-biography-bob-santamaria|title=Australian Biography: Bob Santamaria|publisher=National Film and Sound Archive|access-date=20 February 2022|archive-date=18 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218124228/https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/australian-biography-bob-santamaria|url-status=live}}</ref> Menzies was firmly anti-Communist; he committed troops to the [[Military history of Australia during the Korean War|Korean War]] and attempted to ban the Communist Party of Australia in an [[1951 Australian referendum|unsuccessful referendum]] during the course of that war. The Labor Party split over concerns about the influence of the Communist Party over the trade union movement, leading to the foundation of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party whose preferences supported the Liberal and Country parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/30/2886680.htm?site=thedrum |title=ABC The Drum – Conviction? Clever Kevin is no Pig Iron Bob |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=30 April 2010 |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=23 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623215244/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/30/2886680.htm?site=thedrum |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1951, during the early stages of the [[Cold War]], Menzies spoke of the possibility of a looming third world war. The Menzies government entered Australia's first formal military alliance outside of the British Commonwealth with the signing of the [[ANZUS Treaty]] between Australia, New Zealand and the United States in [[San Francisco]] in 1951. External Affairs Minister [[Percy Spender]] had put forward the proposal to work along similar lines to the NATO Alliance. The Treaty declared that any attack on one of the three parties in the Pacific area would be viewed as a threat to each, and that the common danger would be met in accordance with each nation's constitutional processes. In 1954, the Menzies government signed the South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty ([[SEATO]]) as a South East Asian counterpart to NATO. That same year, Soviet diplomat [[Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov (diplomat)|Vladimir Petrov]] and his wife defected from the Soviet embassy in [[Canberra]], revealing evidence of Russian spying activities; Menzies called a Royal Commission to investigate.<ref>{{cite book |author=A. W. Martin |chapter-url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150416b.htm?hilite=robert%3Bmenzies |title=Biography – Sir Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies – Australian Dictionary of Biography | chapter=Menzies, Sir Robert Gordon (Bob) (1894–1978) |publisher=Adb.online.anu.edu.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326141118/https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/menzies-sir-robert-gordon-bob-11111 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1956, a committee headed by Sir Keith Murray was established to inquire into the financial plight of Australia's universities, and Menzies injected funds into the sector under conditions which preserved the autonomy of universities.

Menzies continued the expanded immigration programme established under Chifley, and took important steps towards dismantling the [[White Australia Policy]]. In the early-1950s, external affairs minister [[Percy Spender]] helped to establish the [[Colombo Plan]] for providing economic aid to underdeveloped nations in Australia's region. Under that scheme many future Asian leaders studied in Australia.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-way-we-were-quiet-maybe-but-certainly-not-dull-20110425-1du0l.html |title=The way we were: quiet, maybe, but certainly not dull |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=26 April 2011 |access-date=1 February 2012 |archive-date=30 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830022408/http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-way-we-were-quiet-maybe-but-certainly-not-dull-20110425-1du0l.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1958, the government replaced the Immigration Act's arbitrarily applied European language dictation test with an entry permit system, that reflected economic and skills criteria.<ref>Jan Bassett (1986) p.273</ref><ref>Frank Crowley p.358</ref> In 1962, Menzies' ''Commonwealth Electoral Act'' provided that all [[Indigenous Australians]] should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections (prior to this, indigenous people in Queensland, Western Australia and some in the Northern Territory had been excluded from voting unless they were ex-servicemen).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aec.gov.au/Voting/indigenous_vote/indigenous.htm |title=Electoral Milestones – Timetable for Indigenous Australians – Australian Electoral Commission |publisher=aec.gov.au |access-date=21 June 2012 |archive-date=30 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630123059/http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/indigenous_vote/indigenous.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1949, the Liberals appointed [[Dame Enid Lyons]] as the first woman to serve in an [[Australian Cabinet]]. Menzies remained a staunch supporter of links to the [[Monarchy in Australia|monarchy]] and [[British Commonwealth]] but formalised an [[ANZUS|alliance with the United States]] and concluded the Agreement on Commerce between Australia and Japan which was signed in July 1957 and launched post-war trade with Japan, beginning a growth of [[Coal in Australia|Australian exports of coal]], iron ore and mineral resources that would steadily climb until Japan became Australia's largest trading partner.

Menzies retired in 1966 after serving 20 years in two separate stints, making him Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister in history. His second 17-year tenure is easily the longest unbroken tenure for a Prime Minister.