The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party that supports individual liberty, free enterprise and limited government. The party promotes lower taxes, business-friendly economic reforms and policies it describes as supporting “Australian values.”
The Liberal Party is one of Australia’s two major political parties and traditionally competes federally against the Australian Labor Party (ALP). You can read more about Australia’s major political parties here.
The Liberal Party of Australia traces its ideological roots to the Federation-era Protectionist and Free Trade parties, which shaped early non-Labor politics in Australia. The modern Liberal Party was formally established in 1944 during the Second World War by Robert Menzies. Menzies created the party to represent middle-class Australians and to provide a national alternative to the Australian Labor Party. Under his leadership, the Liberal Party became one of Australia’s dominant governing parties in the post-war period.
A key feature of the party’s history has been its partnership with the National Party of Australia. The federal coalition arrangement dates back to 1923, when the Nationalist Party and the Country Party formed government together — laying the foundations for what is now known as the Liberal–National Coalition. The Coalition has governed Australia for extended periods and remains one of the country’s most enduring political alliances. In Queensland, the Liberal and National parties permanently merged in 2008 to form the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP).
Organisationally, the Liberal Party operates through autonomous state and territory divisions in each of Australia’s six states and the Australian Capital Territory. In the Northern Territory, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) is affiliated with the federal Liberal Party.
In recent years, the Coalition has faced a more challenging political environment. Following its defeat at the 2025 federal election, public reporting highlighted internal tensions between Liberal and National party members over policy direction and leadership strategy. These discussions have coincided with weaker national polling throughout late 2025 and early 2026, during which several surveys placed the Coalition’s primary vote in the low-20 per cent range.
As of recent electoral cycles, Liberal governments are in office in Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Prominent Liberal Party figures include:
Leadership positions are determined internally by party room votes following federal elections or leadership contests.
At the federal level, the Liberal Party’s current priorities include:
State divisions develop additional priorities. For example, the South Australian Liberal Party is focused on:
Unlike the Australian Labor Party, which traditionally requires members to vote as a unified caucus, Liberal Party MPs are formally permitted to “cross the floor.” Crossing the floor refers to voting against their party’s official position during a parliamentary division. For example, former Liberal MP for Bass, Bridget Archer, crossed the floor on 28 occasions during her parliamentary career.
Voting records for individual MPs can be viewed through independent tracking platforms such as They Vote For You, which compiles parliamentary division data.
Voting records are publicly available through parliamentary records and independent tracking sites:
Political donation disclosures are published through Australia’s federal electoral disclosure system managed by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Under federal law, parties must disclose donations above the reporting threshold (currently $16,900 for the 2024–25 financial year).
Federal Donation Summary (2024–25)
According to publicly reported data for the 2025 federal election cycle, disclosed major donors to the Liberal Party included:
Donation information is searchable via the AEC transparency register and independent tracking platforms such as Donation Watch.