Liberal–National Coalition
The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as the Coalition or the LNP, was an alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties forming one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. Its two primary members were the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia. The Coalition and its main opponent, the Australian Labor Party, were often regarded as operating in a two-party system. The Coalition was last in government federally from 2013 to 2022.
The Coalition existed in some form since 1923, initially involving the Liberal Party's predecessors the Nationalist Party and United Australia Party. It has historically been a stable alignment for long periods in both government and opposition, including at three elections where the Liberal Party won enough seats to govern in its own right. The stability between both the Liberal and National parties has been punctuated by seven breaks in the agreement, including the 1931, 1934 and 1987 federal elections which the parties contested separately. Its longest iteration spanned 38 years after its reestablishment in 1987, which was followed by its shortest iteration of under a year after the 8 day split in the aftermath of the 2025 election, which itself was brought to an end in January 2026 after the National Party again left the union.
The Liberal and National parties have different geographical voter bases, with the Liberals – the larger party – drawing most of their vote from urban areas, and the Nationals operating almost exclusively in rural and regional areas. They occupy a broadly similar place on the right of the political spectrum. The Liberals and Nationals maintain separate organisational wings and separate parliamentary parties, but co-operated in various ways determined by a mixture of formal agreements and informal conventions. There was a single Coalition frontbench, both in government and in opposition, with each party receiving a proportionate number of positions. By convention, the leader of the Liberal Party served as the overall leader, serving as prime minister when the Coalition was in government and leader of the opposition when the Coalition was in opposition. The leader of the National Party became the deputy prime minister during periods of Coalition government. The two parties co-operated on their federal election campaigns, ran joint Senate tickets in New South Wales and Victoria, and generally avoided running candidates against each other in the House of Representatives.
A merger of the Liberals and Nationals has been suggested on several occasions, but has never become a serious proposition at the federal level. The relationship between the two parties varies at state and territory levels. The situation in New South Wales and Victoria broadly mirrors the previous status quo at the federal level with both parties in coalition, while in Western Australia the parties are independent of each other. In the Northern Territory the territorial parties merged in 1974 to form the Country Liberal Party, and in 2008 the Queensland state-level parties merged, forming the Liberal National Party of Queensland. LNP and CLP members elected to federal parliament do not form separate parliamentary parties. CLP members may choose to sit in either the Liberal or National party rooms, while an LNP member must sit in the party room associated with their seat. In South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, the Nationals have no sitting MPs and little or no organisational presence.
History
Nationalist–Country Coalition
1923–1929
The origins of the Coalition date back to the 1922 federal election, when the Nationalist Party, the main middle-class non-Labor party of the time, lost the absolute majority it had held since its formation in 1917. The Nationalists could only stay in office with the support of the two-year-old Country Party. It soon became apparent that a confidence and supply agreement would not be enough to keep the Nationalists in office.However, Country Party leader Earle Page had never trusted the Nationalist Prime Minister, Billy Hughes. Indeed, the Country Party had been formed in part due to discontent with Hughes' rural policy. Page not only let it be known that he would not serve under Hughes, but demanded Hughes' resignation before he would even consider coalition talks. Hughes resigned, and Page then entered negotiations with the new Nationalist leader, Stanley Bruce. The Country Party's terms were unusually stiff for a prospective junior partner in a Westminster system – five seats in an 11-member cabinet, as well as the Treasurer's post and second rank in the ministry for Page. Nonetheless, Bruce agreed rather than force a new election. Since then, the leader of the Country Party, which evolved into the National Party, has ranked second in nearly all non-Labor governments.
1929 split
The Nationalist–Country Coalition was reelected twice, and continued in office until its defeat in 1929, in which Bruce lost his seat, the first sitting Prime Minister to do so. Unlike many later iterations, the coalition arrangement did not continue into opposition.UAP–Country Coalition
1934–1939
The Country Party and the Nationalists' successor party, the United Australia Party, fought the 1931 federal election with a joint Senate ticket, though they ran separate House tickets. The UAP came up only four seats short of a majority in its own right. The Emergency Committee of South Australia, which stood for the UAP and Country Party in South Australia, joined the UAP party room, giving the UAP enough support to rule alone. However, the parties once again joined in a full Coalition government following the 1934 federal election.1939 split
After the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons in April 1939, Page was appointed as his successor on an interim basis, pending the new election of a new UAP leader. Despite Page's misgivings, the UAP elected Robert Menzies – who was known to dislike the Country Party. Page subsequently made a vitriolic speech in parliament attacking Menzies's character, and withdrew his party from the coalition – the most recent occasion on which the coalition has been broken while in government.1940–1943
A number of Page's colleagues in the Country Party disagreed with his stance, and he resigned as leader in September 1939. He was replaced by Archie Cameron, and after months of negotiations the coalition was revived in March 1940, with five Country MPs joining the second Menzies ministry.After losing eight seats at the 1940 federal election, the Coalition was plunged into minority government for the first time in its history. Archie Cameron was an immediate victim of the election result, being replaced by Arthur Fadden and later defecting to the UAP. Menzies increasingly struggled to balance his management of Australia's war effort with domestic concerns, and his party began to rebel against him. However, the UAP was bereft of leadership despite having been in power for a decade. With this in mind, in August 1941 the Coalition collectively decided that Fadden and Menzies should swap positions, with Menzies becoming Minister for Defence Co-ordination and Fadden becoming prime minister. It was the first and only occasion on which the Coalition was led by the leader of the junior party. However, the Fadden government only lasted a few months before losing a confidence motion and being replaced by the Labor Party in the form of the Curtin government.
After the demise of the Fadden government, the Coalition voted to continue on under his leadership in opposition. Menzies had opposed this, and resigned as UAP leader, to be replaced by the ageing Billy Hughes.
1943 split
Up until the 1943 election, the Coalition effectively operated as a single unit, with separate party meetings being extremely rare. However, the landslide defeat it suffered – under Fadden as opposition leader – led to an immediate change in strategy. The UAP voted to break off its ties with the Country Party in opposition, and re-elected Menzies as its leader. This is the most recent occasion in which the senior partner in the Coalition has opted to withdraw.Liberal–Country Coalition
1946–1972
The UAP was folded into the Liberal Party in 1945, with Menzies as leader. In the lead-up to the 1946 federal election, Menzies renewed the Coalition with the Country Party, which was still led by Fadden. They won the 1949 federal election as a Coalition, and stayed in office for a record 23 years. This electoral success established a long period of stability in the coalition, during which the post of Deputy Prime Minister was formally created in 1967 to denote Country leader John McEwen's status as the number-two man in the government.1972 split
The parties decided not to form a coalition opposition following their defeat in 1972, but went into the 1974 federal election as a Coalition.Liberal–National Coalition
1974-1987
Shortly after the reestablishment of the Coalition, the Country Party was rebadged as the National Country Party in 1975. The solidity of the Coalition was so strong in this period that despite the Liberals winning parliamentary majorities in their own right in the 1975 and 1977 federal elections, the Coalition agreement was retained, and the Coalition remained together upon entering opposition in the 1983 federal election, shortly before which the National Country Party rebadged again to simply the National Party in 1982.1987 split
The Coalition suffered another break, related to the "Joh for Canberra" campaign, from April to August 1987, the rift healing after the 1987 federal election in July.1987–2025
At the 1996 federal election, the Coalition was retained despite the Liberal Party again winning a parliamentary majority in its own right. This inaugurated the Coalition's second longest period in government under the country's second longest serving Prime Minister, John Howard.In the 2007 federal election, the Coalition lost to the Labor Party and went into opposition, with Howard becoming both the second Prime Minister and second governing Coalition leader to lose their seat. The Coalition regained office in the 2013 federal election as a majority government. This election was the most recent election in which the Coalition saw an increase in their first preference vote in the House of Representatives, increasing to 45% from 43% in the previous 2010 federal election.
Under the Coalition in this period, there continued a trend of Prime Ministers contesting only one election before being deposed, which had begun under the Labor Party with Kevin Rudd's replacement with Julia Gillard. The Coalition began to lose support from the 2016 federal election, with its first preference decreased to 42.04%.
In October 2018, the Coalition went into minority government for the second time in its history, when the seat of Wentworth was won by Independent Kerryn Phelps in the by-election. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of incumbent Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull, who was ousted as Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader during a spill motion earlier in August 2018. The coalition formed majority government again following the 2019 federal election, despite having its first preference vote further reduced to 41.44%. In the lead-up to the 2022 federal election, the Coalition briefly entered minority government for the third time after two members resigned to sit on the crossbench. In the election, the Coalition had its first preference vote reduced to 35.70%, lost to the Labor Party at the election and returned to opposition.