Western Australian National Party
The Western Australian National Party, officially known as the National Party of Australia Inc, and branded as Nationals WA, is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia, but maintains a separate structure and identity. Between 2021 and 2025, the Nationals were the senior party in an opposition alliance with the WA Liberal Party in the state parliament.
Founded in 1913 as the Country Party of Western Australia to represent the interests of farmers and pastoralists, it was the first agrarian party in Australia to contest and win seats at the 1914 state election. Since then, it has continuously held seats in the state's Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, particularly in the state's Wheatbelt region, and for many years, it also held federal seats.
While the party had historically functioned as part of a two-party coalition with the centre-right Liberal Party for most of its existence, tensions have existed over the coalition arrangement, and on two occasions, the party split over the issue. Since the passage of reforms to the electoral system initiated by the Labor Party reducing the number of non-metropolitan seats, the Nationals have re-fashioned themselves as an independent third party in Western Australian politics, in an effort to ensure their survival and continued representation for agrarian interests in Parliament.
Prior to the 2021 election, the National Party was sitting on the crossbench, and the Liberal Party was the sole opposition party. The election resulted in the National Party winning more seats than the Liberal Party, and gaining official opposition status. Under the opposition alliance, the National Party leader and deputy leader would be the opposition leader and deputy opposition leader, respectively, the first since 1947, and each party would maintain their independence from each other.
The party lost opposition status after the 2025 election.
Name
The party was formally established by the Farmers' and Settlers' Association on 12 March 1913. It was the first established branch of what was called the Country Party, predating all other state branches, including the federal party established in 1920. Despite being founded by the Farmers' and Settlers' Association, it was known as the Country Party of Western Australia. It held the name for, changing to the "Country and Democratic League of Western Australia" in 1944 following its severance from the Primary Producers' Association, changing the organisations constitution. The reported changes were put into place in an effort to reject all affiliations to other political organisations from the other states, and expansion of the party's platform. However, the name proved confusing, especially after the Liberals' decision to merge into the newly formed Liberal and Country League. Subsequently the parliamentary party reverted back to its former name, Country Party, at the 1949 federal election. The organisation followed suit at its 1961 conference.The party in 1974, which had faced considerable political challenges for decades and a steady decline, entered into a political alliance with the Democratic Labor Party, called the National Alliance. A short-lived alliance, the party left the coalition following the 1975 federal election. The party again changed names, to the National Country Party of Western Australia, and briefly left the Charles Court Government. On 1 April 1985, upon its union with the breakaway National Party, it became the National Party of Western Australia, which was formally affiliated with the National Party of Australia. As with all National parties around Australia, in late 2003 the party was rebranded as The Nationals Western Australia, although the official name has not changed.
History
Background
The gold rush of the 1890s had seen tremendous growth in the state in terms of both capital and population. Between the discovery of gold at Halls Creek in 1885 and federation in 1901, the population increased from 35,959 to 184,124, and by 1911 had risen to 282,114—in all, an almost eightfold increase. The gold rush peaked in 1903 and, while gold still represented over 65% of the total exports of Western Australia, the industry had started to enter a period of decline. With this decline came a recognition by government that continued economic growth depended on the development of agriculture. Massive public loans from overseas together with assisted immigration from the United Kingdom saw large areas of land opened up—from 1900 to 1910, the area under crop rose from to, while the railway network doubled in size and many public buildings were erected throughout the cultivated areas of the state. In addition, immigrants who had come in search of gold or work increasingly took on jobs as farm workers—the proportion of the population on the Goldfields had fallen from 32.2% of the State in 1901 to 22.3% by 1911, while the agricultural population had risen from 28.2% to 35.5% in the same period. Land was also given to unemployed labourers and retrenched public servants, which they could gain title on by making it productive. Following the pioneering work in 1903 by William Farrer in New South Wales on marginal-rainfall wheat varieties, wheat became by far the most important agricultural export, with the rate of expansion from 1904 to 1913 in wheat production and export surpassing all other states.However, falling wheat prices after 1908 and a drought in 1911–1912 caused major hardship to the newly established farmers, especially in the eastern wheatbelt which had lower rainfall, less capital and less preparation. This led to some resentment towards the Liberal government then in power, and especially towards Minister for Lands James Mitchell, who had adopted a particularly enthusiastic attitude towards settlement in such areas. Two new events on the horizon brought things to a head—the 1911 state election which produced the first majority Labor government in Western Australia ; and an attempt by the Rural Workers Union to bring agricultural workers into the Commonwealth arbitration system to regulate their wages and working conditions. In March 1912, the Western Australian Farmers and Settlers' Association was formed to represent small employers' interests, and included primarily wheat farmers, but also small graziers, dairy farmers and orchardists. By 1914, it had 180 branches and 6,000 members, mostly located in the Wheatbelt region with some penetration of the South West region. It was inspired in part by the success of Canadian grain growers' associations from 1900 onwards.
Formation of the Country Party
At its second conference in June 1912, held at Perth Technical School, the FSA decided to adopt a political platform and elect members to Parliament who were pledged to support it. The FSA's leadership at this time was dominated by conservative established farmers, and particularly by its founding president Alexander Monger, a former member of the Liberal party. However, the association had also been highly successful in attracting Labor supporters, so the entire question of the platform was referred to a special conference held in March 1913. Strongly influenced by eastern Wheatbelt representatives, the conference was militant in tone and decided by a vote of 103 to 17 to form a country party in both State and Federal parliaments. By early 1914, the emergent Country Party of Western Australia had adopted some elements of Labor's political structure such as preselection ballots, a local branch structure, annual conferences and the observance of a pledge by party members, and saw their role as a balance of power capable of bargaining for concessions from the government of the day, clearly influenced by Labor's past practice before emerging as a major party in 1904.These events took the Liberal party by surprise and caused some consternation amongst them. Their initial view of the FSA had been positive—federal member for Swan and former Premier, Sir John Forrest, believed the movement "would be of great use to the Producers, add to the strength of Liberalism and prove advantageous in every way". The FSA's first meetings were at the Liberal League's clubrooms in Perth, and its Executive was dominated by well-established families from the established farming districts around York and Beverley, epitomising the conservative values of pre-1890s Western Australian society. The Executive was staunchly opposed to the Labor party, and was concerned about the support Labor was able to attract in the newer districts, but at the same time wished for a more considered land settlement policy than the Liberals were offering, and opposed protectionism. The emergence of a three-party contest with a new Country Party remaining "entirely distinct from and not allied with any other Party" and representing the political interests of farmers, a compromise that both the Executive and the membership wholeheartedly supported, resulted in sharp criticism from key Liberals such as Forrest, who engaged in a two-month correspondence with Monger until April 1914 attempting to convince him to rejoin the FSA to the Liberal cause, and State opposition leader Frank Wilson. An invitation from the Liberal League for an exchange of preferences in the Legislative Council had been rejected by the Executive on the ground that "our constitution does not permit the council to comply with their request".
In May 1914, the Country Party won two of four contested seats in the Legislative Council—one in East Province and one in Central Province. At the Assembly elections on 21 October 1914, they contested 16 of the 50 seats in the Legislative Assembly, winning 8 of them. Five of these seats had Liberal incumbents, while two had been held by Labor. Alfred Piesse, the Liberal member for Toodyay, joined the Country Party and faced no contest for his seat. James Gardiner was selected as the first leader of the Country Party. The Labor government was returned with a one-seat majority, but could not always rely on its own members, and Gardiner told the Assembly on 8 December 1914 that there should be a "legitimate truce" and that the Country Party would support the government for the benefit of the state. During this time the government enacted a number of financial aid and other relief measures with Country Party support. However, Gardiner's willingness to work with Labor to achieve Country Party aims on the land alarmed conservatives on the FSA executive, and on 12 March 1915, at the first joint Country Party-FSA conference, the decision was made to appoint a new leader. Gardiner resigned six days later, and Francis Willmott became leader of the party, which became increasingly dominated by Monger. The party had to act carefully, as Labor had committed to an agricultural relief programme and the Executive was wary of upsetting the radical eastern wheatbelt branches. The status quo was cautiously backed at the party's August 1915 conference.