Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory | |
|---|---|
_of_the_Northern_Territory.png) | |
| Abbreviation | CLP |
| Leader | Lia Finocchiaro |
| Deputy Leader | Gerard Maley |
| President | Nathan Land |
| Senate Leader | Jacinta Nampijinpa Price |
| Founded | |
| Headquarters | 229 McMillans Road,Jingili,Northern Territory |
| Youth wing | Young Country Liberals |
| Ideology |
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| Political position |
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| National affiliation | Liberal (Coalition) |
| Colours | Orange (official) Blue (occasionally customary) |
| Slogan | The Territory Party |
| Legislative Assembly | 17 / 25 |
| House of Representatives | 0 / 2 (NT seats) |
| Senate | 1 / 2 (NT seats) |
| Website | |
| www | |
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in Australia |
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TheCountry Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP),[14] commonly known as theCountry Liberals, is a centre-right andconservative political party in Australia'sNorthern Territory. In territory politics, it operates in atwo-party system with theAustralian Labor Party (ALP). It also contestsfederal elections as an affiliate of theLiberal Party of Australia andNational Party of Australia, the two partners in thefederal coalition.
The CLP originated in 1971 as a division of the Country Party (later renamed the National Party), the first local branches of which were formed in 1966. It adopted its current name in 1974 to attract Liberal Party supporters, but maintained a sole affiliation with the Country Party until 1979, when it acquired observer status with the Liberals while maintaining full voting rights in the Country Party. The party dominated theNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly fromthe inaugural election in 1974 through to its defeat at the2001 election, winning eight consecutive elections and providing the territory's first sevenchief ministers. Following its defeat in 2001, the party did not return to poweruntil 2012, but was defeated at the2016 election. It remained in opposition until the2024 election, in which it regained government in alandslide and the party's leaderLia Finocchiaro, who was elected party leader andleader of the opposition in February 2020, becameChief Minister.
At federal level, the CLP contests elections for the Northern Territory'sHouse of Representatives andSenate seats, which also cover theAustralian Indian Ocean Territories. It is registered with theAustralian Electoral Commission (AEC). Its candidates do not form a separateparliamentary party but instead join either the Liberal or National party rooms – for instance, CLP senatorNigel Scullion was a long-serving deputy leader of the Nationals. Its sole current federal legislatorJacinta Nampijinpa Price, also a senator, sits with the Liberal Party.
The CLP's constitution describes it as an "independentconservative" party and commits it toNorthern Territory statehood. It has typically prioritised economic development of the territory and originally drew most of its support fromOutback towns and thepastoral industry. It later developed avoter base among the urban middle-class populations ofDarwin,Palmerston andAlice Springs (the latter two of which are strongholds for the party). The CLP party provided the territory's first Indigenous MP (Hyacinth Tungutalum) and Australia's first Indigenous head of government (Adam Giles).
Aparty system did not develop in the Northern Territory until the 1960s, due to its small population and lack of regular elections. TheAustralian Labor Party (ALP) contested elections as early as 1905, but rarely faced an organised opposition; anti-Labor candidates usually stood asindependents. The regionalistNorth Australia Party (NAP), established byLionel Rose for the1965 Legislative Council election, has been cited as a predecessor of the CLP.[15]
A Darwin branch of theCountry Party was established on 20 July 1966, following by an Alice Springs branch on 29 July. The creation of the branches was spurred by the upcoming1966 federal election and the announcement by the Northern Territory's federal MPJock Nelson that he would be retiring from politics. The Country Party achieved its first electoral success with the election ofSam Calder as Nelson's replacement.[16] It subsequently won four out of eleven seats at the1968 Legislative Council election. A third branch of the party was established inKatherine in February 1971. The branches affiliated with the Federal Council of the Australian Country Party in July 1971, establishing a formal entity with a central council, executive and annual conference.[17] The party was formally named the "Australian Country Party – Northern Territory".[18]
The Country Party primarily drew its support from Alice Springs, small towns, and the pastoral industry, including "a fair proportion of the non-urban Aboriginal vote".[17] The party did not have a strong presence in Darwin. A branch of theLiberal Party, the Country Party'scoalition partner at a federal level, had been established in Darwin in 1966, representing commercial interests and urban professionals. The Liberals fielded candidates at the 1968 Legislative Council elections, but by 1970 the local branch had ceased to function.[19] In 1973, the Country Party began actively working to include Liberal supporters within its organisation, spurred by theWhitlam government's announcement of a fully electiveNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly. Following informal negotiations led byGoff Letts, a joint committee was established to determine changes to the Country Party's constitution and policy.[20] These were officially approved, along with the adoption of the name Country Liberal Party, at the party's annual conference in Alice Springs on 20 July 1974.[21] Per its 2018 constitution, the party reckons 1974 as its founding date.[22]
TheWhitlam government passed legislation in 1974 to establish a fully electedunicameralNorthern Territory Legislative Assembly, replacing the previous partly elected Legislative Council, which had been in existence since 1947. The CLP won 17 out of 19 seats atthe inaugural elections in October 1974, with independents holding the other two seats.[23] Goff Letts became the inaugural majority leader, a title changed tochief minister after the granting of self-government in 1978. The CLP governed the Northern Territory from 1974 until the2001 election. During this time, it never faced more than nine opposition members. Indeed, the CLP's dominance was so absolute that its internal politics were seen as a bigger threat than any opposition party.[24] This was especially pronounced in the mid-1980s, when a series of party-room coups resulted in the Territory having three Chief Ministers during the 1983–87 term and also saw the creation of theNorthern Territory Nationals as a short-lived splinter group under the leadership of former CLP chief ministerIan Tuxworth. According to ABC election analystAntony Green, the CLP weathered these severe ructions because Territory Labor was "unelectable" at the time.[25]
The Whitlam government also passed legislation to give the Northern Territory andAustralian Capital Territory (ACT) representation in the federalSenate, with each territory electing two senators.Bernie Kilgariff was elected as the CLP's first senator at the1975 federal election, sitting alongside Sam Calder in the parliamentary National Country Party. On 3 February 1979 a special conference of the CLP resolved that "the Federal CLP Parliamentarians be permitted to sit in the Party Rooms of their choice in Canberra". Despite personal misgivings, Kilgariff chose to sit with the parliamentary Liberal Party from 8 March 1979 in order that the CLP have representation in both parties, a practice which has been maintained where possible.[26]
At the2001 election, the Australian Labor Party won government by one seat, ending 27 years of CLP government.[27] The loss marked a major turning point in Northern Territory politics, a result which was exacerbated when, at the2005 election, the ALP won the second-largest majority government in the history of the Territory, reducing the once-dominant party to just four members in the Legislative Assembly. This result was only outdone by the 1974 election, in which the CLP faced only two independents as opposition. The CLP even lost two seats inPalmerston, an area where the ALP had never come close to winning any seats before.
In the2001 federal election, the CLP won the newly formed seat ofSolomon, based on Darwin/Palmerston, in the House of Representatives.[28]In the2004 federal election, the CLP held one seat in the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate.[29] The CLP lost its federal lower house seat in the2007 federal election,[29] but regained it when Palmerston deputy mayorNatasha Griggs won back Solomon for the CLP. She sat with the Liberals in the House.
The2008 election saw the CLP recover from the severe loss it suffered three years earlier, increasing its representation from four to 11 members. Following the 2011 decision of ALP-turned-independent memberAlison Anderson to join the CLP, this increased CLP's representation to 12 in the Assembly, leaving the incumbent Henderson Government to govern in minority with the support of Independent MPGerry Wood.
Historically, the CLP has been particularly dominant in the Territory's two major cities,Darwin/Palmerston andAlice Springs. However, in recent years the ALP has pulled even with the CLP in the Darwin area; indeed, its 2001 victory was fueled by an unexpected swing in Darwin.
The CLP under the leadership ofTerry Mills returned to power in the2012 election with 16 of 25 seats,[30] defeating the incumbent Labor government led byPaul Henderson. In the lead up to the Territory election, CLP SenatorNigel Scullion sharply criticised theFederal Labor government for its suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia - an economic mainstay of the territory.[31]
The election victory ended 11 years of ALP rule in the Northern Territory. The victory was also notable for the support it achieved fromindigenous people in pastoral and remote electorates. Large swings were achieved in remote Territory electorates (where the indigenous population comprised around two-thirds of voters) and a total of five Aboriginal CLP candidates won election to the Assembly.[32] Among the indigenous candidates elected were high-profile Aboriginal activistBess Price and former ALP memberAlison Anderson. Anderson was appointed Minister for Indigenous Advancement. In a nationally reported speech in November 2012, Anderson condemned welfare dependency and a culture of entitlement in her first ministerial statement on the status of Aboriginal communities in the Territory and said the CLP would focus on improving education and on helping create real jobs for indigenous people.[33]
Adam Giles replaced Mills asChief Minister of the Northern Territory and party leader at the2013 CLP leadership ballot on 13 March while Mills was on a trade mission in Japan.[34] Giles was sworn in as Chief Minister on 14 March, becoming the first indigenous head of government of an Australian state or territory.[35][36]
Willem Westra van Holthe challenged Giles at the2015 CLP leadership ballot on 2 February and was elected leader by the party room in a late night vote conducted by phone.[37] However, Giles refused to resign as Chief Minister following the vote. On 3 February,ABC News reported that officials were preparing aninstrument for Giles' removal by theAdministrator. The swearing-in of Westra van Holthe, which had been scheduled for 11:00 local time (01:30 UTC), was delayed.[38] After a meeting of the parliamentary wing of the CLP, Giles announced that he would remain as party leader and Chief Minister, and that Westra van Holthe would be his deputy.[39]
After four defections during the parliamentary term, the CLP was reduced tominority government by July 2015.[40][41] Giles raised the possibility of an early election on 20 July stating that he would "love" to call a snap poll, but that it was "pretty much impossible to do".Crossbenchers dismissed the notion of voting against aconfidence motion to bring down the government.[41]
Territory government legislation passed in February 2016 changed the voting method ofsingle-member electorates fromfull-preferential voting tooptional preferential voting ahead of the2016 territory election held on 27 August.[42][43]
Federally, aMediaReach seat-level opinion poll of 513 voters in the seat ofSolomon conducted 22−23 June ahead of the2016 federal election held on 2 July surprisingly found Labor candidateLuke Gosling heavily leading two-term CLP incumbentNatasha Griggs 61–39 on thetwo-party vote from a large 12.4 percentswing.[44] The CLP lost Solomon to Labor at the election, with Gosling defeating Griggs 56–44 on the two-party vote from a 7.4 percent swing.[45]
Polling ahead of the2016 Territory election indicated a large swing against the CLP, including a near-total collapse in Darwin/Palmerston. By the time the writs were dropped, commentators had almost universally written off the CLP. At 27 August Territory election, the CLP was swept from power in a massive Labor landslide, suffering easily the worst defeat of a sitting government in Territory history and one of the worst defeats a governing party has ever suffered at the state or territory level in Australia. The party not only lost all of the bush seats it picked up in 2012, but was all but shut out of Darwin/Palmerston, winning only one seat there. All told, the CLP only won two seats, easily its worst showing in an election. Giles himself lost his own seat, becoming the second Majority Leader/Chief Minister to lose his own seat. Even before Giles' defeat was confirmed, second-term MPGary Higgins—the only surviving member of the Giles cabinet—was named the party's new leader, withLia Finocchiaro as his deputy.[46] On 20 January 2020, Higgins announced his resignation as party leader and announced his retirement at the next election. Finocchiaro succeeded him as CLP leader and leader of the opposition on 1 February 2020.[47]
Finocchiaro led the CLP to a modest recovery at the2020 Territory election. The CLP picked up a six-seat swing, boosting its seat count to eight. However, it failed to make significant inroads in the Darwin/Palmerston area, winning only two seats there, including that of Finocchiaro.
The CLP lost the seat ofDaly to Labor in a2021 by-election, the first time an incumbent government had won a seat from the opposition in territory history.[48]
The CLP won a landslide victory in the2024 Northern Territory general election.
The CLP stands for office in the Northern Territory Assembly andFederal Parliament of Australia and primarily concerns itself with representing Territory interests. It is a regionally based party, that has parliamentary representation in both the Federal Parliament and at the territory level. It brands as a party with strong roots in the Territory.
The CLP competes against theTerritory Labor Party (the local branch of Australia's largestsocial democratic party). It is closely affiliated with, but is independent from theLiberal Party of Australia (a mainly urban, pro-business party comprising mainlyliberal membership) and theNational Party of Australia (aconservative and regional interests party).[27]
The foreword to the constitution of the party describes it as an "independent conservative political party".[22] One of the objectives in the party's constitution is to "work toward the achievement ofStatehood in the Northern Territory".[49] The party promotes traditional Liberal Party values such asindividualism andprivate enterprise, and what it describes as "progressive" political policy such asfull statehood for the Northern Territory.[27]
In February 2023, the party voted to oppose theVoice to Parliament.[50][51]
Traditionally, the CLP's voting base has been mostly concentrated inPalmerston,Alice Springs,Katherine and parts ofDarwin, as well as in rural towns where the majority of people arewhite.
Initially, remote Indigenous communities around Australia voted strongly for Labor, but in recent years,Indigenous Australians have been more frequently voting for the Coalition, particularly in remote communities. At the same time, Labor has become stronger in Darwin and Palmerston. At the2012 general election, the CLP won government by gaining five remote seats where themajority of the population identify asAboriginal and that were traditionally consideredsafe seats for Labor. In2016, the CLP was defeated by Labor in alandslide, and thus lost most of its ground territory-wide. However, in2020, the CLP gained back some of its ground in remote areas (including narrowly gaining the seat ofBarkly, which they did not win in 2012, with a hugeswing to them).
The CLP's rule was once so tight, that a former minister once said the CLP had a "'rightful inheritance of being the party that runs this place'".[52][53]
A 2023 poll conducted by the Redbridge Group, which found that the CLP would win the2024 general election in a landslide, looked at demographics by voting intention in the Northern Territory. The poll found that the CLP has a support base among many demographics. The poll found that the CLP is overwhelmingly more popular than Labor among middle and high-income earners and people over 40, and that the CLP had more support than Labor among both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people,English and non-English speakers, and both men and women. The poll found that people aged between 18 and 40 are still more likely to vote for the CLP than they are any party, but by a smaller margin than people over 40.[54]
As less parties and candidates contest Northern Territory general elections than they do Australian federal elections in the Northern Territory, the CLP, Labor and independents usually have a higher vote share at territory elections than at federal elections in the Northern Territory due to the absence of right-wing minor parties such asPauline Hanson's One Nation and the fact that theGreens do not run in every seat at territory elections. On the territory level, the Redbridge poll found that 25% of One Nation supporters would vote for the CLP on the territory level, second to only theShooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) at 33%.[54]
Branch delegates and members of the party's Central Council attend the Annual Conference of the Country Liberal Party to decide the party's platform. The Central Council is composed of the party's office bearers, its leaders from the Territory Assembly and the Federal Parliament and representatives of party branches.[27]
The Annual Conference of the Country Liberal Party, attended by branch delegates and members of the party's Central Council, decides matters relating to the party's platform and philosophy. The Central Council administers the party and makes decisions onpre-selections. It is composed of the party's office bearers, its leaders in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, members in the Federal Parliament, and representation from each of the party's branches.[27]
The CLP president has full voting rights with the National Party and observer status with the Liberal Party. Both the Liberals and Nationals receive Country Liberal delegations at their conventions. After federal elections, the CLP directs its federal members and senators as to which of the two other parties they should sit with in the parliamentary chamber. In practice, since the 1980s CLP House members usually sit with the Liberals, while CLP Senators usually sit with the Nationals.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Goff Letts | 13,690 | 49.0 | 17 / 19 |  17 | 1st | Majority |
| 1977 | 12,769 | 40.1 | 12 / 19 |  5 |  1st | Majority | |
| 1980 | Paul Everingham | 28,637 | 50.0 | 11 / 19 | 1 | 1st | Majority |
| 1983 | 28,637 | 58.2 | 19 / 25 | 8 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1987 | Stephen Hatton | 20,074 | 39.4 | 16 / 25 | 3 | 1st | Majority |
| 1990 | Marshall Perron | 31,758 | 48.8 | 14 / 25 | 2 | 1st | Majority |
| 1994 | 38,266 | 51.9 | 17 / 25 | 3 | 1st | Majority | |
| 1997 | Shane Stone | 41,722 | 54.7 | 18 / 25 | 1 | 1st | Majority |
| 2001 | Denis Burke | 36,926 | 45.4 | 10 / 25 | 8 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2005 | 30,827 | 35.7 | 4 / 25 | 6 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 2008 | Terry Mills | 36,334 | 45.4 | 11 / 25 | 7 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2012 | 46,653 | 50.6 | 16 / 25 | 5 | 1st | Majority | |
| 2016 | Adam Giles | 31,263 | 31.8 | 2 / 25 | 14 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2020 | Lia Finocchiaro | 32,021 | 31.3 | 8 / 25 | 6 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 2024 | 48,666 | 49.2 | 17 / 25 | 9 | 1st | Majority |
| Year | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Goff Letts | Majority Leader[Note 1] |
| 1977 | Paul Everingham | Majority Leader to 1978, thenChief Minister of the Northern Territory |
| 1984 | Ian Tuxworth | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory |
| 1986 | Stephen Hatton | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory |
| 1988 | Marshall Perron | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory |
| 1995 | Shane Stone | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory |
| 1999 | Denis Burke | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory to 2001, then Opposition Leader |
| 2003 | Terry Mills | Opposition Leader |
| 2005 | Denis Burke | Opposition Leader |
| 2005 | Jodeen Carney | Opposition Leader |
| 2008 | Terry Mills | Opposition Leader to 2012, then Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, ousted in leadership spill by Adam Giles |
| 2013 | Adam Giles | Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, indirectly survived a leadership spill byWillem Westra van Holthe in 2015,minority government from 2015 |
| 2016 | Gary Higgins | Opposition Leader |
| 2020 | Lia Finocchiaro | Opposition Leader to 2024, then Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. |
