Liberal Reform Group | |
|---|---|
| Spokesperson | Gordon Barton |
| Founded | November 1966 |
| Dissolved | July 1969 |
| Merged into | Australia Party |
| Ideology | Anti-conscription Anti-war |
TheLiberal Reform Group, later known as theAustralian Reform Movement, was a minorAustralian political party and predecessor to theAustralia Party, which in turn was a predecessor to theAustralian Democrats. It was founded byGordon Barton, transport entrepreneur Ken Thomas, shark meshing contractor Nickolai Gorshenin, writerKenneth Cook and a number of disaffected members of theLiberal Party, alienated by the Liberals' support forconscription in theVietnam War.[1] After contesting the1966 federal election as the Liberal Reform Group, the party contested the1967 Senate election as the Australian Reform Movement, but had become the Australia Party by 1969.
The Liberal Reform Group originated from a newspaper advertisement in theSydney Morning Herald placed byIPEC managing directorGordon Barton on 3 November 1966, as an open letter toPresident Lyndon B.Johnson, then visiting Australia. The President was visiting at the height of the Vietnam War and was seeking to consolidate Australia's co-operation in the war.[2] In a climate of anti-war protest, at least in Sydney, the open letter drew such strong support that Barton established Liberal Reform and called for "independent Liberal" candidates to contest the upcoming federal election on a platform of opposition toconscription and theVietnam War.[3] Funding for this advertisement and public campaigning is detailed on Australia Party page.
The new group was immediately attacked by Prime MinisterHarold Holt and TreasurerWilliam McMahon as pro-socialist and a front for theAustralian Labor Party (ALP).[4][5] However, the president of its Victorian branch subsequently announced that it would support theCoalition government on domestic issues.[6] The party's policy speech was delivered by journalistFrancis James, who stood against McMahon in the seat ofLowe.[7]
For the1966 federal election, the Liberal Reform Group nominated Senate candidates only inNew South Wales andVictoria, and for Lower House primarily in government-held seats.[8] For NSW there were five candidates includingGordon Barton,Peter Mason andHarry Seidler. Seidler was already prominent in public affairs, notablyJørn Utzon plans for theSydney Opera House, andPeter Mason was a public figure opposed to conscription and war. On Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, Seidler declared "There is a time when one is so utterly appalled by the role the government plays in foreign policy and in Vietnam in particular that one decides to do what one can to present a saner approach to people. I think the course we are following is the worst possible one for us, situated as we are in Asia. What we are doing is barbarous."[2]
The Liberal Party unsuccessfully took out an injunction against the group'show-to-vote cards, claiming they were misleading as the word "Reform" was less visible than the word "Liberal".[9]
At the 1967 election, the Liberal Reform NSW Senate candidates had polled just over two percent of the vote. By October 1967, the Liberal Reform Group was using the name "Australian Reform Movement" (ARM).[10][11] ACanberra branch of the movement was formed in April 1969.[12] On 20 July 1969, following discussions which had begun the previous month, it was announced that the ARM would merge with the supporters of independent senatorReg Turnbull to form a new political party, theAustralia Party, with Turnbull as its leader and sole parliamentary representative.[13] Extending the earlier aims of the Liberal Reform Group to end conscription and withdraw from Vietnam the new party's platform was "to liberalise abortion laws, end conscription, eliminate censorship, protect the environment and improve city planning."[2]
