The Progressive Party was an Australian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

, active in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

state politics. The question of tariff policy which, had created and divided the

Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, ...

and

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...

in New South Wales in the 1890s, became a federal issue at the time of

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

. Deprived of their main ideological difference, the two parties were recreated as the Liberal Reform Party aligned with the federal Free Trade Party and the Progressive Party aligned with the federal Protectionist Party. There was a rapid decline in the parliamentary representation of the party, from a high of forty-two seats at the 1901 election, to sixteen at the 1904 election, In April and May 1907 the party had negotiated a coalition agreement with the Liberal Reform Party but this was rejected by a vote of parliamentary members. The party leader

Thomas Waddell Thomas Waddell (1 January 1854 – 25 October 1940), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1887 to 1917, was briefly the premier of New South Wales during 1904, and was a member of the New Sou ...

resigned and joined the Liberal Reform Party, and was followed by

John McFarlane John McFarlane OBE (born 14 June 1947) is a British businessman. He served as Group Chairman of Barclays from 2015 to 2019. Early life He was born in Dumfries and attended Dumfries Academy. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, Cra ...

Brinsley Hall Brinsley Hall (26 October 1862 – 8 May 1940) was an Australian politician. He was born along the Macdonald River near St Albans in New South Wales, the son of William Hall, a farmer. He attended Windsor Grammar School and then worked as a ...

, John Gillies and John Perry. Of the remaining ten former Progressive Party members, a further five lost their seats at the 1907 election, In 1919, the Farmers' and Settlers' Association and the Graziers' Association founded a new

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

, which, while not a direct successor, included members of the former party such as

George Briner George Stuart Briner (5 April 1862 – 9 September 1920) was an Australian politician. He was born in Morses Creek in Victoria to miner William Torents Briner and Mary Ann, ''née'' Whyatt. After attending Scotch College and the University of M ...

and Walter Bennett. The new party won metropolitan and rural seats in the 1920 election and was a forerunner to the Country Party.

Leaders

State election results

References

{{New South Wales political parties Defunct political parties in New South Wales Political parties established in 1901 1901 establishments in Australia Political parties disestablished in 1907 1907 disestablishments in Australia