The Liberal Union, also known as the Liberal Party, the Liberal Union Party or the Progressive Liberals, was a short-lived political party in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

that operated in Victoria, mainly in 1922.

History

The Liberal Union was formed by disaffected

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

s, principally Thomas Ashworth and Charles Merrett, who opposed the leadership of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

. In October 1922, Merrett met with delegates from the Country Party and Australian Legion and agreed to co-operate at the 1922 federal election. Positions agreed upon by the three parties included " aintainingthe unity of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

" and "the preservation of a white Australia". Candidates in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

would stand as 'Progressive Liberals,' while the Liberals would back Country Party candidate in

regional Victoria Regional Australia is a socio-geographical definition used in Australia to describe populated regions outside of the major metropolitan areas (typically the capital city) in each state or territory, designed for censusing and promoting urbanized ...

. At the 1922 election, William Watt ( Balaclava) and John Latham ( Kooyong) were elected as Independent Liberal Union MPs. Other candidates for the party included

Eleanor Glencross Eleanor Glencross (11 November 1876 – 2 May 1950) was an Australian feminist and housewives' advocate. She led the Housewives' Association of New South Wales and she was the first chair of the Federated Association of Australian Housewives. S ...

and

Henry Gullett Sir Henry Somer Gullett KCMG CB (26 March 1878 – 13 August 1940) was an Australian journalist, military historian and politician. He was a war correspondent during World War I and co-authored the official history of Australia's involvement ...

, both in Henty, and Merrett who ran in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The party disbanded in 1925, after Watt re-joined and Latham joined the Nationalists. Merrett later formed the

Australian Liberal Party The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent Centre-right politics, centre-right list of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two Major party, major parties in politics of Australia, ...

References

{{Defunct Australian political parties Defunct political parties in Australia Liberal parties in Australia Political parties with year of establishment missing Political parties disestablished in 1925 1925 disestablishments in Australia