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| seats2_title = Senate | seats2 = }} The Liberal Party of Australia (Lib, colloquially Libs or, rarely, "LPA") is a centre-right political party in Australia. Founded in 1945 to replace the United Australia Party (UAP), the Liberal Party of Australia is one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party is the largest and dominant party in the Coalition with the National Party of Australia, the Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory, and the Liberal National Party of Queensland. Except for a few short periods, the Liberal Party and its predecessors have operated in similar coalitions since the 1920s. Internationally, the Liberal Party is affiliated to the International Democrat Union. The party's leader and deputy leader are Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop, respectively. The pair were elected to their positions at a leadership spill in September 2015, Bishop as the incumbent deputy leader and Turnbull as a replacement for Tony Abbott, who he consequently succeeded as Prime Minister of Australia. The party had been elected to government in the 2013 federal election, with the Abbott Government taking office on 18 September 2013.〔http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/tony-abbott-has-been-sworn-in-as-the-nation8217s-28th-prime-minister/story-fni0xqrb-1226721744714〕 At state and territory level, the Liberal Party is in office in three states: Colin Barnett has been Premier of Western Australia since 2008, Will Hodgman Premier of Tasmania since 2014, and Mike Baird Premier of New South Wales since 2014. Adam Giles is also the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, leading a Country Liberal minority government since 2015. The party is in opposition in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The party's centre-right ideology has been referred to as conservative, liberal-conservative, and conservative-liberal. The Liberal Party promotes economic liberalism. Two members of the party, Sir Robert Menzies and John Howard, are Australia's two longest serving Prime Ministers. The Liberal Party has spent more time in government than any other federal Australian political party. ==Philosophies and factionalism== The contemporary Liberal Party generally advocates economic liberalism (see New Right). Historically, the party has supported a higher degree of economic protectionism and interventionism than it has in recent decades. However, from its foundation the party has identified itself as anti-socialist. Strong opposition to socialism and communism in Australia and abroad was one of its founding principles. Party founder Robert Menzies envisaged that Australia's middle class would form its main constituency.〔The Forgotten People〕 Towards the end of his term as Prime Minister of Australia, in a last address to the Liberal Party Federal Council in 1964, Party founder, and longest serving leader Sir Robert Menzies spoke of the "Liberal Creed" as follows: Soon after the election of the Howard Government, the second longest serving Liberal Prime Minister, John Howard, spoke of his interpretation of the "Liberal Tradition" in a Robert Menzies Lecture in 1996: Throughout their history, the Liberals have been in electoral terms largely the party of the middle class (whom Menzies, in the era of the party's formation called "The forgotten people"), though such class-based voting patterns are no longer as clear as they once were. In the 1970s a left-wing middle class emerged that no longer voted Liberal. One effect of this was the success of a breakaway party, the Australian Democrats, founded in 1977 by former Liberal minister Don Chipp and members of minor liberal parties; other members of the left-leaning section of the middle-class became Labor supporters. On the other hand, the Liberals have done increasingly well among socially conservative working-class voters in recent years.However the Liberal Party's key support base remains the upper-middle classes; 16 of the 20 richest federal electorates are held by the Liberals, most of which are safe seats. In country areas they either compete or have a truce with the Nationals, depending on various factors. Menzies was an ardent constitutional monarchist, who supported the Monarchy in Australia and links to the Commonwealth of Nations. Today the party is divided on the question of republicanism, with some being republicans, as with incumbent leader Malcolm Turnbull, while others, such as his predecessor Tony Abbott, are monarchists. The Menzies Government formalised Australia's alliance with America in 1951 and the party has remained a strong supporter of the mutual defence treaty. Domestically, Menzies presided over a fairly regulated economy in which utilities were publicly owned, and commercial activity was highly regulated through centralised wage-fixing and high tariff protection. Liberal leaders from Menzies to Malcolm Fraser generally maintained Australia's high tariff levels. At that time, the Liberals' coalition partner, the Country Party, the older of the two in the coalition (now known as the "National Party"), had considerable influence over the government's economic policies. It was not until the late 1970s and through their period out of power federally in the 1980s that the party came to be influenced by what was known as the "New Right" – conservative liberal group who advocated market deregulation, privatisation of public utilities, reductions in the size of government programs and tax cuts. Socially, while liberty and freedom of enterprise form the basis of its beliefs, elements of the party have wavered between what is termed "small-l liberalism" and social conservatism. Historically, Liberal Governments have been responsible for the carriage of a number of notable "socially liberal" reforms, including the opening of Australia to multiethnic immigration under Menzies and Harold Holt; Holt's 1967 Referendum on Aboriginal Rights; Sir John Gorton's support for cinema and the arts; selection of the first Aboriginal Senator, Neville Bonner, in 1971; and Malcolm Fraser's Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976. West Australian Liberal, Ken Wyatt, became the first Indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives in 2010. The party has mainly two unorganised factions, the conservative right and the moderate left. Historically, moderates have at times formed their own parties, most notably the Australian Democrats who gave voice to what is termed small-l liberalism in Australia. The Liberal Party is a member of the International Democrat Union, the only party with the name Liberal to hold membership. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Liberal Party of Australia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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