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The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the The Nationals but maintains a separate structure and identity. Founded in 1913 to represent the interests of farmers and pastoralists, it was the first agrarian party in Australia to contest and win seats at the 1914 state election. Since then, it has continuously held seats in the state's Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, particularly in the state's Wheatbelt region, and for many years it also held Federal seats. While the party had historically functioned as part of a two-party coalition with the centre-right Liberal Party (and its predecessors) for most of its existence, tensions have always existed over the coalition arrangement, and on two occasions the party split over the issue. Since the passage of reforms to the electoral system initiated by the Labor Party reducing the number of non-metropolitan seats, the Nationals have refashioned themselves as an independent third party in Western Australian politics in an effort to ensure their survival and continued representation for agrarian interests in Parliament. In 2005 the party confirmed its intention to maintain parliamentary independence from the Liberal Party. In 2007, leader Brendon Grylls stated that the party "took a significant step and said no to a traditional coalition with the Liberal Party and will contest the (next) election as a stand-alone conservative party". Following the unexpected hung parliament produced by the election, the Nationals found themselves holding the balance of power in both houses of the Western Australian parliament, opting ultimately to support the Liberals without establishing with them a coalition of one political force. Nationals WA candidate Tony Crook defeated Liberal Party incumbent Wilson Tuckey in the lower house seat of O'Connor at the 2010 federal election, where a four-seat deficit for both sides saw the first hung parliament since the 1940 federal election. Crook initially sat on the crossbench after the election; he and his party remained open to negotiations with both sides on the formation of the 2010 federal government. In April 2012, however, he moved from the crossbench to sit with the Nationals. His main platform was pro-Royalties for Regions policy and anti-Mineral Resource Rent Tax. Since his election, Crook voted at times for federal Labor government policies in parliament contrary to the official position of the National Party of Australia. Crook retired at the 2013 federal election and the seat of O'Connor was won by Liberal Rick Wilson, who narrowly defeated Nationals WA candidate Chub Witham. ==Naming== On foundation, the party was known as the Country Party of Western Australia. In 1944, it was renamed the Country and Democratic League following its severance from the Primary Producers' Association; however, the name proved confusing, especially after the Liberals' decision to adopt the name Liberal and Country League, and the parliamentary party reverted to being the Country Party at the 1949 federal election. The organisation followed suit at its 1961 conference.〔Black (1981b), p.436.〕 In 1974, the party contested state and federal elections under the National Alliance banner, and then was officially renamed the National Country Party. On 1 April 1985, upon its union with the breakaway National Party, it became the National Party of Western Australia, which was formally affiliated with the National Party of Australia. As with all National parties around Australia, in late 2003 the party was rebranded as The Nationals Western Australia, although the official name has not changed. 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「National Party of Western Australia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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