Country Liberal Party Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Abbreviation | CLP |
Leader | Lia Finocchiaro |
Deputy Leader | Gerard Maley |
President | Shane Stone |
Senate Leader | Jacinta Nampijinpa Price |
Founded | |
Headquarters | 229 McMillans Road, Jingili, Northern Territory |
Youth wing | Young Country Liberals |
Ideology |
|
Political position |
|
National affiliation | Liberal–National Coalition |
Colours | Orange (official) Blue (occasionally customary) |
Slogan | The Territory Party |
Legislative Assembly | 17 / 25 |
House of Representatives | 0 / 2 (NT seats) |
Senate | 1 / 2 (NT seats) |
Website | |
www | |
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in Australia |
---|
![]() |
The Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory (CLP),[13] commonly known as the Country Liberals, is a centre-right and conservative political party in Australia's Northern Territory. In territory politics, it operates in a two-party system with the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It also contests federal elections as an affiliate of the Liberal Party of Australia and National Party of Australia, the two partners in the federal coalition.
The CLP originated in 1971 as a division of the Country Party (later renamed the National Party), the first local branches of which were formed in 1966. It adopted its current name in 1974 to attract Liberal Party supporters, but maintained a sole affiliation with the Country Party until 1979, when it acquired observer status with the Liberals while maintaining full voting rights in the Country Party. The party dominated the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from the inaugural election in 1974 through to its defeat at the 2001 election, winning eight consecutive elections and providing the territory's first seven chief ministers. Following its defeat in 2001, the party did not return to power until 2012, but was defeated at the 2016 election. It remained in opposition until the 2024 election, in which it regained government in a landslide and the party's leader Lia Finocchiaro, who was elected party leader and leader of the opposition in February 2020, became Chief Minister.
At federal level, the CLP contests elections for the Northern Territory's House of Representatives and Senate seats, which also cover the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. It is registered with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Its candidates do not form a separate parliamentary party but instead join either the Liberal or National party rooms – for instance, CLP senator Nigel Scullion was a long-serving deputy leader of the Nationals. Its sole current federal legislator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, also a senator, sits with the National Party.
The CLP's constitution describes it as an "independent conservative" party and commits it to Northern Territory statehood. It has typically prioritised economic development of the territory and originally drew most of its support from Outback towns and the pastoral industry. It later developed a voter base among the urban middle-class populations of Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs (the latter two of which are strongholds for the party). The party has had a fluctuating relationship with the territory's large Indigenous population, notably providing the territory's first Indigenous MP (Hyacinth Tungutalum) and Australia's first Indigenous head of government (Adam Giles).
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search