Coalition (Australia) in the context of "Tony Windsor"

The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right to right-wing political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Australia Party. Historically the most electorally successful party in Australia, the Liberal Party is now in opposition at a federal level, although it presently holds government in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Tasmania at a state (sub-national) level.

The Liberal Party is the largest partner in a centre-right grouping known in Australian politics as the Coalition, accompanied by the regional-based National Party, which is typically focussed on issues pertinent to regional Australia. The Liberal Party last governed Australia, in coalition with the Nationals, between 2013 and 2022, forming the Abbott (2013–2015), Turnbull (2015–2018) and Morrison (2018–2022) governments. The Coalition has been suspended on occasion throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, though as of 2025 the two parties form a shadow ministry under the leadership of Sussan Ley.

Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 1916 – 21 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive government that ended with his controversial dismissal by the then-governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office by a governor-general.

Whitlam was an air navigator in the Royal Australian Air Force for four years during World War II, and worked as a barrister following the war. He was first elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1952, becoming a member of parliament (MP) for the division of Werriwa. Whitlam became deputy leader of the Labor Party in 1960, and in 1967, after the retirement of Arthur Calwell, was elected leader of the party and became the Leader of the Opposition. After narrowly losing the 1969 federal election to John Gorton, Whitlam led Labor to victory at the 1972 election, after 23 years of Coalition government.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician, statesman and businessman who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929. He held office as the leader of the Nationalist Party, having previously served as the treasurer of Australia from 1921 to 1923.

Born into a briefly wealthy Melbourne family, Bruce studied at the University of Cambridge and played a leading role in his family's softgoods firm following the suicide of his father John Munro Bruce. He served on the front lines of the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I and returned to Australia wounded in 1917, becoming a spokesman for government recruitment efforts. He gained the attention of the Nationalist Party and prime minister Billy Hughes, who encouraged a political career. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1918, becoming member of parliament (MP) for the seat of Flinders. He was appointed as treasurer in 1921, before replacing Hughes as prime minister in 1923. He established an anti-socialist coalition government with the agrarian Country Party, working closely with Country leader Earle Page in an arrangement that pioneered the modern Liberal–National coalition.

In Australian parliamentary practice, the Opposition or the Official Opposition consists of the second largest party or coalition of parties in the Australian House of Representatives, with its leader being given the title Leader of the Opposition. The Opposition serves the same function as the official opposition in other Commonwealth of Nations monarchies that follow the Westminster conventions and practices. It is seen as the alternative government and the existing administration's main opponent in the Australian Parliament and at a general election. By convention, the Opposition Leader in the federal Parliament comes from the House of Representatives, as does the deputy, although the Government and Opposition may also both have leaders in the Senate. The Opposition is sometimes styled as His Majesty's Loyal Opposition to show that, although the group may be against the sitting government, it remains loyal to the Crown (the embodiment of the Australian state), and thus to Australia.

The current Opposition at a federal level is the centre-right Liberal Party/National Party Coalition, led by Sussan Ley.

The 1940 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Coalition, consisting of the United Australia Party led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin despite losing the overall popular vote.

The Coalition won 36 seats, two short of a majority, but formed a government on 28 October 1940 with the support of both independent crossbenchers, Alexander Wilson and Arthur Coles. The four MPs elected to Lang Labor's successor, the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), officially re-joined the ALP just months after the election in February 1941, bringing the ALP to 36 seats. The UAP–Country minority government lasted only until October 1941, when the two independents crossed the floor and allowed the ALP to form a minority government with Curtin as prime minister. It remains the only time since the 1910 introduction of the two-party system where the government has changed as the result of a parliamentary confidence vote.

The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Initially appointed as a caretaker government following the dismissal of the Whitlam government, Fraser won in a landslide at the resulting 1975 Australian federal election, and won substantial majorities at the subsequent 1977 and 1980 elections, before losing to the Bob Hawke–led Australian Labor Party in the 1983 election.

The 1996 Australian federal election was held to determine the members of the 38th Parliament of Australia. It was held on 2 March 1996. All 148 seats of the House of Representatives and 40 seats of the 76-seat Senate were up for election. The Liberal/National Coalition led by Opposition Leader John Howard of the Liberal Party and coalition partner Tim Fischer of the National Party defeated the incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Prime Minister Paul Keating in a landslide victory. The Coalition won 94 seats in the House of Representatives, the equal-largest number of seats won by a federal government to date (tied with Labor's win in 2025), and only the second time a party had won over 90 seats at a federal election; the first occurred in 1975.

The election marked the end of the five-term, 13-year Hawke-Keating Government that began in 1983. Howard was sworn in as the new prime minister of Australia on 11 March 1996, along with the First Howard Ministry. This election was the start of the 11-year Howard Government; the Labor party would spend this period in opposition and would not return to government until the 2007 election.

The following tables show state-by-state results in the Australian Senate at the 2007 federal election, 37 Coalition (32 Liberal, four National, one CLP), 32 Labor, five Green, one Family First, and one independent, Nick Xenophon. Senators are elected for six-year terms, and took their seats from 1 July 2008, but senators representing the territories have three-year terms and take their seats immediately.