Free Trade Party in the context of Australian political party

The 1901 Australian federal election for the inaugural Parliament of Australia was held in Australia on Friday 29 March and Saturday 30 March 1901. The elections followed Federation and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. All 75 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, six of which were uncontested, as well as all 36 seats in the Australian Senate, were up for election.

After the initial confusion of the Hopetoun Blunder, the first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, went into the inaugural 1901 federal election as the appointed head of a Protectionist Party caretaker government. While the Protectionists came first on seats, they fell short of a majority. The incumbent government remained in office with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party, who held the balance of power, while the Free Trade Party formed the opposition. A few months prior to the 1903 election, Barton resigned to become a founding member of the High Court of Australia, and was replaced by Alfred Deakin.

The 1903 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1903. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Protectionist Party minority government led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin retained the most House of Representatives seats of the three parties and retained government with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party led by Chris Watson. The Free Trade Party led by George Reid remained in opposition.

The election outcome saw a finely balanced House of Representatives, with the three parties each holding around a third of seats − the Protectionists on 26, the Free Traders on 24 and Labour on 22. This term of parliament saw no changes in any party leadership but did see very significant and prolonged debates, with three changes in government: the Protectionist minority government fell in April 1904 to be replaced by a minority Labour government, which lasted until August 1904, before falling in turn. Labour was replaced by a minority Free Trader government, which finally fell in July 1905 to be replaced by the Protectionists, who continued until the 1906 election and beyond. The Free Traders remained in opposition throughout this eventful period with the exception of Labour forming the opposition for the first time during the period of the Free Trader minority government. Additionally, the Watson government was the world's first Labour Party government at a national level.

The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fusion.

The creation of the party marked the emergence of a two-party system, replacing the unstable multi-party system that arose after Federation in 1901. The first three federal elections produced hung parliaments, with the Protectionists, Free Traders, and Australian Labor Party (ALP) forming a series of minority governments. Free Trade leader George Reid envisioned an anti-socialist alliance of liberals and conservatives, rebranding his party accordingly, and his views were eventually adopted by his Protectionist counterpart Deakin. Objections towards Reid saw Deakin take the lead in coordinating the merger. The Fusion was controversial, with some of Deakin's radical supporters regarding it as a betrayal and choosing to sit as independents or join the ALP.