Canberra Liberals

The Canberra Liberals, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (Australian Capital Territory Division), is the division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The party has been in opposition in the ACT Legislative Assembly for much of its existence, but held power with the support of minor parties and independents between 1989 and 1991 and again between 1995 and 2001.^[1] It is currently the only state or territory division of either major party to be unrepresented in the Federal Parliament.

Canberra Liberals Liberal Party of Australia (A.C.T. Division)
Leader	Leanne Castley
Founded	27 January 1949; 75 years ago (1949-01-27)
Headquarters	4/50 Geils Court, Deakin ACT 2600
Youth wing	Young Liberals
Women's wing	Liberal Women's Council
Norfolk Island wing	Norfolk Island Interest Branch
Ideology	Liberalism (Australian) Conservatism (Australian) Right-wing populism Liberal conservatism Factions: Christian right
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
National affiliation	Liberal Party of Australia
Colours	Blue
Legislative Assembly	9 / 25
House of Representatives	0 / 3 (ACT seats)
Senate	0 / 2 (ACT seats)
Website
canberraliberals.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

Twitter logo of Canberra Liberals prior to 2021

History

The first Liberal branch in Canberra was formed in order to field a candidate in the newly created Division of Australian Capital Territory at the 1949 federal election. The first meeting of the branch was held at the Albert Hall on 27 January 1949. The inaugural meeting of the Canberra women's branch was held on 29 June 1949. By 1961, there were three branches of the Liberal Party in the ACT, and a branch of the Young Liberals was created around the same time.^[2]

The party held a number of seats in the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly throughout its existence. In the first election under self-government in 1989 the Liberal Party won four seats.^[3] The Liberals were led in the Assembly by Trevor Kaine, initially in opposition but in December 1989 the party formed a coalition known as the Alliance with the Residents Rally that lasted from December 1989 until June 1991 when a dispute over school closures broke up the coalition and returned the parties to opposition.^[4] Kaine was briefly replaced as leader by Gary Humphries,^[5] but regained the position a month later.^[6] Two years later he was replaced by Kate Carnell.^[7]

At the 1995 election the Liberals won 7 seats^[8] and Carnell formed a minority government with the support of independent members Michael Moore and Paul Osborne. Carnell served as Chief Minister until October 2000 when she resigned in advance of a no confidence motion over the increased costs of the Canberra Stadium.^[9] She was succeeded by Humphries but the party lost power in the 2001 election.^[10] It has been in opposition ever since, having installed and removed multiple leaders including Brendan Smyth, Bill Stefaniak, Zed Seselja, Jeremy Hanson, Alistair Coe and Elizabeth Lee.^[11] The current leader of the party is Leanne Castley.^[12]

In the 2022 federal election, Seselja, who was the sole Canberra Liberals parliamentarian in federal parliament, lost his Senate seat to independent David Pocock.^[13] This left the Canberra Liberals with no representation in the 47th Parliament. A review into the territory division's defeat at the election would be headed by former WA Liberal leader Mike Nahan and former Victorian Liberal senator Helen Kroger. The review would include an examination of the Canberra Liberals and its electoral performance among different voter segments, and would propose strategies to regain federal representation.^[14]

Leadership

See also: Canberra Liberals leadership elections

Leaders

#	Leader (birth–death)		Electorate	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Chief Minister (term)
		Jim Leedman (born 1937/38)	–	1966	30 October 1974	c. 8 years, 122 days	N/A
		Peter Hughes (born 1932)	Canberra	30 October 1974	3 January 1977	2 years, 65 days
		Jim Leedman (born 1937/38)	Canberra	20 January 1977	10 December 1988	11 years, 325 days
		Trevor Kaine (1928–2009)	—	10 December 1988	12 June 1991	2 years, 193 days
							Follett (1989–1989)
							Himself (1989–1991)
							Follett (1991–1995)
		Gary Humphries (born 1958)	—	12 June 1991	22 July 1991	31 days
		Trevor Kaine (1928–2009)	—	22 July 1991	21 April 1993	1 year, 273 days
		Kate Carnell (born 1955)	Molonglo (1995–2000)	21 April 1993	17 October 2000	7 years, 179 days
							Herself (1995–2000)
		Gary Humphries (born 1958)	Molonglo	18 October 2000	25 November 2002	2 years, 38 days		Himself (2000–2001)
							Stanhope (2001–2011)
		Brendan Smyth (born 1959)	Brindabella	25 November 2002	16 May 2006	3 years, 172 days
		Bill Stefaniak (born 1952)	Ginninderra	16 May 2006	13 December 2007	1 year, 211 days
		Zed Seselja (born 1977)	Molonglo (2004–2012) Brindabella (2012–2013)	13 December 2007	11 February 2013	5 years, 60 days
								Gallagher (2011–2014)
		Jeremy Hanson (born 1967)	Molonglo (2008–2016) Murrumbidgee (2016–present)	11 February 2013	25 October 2016	3 years, 257 days
								Barr (2014–)
		Alistair Coe (born 1984)	Yerrabi	25 October 2016	27 October 2020	4 years, 2 days
		Elizabeth Lee (born 1979)	Kurrajong	27 October 2020	31 October 2024	4 years, 4 days
		Leanne Castley (born 1974)	Yerrabi	31 October 2024	Incumbent	1 day

Deputy Leaders

Deputy Leader	Date started	Date finished	Deputy Chief Minister
Tony De Domenico	1992	9 January 1997	1995-1997
Gary Humphries	9 January 1997	31 January 1997	1997
Trevor Kaine	31 January 1997	17 February 1997	1997
Gary Humphries	17 February 1997	17 October 2000	1997-2000
Brendan Smyth	17 October 2000	25 November 2002	2000-2001
Bill Stefaniak	25 November 2002	2004
Richard Mulcahy	2004	16 May 2006
Jacqui Burke	16 May 2006	13 December 2007
Brendan Smyth	13 December 2007	11 February 2013
Alistair Coe	11 February 2013	25 October 2016
Nicole Lawder	25 October 2016	27 October 2020
Giulia Jones	27 October 2020	January 2022
Jeremy Hanson	February 2022	7 December 2023
Leanne Castley	7 December 2023	31 October 2024
Jeremy Hanson	31 October 2024	Incumbent

Election results

Election	Seats won	±	Total votes	%	Position	Leader
1989	4 / 17	4	21,088	14.87%	Opposition	Trevor Kaine
1992	6 / 17	2	45,203	29.03%	Opposition	Trevor Kaine
1995	7 / 17	1	66,895	40.48%	Minority government	Kate Carnell
1998	7 / 17	0	68,221	37.83%	Coalition	Kate Carnell
2001	7 / 17	0	60,390	31.64%	Opposition	Gary Humphries
2004	7 / 17	0	71,083	34.81%	Opposition	Brendan Smyth
2008	6 / 17	1	66,861	31.56%	Opposition	Zed Seselja
2012	8 / 17	2	86,032	38.90%	Opposition	Zed Seselja
2016	11 / 25	3	89,632	36.72%	Opposition	Jeremy Hanson
2020	9 / 25	2	90,955	33.8%	Opposition	Alistair Coe
2024	9 / 25	0	83,201 (TBD)	33.2% (TBD)	Opposition	Elizabeth Lee

References

1. CONSTITUTION of the LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA (AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY DIVISION) Archived 21 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine, as amended November 2018
2. "Our History". Canberra Liberals. 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
3. "List of elected candidates - 1989 Election". Elections ACT. 6 January 2015. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
4. "'The accidental chief minister': Trevor Kaine 25 years on". Canberratimes.com.au. 12 December 2014. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
5. "15 Jun 1991 - Kaine defers to Humphries after all - Trove". Trove.nla.gov.au. 15 June 1991. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
6. "21 Jul 1991 - Humphries ditched - Trove". Trove.nla.gov.au. 21 July 1991. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
7. "22 Apr 1993 - The ten-minute coup that stopped a hemorrhage - Trove". Canberra Times (Act : 1926 - 1995). Trove.nla.gov.au. 22 April 1993. p. 1. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
8. "List of elected candidates - 1995 Election". Elections ACT. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
9. "ACT's controversial former chief minister Kate Carnell has returned to the main game selling a forceful message". Canberratimes.com.au. 31 March 2012. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
10. "Liberals Analysis. ACT Election Guide 2004". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
11. Green, Antony. "Election Preview". ABC News. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
12. "Leanne Castley elected Canberra Liberals leader". The Canberra Times. 30 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
13. "David Pocock officially declared first independent senator for the ACT, unseating Liberal Zed Seselja". ABC News. 14 June 2022. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
14. "Review into Canberra Liberals election defeat to tackle independents 'challenge'". Riotact. 20 July 2022. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.