United Australia Party
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United Australia Party
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|
|---|---|
| Leader |
Joseph Lyons Robert Menzies Billy Hughes |
| Founded | 1931 |
| Dissolved | 1945 |
| Preceded by | Nationalist Party of Australia, dissident Labors |
| Succeeded by | Liberal Party of Australia |
| Headquarters | Canberra |
| Ideology |
Conservatism Fiscal conservatism Economic nationalism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| National affiliation | Coalition |
The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia (1917–1931) and was succeeded by the Liberal Party of Australia (1945) as the main anti-Labor party. The party was in government in Australia for much of the 1930s, through Australia's recovery from the Great Depression under Joseph Lyons and into the early stages of World War II under Robert Menzies.
Joseph Lyons began his political career as an Australian Labor Party politician and served as Premier of Tasmania. Lyons was elected to the Australian Federal Parliament in 1929 and served in Prime Minister James Scullin's Labor Cabinet. Lyons became acting Treasurer in 1930 and helped negotiate the government's strategies for dealing with the Great Depression. With Scullin temporarily absent in London, Lyons and acting Prime Minister James Fenton clashed with the Labor Cabinet and Caucus over economic policy, and grappled with the differing proposals of the Premier's Plan, Lang Labor, the Commonwealth Bank and British adviser Otto Niemeyer.
While Health Minister Frank Anstey supported Premier of New South Wales Jack Lang's bid to default on debt repayments, Lyons advocated orthodox fiscal management. When Labor reinstated the more radical Ted Theodore as Treasurer in 1931, Lyons and Fenton resigned from Cabinet.
The UAP was formed in 1931 by Labor dissidents and a conservative coalition as a response to the more radical economic proposals of Labor Party members to deal with the Great Depression in Australia. Lyons and Fenton's opposition to the economic policies of the Scullin Labor Government had attracted the support of prominent Australian conservatives, known as "the Group", whose number included future prime minister Robert Menzies. In parliament on 13 March 1931, though still a member of the ALP, Lyons supported a no confidence motion against the Scullin Labor government. Soon afterward, Lyons, Fenton and four other right-wing Labor MPs--Moses Gabb, Allan Guy, Charles McGrath and John Price—resigned from the ALP in protest of the Scullin government's economic policies. On 7 May, the Nationalist opposition (hitherto led by John Latham), the six Labor dissidents (who had formed the All for Australia League), and former Prime Minister Billy Hughes' Australian Party (a group of former Nationalists who had been expelled for crossing the floor and bringing down Stanley Bruce's Nationalist government in 1929), merged to form the UAP. Although the new party was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons was chosen as the new party's leader, and thus became Leader of the Opposition. Former Nationalist leader John Latham became the UAP's deputy leader.
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