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Tasmanian National Party

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Tasmanian Nationals
LeaderSteve Martin
Founded1922 (Country Party)
1962 (re-established)
1994 (re-established)
2013 (re-established)
2018 (re-established)
Headquarters59 Wellington St, Longford, Tasmania 7301
Youth wingYoung Nationals
IdeologyConservatism
Agrarianism
Political positionCentre-right
ColoursGreen and yellow
House of Representatives
0 / 5
(Tas. seats)
Senate
0 / 12
(Tas. seats)
House of Assembly
0 / 35
Devonport City Council
1 / 9
Website
tasnationals.org.au

The Tasmanian Nationals are a political party in the Australian state of Tasmania, aligned with the National Party of Australia. The party is not currently registered with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission,[1] and is not separately registered with the Australian Electoral Commission, unlike the other state branches of the Nationals.[2]

The party has a history in Tasmania dating back to 1922, and has previously used the names Country Party, Centre Party, and National Country Party. It has had limited electoral success and has dissolved itself or disappeared on a number of occasions, sometimes for several decades.[3] The party was briefly re-established in 2018, after independent senator Steve Martin joined the Nationals. He was the first member of the party in federal parliament since the 1920s.

History

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1920s

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No state country party organisation yet existed in Tasmania prior to 1922, although in the 1919 federal election former MP Norman Cameron sought to regain the Division of Wilmot as a country candidate.[4] In 1920 members of the Australian House of Representatives elected from other state country parties came together to form the Country Party, with long-serving Tasmanian MP William McWilliams, the sitting member for the Division of Franklin, assisting in the formation of the party and serving as its initial leader. The party was also joined by Llewellyn Atkinson, the sitting member for Wilmot. McWilliams was replaced as leader in 1921 and defeated in the 1922 election but the Country Party gained Darwin with Joshua Whitsitt.[5]

1922 saw the creation of a state party by the Tasmanian Farmers, Stockowners and Orchardists' Association.[6] It was joined by several sitting members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly including Nationalists Ernest Blyth (Division of Lyons) William Dixon (Franklin), Edward Hobbs (Darwin), and independent Joshua Whitsitt (Darwin). At the 1922 state election Whitsitt stood down to transfer to federal politics and Dixon was defeated but Blyth led the party to gain three further members Richard Franks (Darwin, holding Whitsitt's seat), John Piggott (Franklin, taking Dixon's seat) and Albert Bendall (Wilmot). The overall result gave the Country Party the balance of power and they were able to force the replacement of Premier Walter Lee with John Hayes at the head of a coalition with Blyth as minister for lands and mines.[7]

However the party was to soon fall apart during the Assembly's term, with Piggott sitting as an Independent, Blyth and Bendall moving to the Nationalists and Hobbs joining a "Liberal" grouping based on Lee. Franks retired at the 1925 election. At the federal level Whitsitt retired in 1925 with no Country Party candidate defending Darwin. Atkinson continued to sit for the Country Party as late as at least 1926, but by the 1928 election he had joined the Nationalists.[8] The Country Party ceased to exist in the state.[9]

1960s to 1970s

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Main article: Centre Party (Tasmania)

For the next few decades there was virtually no Country Party electoral activity in the state bar a single candidacy in Franklin in the 1934 federal election.[10] In 1962 a new Country Party organisation was formed in the state which would last until 1975.[11] It contested the 1964 state election but won no seats. In the run up to the 1969 election Kevin Lyons, a former Liberal turned independent member of the Assembly for Braddon, became the party's leader and reorganised it as the Centre Party. Lyons retained his seat at the election, which resulted in a hung parliament. He threw his support to his former Liberal colleagues, and served as Deputy Premier under Angus Bethune until 1972 when Lyons withdrew support, collapsing the coalition.[3] The Centre Party did not contest the resulting election.[12]

The party contested the Senate in the 1974 federal election[13] and then stood for both the Senate and House in the 1975 federal election (by now as the National Country Party)[14][15] but had no success. The party disappeared that year.[11]

Later appearances

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The party was formed again in 1994 and in 1996 contested the state election,[16] and the federal election in both the House[17] and Senate[18] but once again secured only a small vote with rural interests preferring the Liberals instead.[3] The party was registered federally with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) from October 1995 to April 1998, under the name "National Party of Australia – Tasmania".[19]

The party reorganised and registered in the state in 2013[20] and were subsequently joined by former Labor minister Allison Ritchie.[21] However disagreements with the federal party over strategy led to the latter distancing itself.[22] Scott Mitchell, the federal director of the Nationals, stated in January 2014 that "we don't want them using our brand and promoting policies that people could see as Nationals' policies".[23] Following poor results in the 2014 state election, some members decided to rename the party, the Tasmania Party.[24] However it was instead deregistered in the state.[25]

In May 2018 Steve Martin, a Senator originally elected for the Jacqui Lambie Network who had subsequently been expelled, joined the Nationals, giving them their first federal representative in the state in ninety years.[26] Martin declared he was seeking to relaunch the party in the state.[27]

In October 2018, the re-established party held its first state conference in Launceston, which was attended by the party's federal leader Michael McCormack. At the conference, Steve Martin announced that he would stand for re-election at the 2019 federal election and stated that the party hoped to field additional candidates.[28] In January 2019, the party announced it would field a candidate in Bass. The Nationals also contested the seats of Braddon and Lyons.[29]

Steve Martin failed in his bid to win election to the Senate, polling just over one percent of the statewide vote.[30] The Nationals performed best in Lyons, where they received 15.7% of the vote, where the Liberal candidate was disendorsed.[31][32]

Martin was later elected as a councillor in Devonport at the 2022 Tasmanian local elections, giving the party an elected representative for the first time since he lost re-election.[33]

State election results

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Election Seats won ± Total votes % Position Leader
1922
5 / 30
 Increase 5 9,498 13.98% Coalition Ernest Blyth
Party did not contest elections between 1925 and 1959
1964
0 / 35
 Steady 0 9,280 5.26% Not in chamber
1969
1 / 35
 Increase 1 8,160 4.31% Coalition Kevin Lyons
Party did not contest elections between 1972 and 1992
1996
0 / 35
 Steady 0 6,476 2.20% Not in chamber
Party did not contest elections between 1998 and 2010
2014
0 / 25
 Steady 0 2,655 0.81% Not in chamber
Party did not contest in 2018 or 2021 or 2024

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Party Register". Tasmanian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Current register of political parties". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Petrow, Stefan: Country Party, The Companion to Tasmanian History (University of Tasmania).
  4. ^ Carr, Adam. "1919 House of Representatives: Voting by Constituency, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  5. ^ Carr, Adam. "1922 House of Representatives: Voting by Constituency, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  6. ^ Davey, Paul (2010). Ninety Not Out: The Nationals 1920-2010. UNSW Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1742231662.
  7. ^ Scott Bennett, 'Hayes, John Blyth (1868–1956)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 31 May 2018.
  8. ^ Davey, Paul (2010). Ninety Not Out: The Nationals 1920-2010. UNSW Press. pp. 431–432. ISBN 978-1742231662.
  9. ^ Davey, Paul (2010). Ninety Not Out: The Nationals 1920-2010. UNSW Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1742231662.
  10. ^ Carr, Adam. "1934 House of Representatives: Voting by Constituency, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  11. ^ a b Davey, Paul (2010). Ninety Not Out: The Nationals 1920-2010. UNSW Press. p. 432. ISBN 978-1742231662.
  12. ^ Parliament of Tasmania. "Assembly Elections results, 1972". Parliament.tas.gov.au. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  13. ^ Carr, Adam. "1974 Senate: Voting by State, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  14. ^ Carr, Adam. "1975 House of Representatives: Voting by Constituency, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  15. ^ Carr, Adam. "1975 Senate: Voting by State, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  16. ^ Carr, Adam. "1996 Tasmanian House of Assembly: Voting by Division". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  17. ^ Carr, Adam. "1996 House of Representatives: Voting by Constituency, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  18. ^ Carr, Adam. "1996 Senate: Voting by State, Tasmania". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  19. ^ "National Party of Australia – Tasmania". Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  20. ^ "National Party registers in Tasmania". ABC News. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  21. ^ Matt Smith (27 November 2013). "Former Labor MLC Allison Ritchie to lead Tassie National Party". Mercury. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  22. ^ Matt Smith (30 January 2014). "Federal National Party director expresses concern over non-aligned party running in Tasmanian poll". Mercury. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  23. ^ "Tasmanian state election 2014: an overview – Parliament of Australia". Aph.gov.au. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Moves underway to set up a Tasmania Party to contest future elections". ABC News. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  25. ^ "Party Register". Tasmanian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  26. ^ Elton, James (28 March 2018). "Tasmanian independent senator Steve Martin joins the Nationals". SBS News. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  27. ^ Sue Bailey (29 May 2018). "Senator Steve Martin will struggle to get elected at the next poll says a Tasmanian academic". Examiner. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  28. ^ Vinall, Frances (6 October 2018). "Nationals search for Tasmanian federal election candidates". The Examiner. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  29. ^ Jarvie, Emily (18 January 2019). "Lyons, TAS". The Examiner. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  30. ^ "Nationals fail to make a dent in Tasmania". The Advocate. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  31. ^ Lyons, TAS, Tally Room 2019, Australian Electoral Commission.
  32. ^ Remeikis, Amy (3 May 2019). "Federal election 2019: Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten face each other in second leaders' debate – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
  33. ^ "Council results coming in for Tasmanian local government elections". ABC News.

Bibliography

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