PALMER UNITED PARTY & UAP
The United Australia Party (“UAP”) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia (1917-1931) and predecessor of the Liberal Party of Australia (1945). The UAP was formed in 1931 by Labor dissidents and a conservative coalition as a response to the more radical economic proposal
s of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) members to deal with the Great Depression. Joseph Lyons and Patrick Fenton’s opposition to the economic policies of James Scullin’s Labor Government attracted the support of prominent Australian conservatives, including future prime minister Robert Menzies. While still a member of the ALP, Lyons supported a no confidence motion against the Scullin Labor government in Parliament on March 31, 1931, soon afterwards Lyons, Fenton and several other Labor MPs resigned from the ALP in protest of Scullin’s economic policies. On May 7, 1931, the Nationalist opposition, six Labor dissidents and former Prime Minister Billy Hughes’ Australia Party, merged to form the UAP. Although the new party was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons was chosen as the party’s leader and became the Leader of the Opposition. With its slogan ‘All for Australian and the Empire’, the UAP presented a convincing image of national unity and transcending class barriers. In November 1931, after further splits within the ALP costing the Scullin government its parliamentary majority, Lang Labor dissidents joined the UAP opposition to pass a no-confidence motion forcing an early election. The UAP went on to win the subsequent parliamentary elections in December 1931 in a massive landslide and Lyons became Prime Minister in January 1932. The UAP went on to spend all but eight months of its existence prior to 1941 in government when Prime Minister Arthur Fadden’s government fell on October 3, 1941, and John Curtin was sworn in as Prime Minister on October 7, 1941. The UAP was ill-prepared for a role in opposition and Curtin proved a popular leader who rallied the nation in the face of the danger of invasion by the Japanese. By the 1943 election the coalition had sunk into near paralysis and at the election, led by Billy Hughes, it suffered a massive defeat and was reduced to 19 seats nationwide. The party and its organisation seemed moribund, UAP branches tended to become inactive between elections and its politicians were seen as compromised by their reliance on lobbyists and large donations from business and financial organisations. Robert Menzies, who had returned to UAP leadership after Hughes, was convinced the party was no longer viable and a new anti-Labor party needed to be formed to replace it. As a result, the UAP was absorbed into the new Liberal Party of Australia on August 31, 1945, with Menzies as Leader. In 2013 the United Australia Party was re-launched by party leader Professor Clive Frederick Palmer, a renowned Australian National Living Treasure & Philanthropist. United Australia Party Former Leaders
Joesph Lyons
Robert Menzies
Billy Hughes
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