Recintos fiscalizados.

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The emergence of the party systems in Australia and New Zealand heralded the beginnings of political alignments that would shape the nature of political debate for most of the twentieth century. As was the case with so many features in the development of the two nations, formal political parties appeared in both countries at around the same time. Even before formal parties developed in Australia "general

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labels were used to indicate partisan tendencies" and the same was true in New Zealand. Yet it was not until the 1890s that, with the increasing bitterness of political conflict due to economic and social change, the need for these partisan tendencies to be expressed through organized political parties became imperative.

In New Zealand the first political parties were the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberals held power from 1891 through to 1912, when the new Reform Party (which drew together the remnants of the old

Keith Sinclair, "Themes of Attraction and Repulsion", in T. J. Hearn (ed.), New Zealand and Australia - The Changing Relationship (Dunedin: Department of University Extension, University of Otago, 1982), p. 16.

P. Loveday and A. W. Martin, "Colonial Politics Before 1890", in P. Loveday, A. W. Martin and R. S. Parker (eds), The Emergence of the Australian Party System (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1977), p. 12.

Conservative opposition plus new conservative interests) began a domination of New Zealand politics which lasted until the late 1920s. In Australia various party systems developed in the different colonies from around the beginning of the 1890s, or just before.^ There were generally two parties which were roughly the equivalent of the early New Zealand parties and variously called the Conservatives or Protectionists on the one hand and Liberals or Free Traders on the other. A significant difference, however, between the initial alignment of the parties in the two countries came in the earlier political mobilization of organized labour in Australia. Whereas the Australian colonies had Labor parties almost from the beginning of their party systems and by 1910 Labor had won an election outright at the federal level, in New Zealand the political organization of labour was weak and lacked unity until much later. The New Zealand Labour Party was not formed until 1916 and did not win a general election until 1935, towards the end of the Great Depression.

Thus by the time of Australian federation in 1901, party politics were established; federal politics became party politics from the start, without passing through a non-party phase as colonial politics had done. There was some initial juggling for position among the non-labour parties, but they combined to form the Liberal Party in 1909 and the 1910 election essentially became a contest between the Liberals and the Labor Party. From the beginning competition at the

See Loveday, Martin and Parker (eds), The Emergence of the Australian Party System, passim.

See P. Loveday, "The Federal Parties", in Loveday, Martin and Parker (eds), The Emergence of the Australian Party System, p. 383.

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federal level in Australia was between organized representatives of labour and non-labour; in New Zealand competition between two essentially non-labour parties (notwithstanding the early appeal of the Liberal Party to labour interests) persisted much longer.

The exceptionally early development in Australia, by world standards, of an organized party of labour as a political force to be reckoned with, compared with the much later emergence of the New Zealand equivalent, may be explained in the following way. In Australia manhood suffrage, the growth of wage labour (in rural as well as urban areas), and the development of trade unionism all occurred earlier than in New Zealand. Industrialization developed on a larger scale. The base of support for the Australian Labor Party was thus cemented much earlier than for its counterpart in New Zealand. In the face of a strong labour movement the non-labour parties were forced to merge. In New Zealand the middle party, located between the conservative and labour organizations, continued as a separate political force for much longer than in Australia. Its ability to do this can be seen partly as a product of disunity within the labour movement and partly as being related to the fact that for a long time the Liberal Party encompassed labour interests, to an extent not paralleled in Australia, which served to slow the impetus of those who advocated advancing labour interests through independent political representation."' During the long period of domination by the

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In other words, the actions of party elites had much to do with the time differences in the development of the Australian and New Zealand party systems. This argument foreshadows the explanation of party systems and voter alignments from a "party-centred" perspective, to be discussed in Chapter Two. On the emergence of political labour

in Australia and New Zealand, see respectively B. K. de Garis, _ ^ "1890-1900", in Crowley (ed.), A New History of Australia,

pp. 233-236; Barry Gustafson, Labour's Path to Political Independence (Auckland: Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press, 1980).

conservative Reform Party from 1912 through to 1928 the Liberal Party, although gradually losing support, retained its position as the principal opposition party. While reasons for its longevity may be the same as those for Labour's retarded growth, the prolongation of the life of the Liberal Party served as an additional hindrance to the rise of Labour because the Liberals almost certainly retained votes that would otherwise have gone to the new party.

It was not until twenty-six years after the two main political parties in Australia had first opposed each other at a national election that a comparable party system finally stabilized in New Zealand, although its essential shape had been evident for some years. In the late 1920s and early 1930s the Reform and Liberal (which changed its name to United) parties had been forced into alliances to stave off the burgeoning Labour challenge, but in 1935 Labour had a resounding victory and it was only then that the remnants of the two anti-labour parties formally united. "With the formation of the National Party in 1936 ... a class-based, two-party political system

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emerged." This two-party system has endured almost unchallenged right 2

through until the late 1970s. The party system which arose in Australia in 1910 has survived equally soundly up to the present. The National Party of Australia (originally known as the Country Party)

^Len Richardson, "Parties and Political Change", in Oliver with Williams (eds), The Oxford History of New Zealand, p. 198.

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There have been signs since the General Election of 1978 that the two-party system is under threat from a third political party, the Social Credit Party (formerly called the Social Credit Political League), which has contested elections in New Zealand since 1954. Even more recently, the New Zealand Party, formed only in 1983, received more votes than Social Credit at the 1984 General Election (about 12 per cent as opposed to about 8 per cent), although it gained no seats while Social Credit won two. These developments have arguably had only a marginal impact on competition between the major parties anyway.

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began contesting elections at the federal level in 1919 but although there has, naturally enough, been protracted debate concerning the number of parties that should be regarded as comprising the Australian party system, it can be argued that the Liberal and National parties, which are permanently allied in a "symbiotic" coalition, by and large behave electorally as though they are a single party.”' Rural influence within the New Zealand National Party is strong and the party certainly has sections which, although joined under the umbrella of a single organization, can clearly be identified as representing the same distinct interests (and give rise to the same sorts of tensions) as the Australian National and Liberal parties respectively. Thus, notwithstanding the presence of minor parties for most of the period since the Second World War, both countries in effect have two-party

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