National Party of Western Australia

National Party Of Western Australia

The National Party of Western Australia is a political party in Western Australia. It is affiliated with the National Party of Australia but maintains a separate structure and identity.

Founded in 1913 to represent the interests of farmers and pastoralists, it was the first agrarian party in Australia to contest and win seats at the 1914 state election. Since then, it has continuously held seats in the state's Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, particularly in the state's Wheatbelt region, and for many years it also held Federal seats. While the party had historically functioned as part of a two-party coalition with the centre-right Liberal Party (and its predecessors) for most of its existence, tensions have always existed over the coalition arrangement, and on two occasions the party split over the issue.

Since the passage of reforms initiated by the Labor Party to the electoral system reducing the number of non-metropolitan seats, the Nationals have refashioned themselves as an independent third party in Western Australian politics in an effort to ensure their survival and continued representation for agrarian interests in Parliament.

In 2005 the party confirmed its intention to maintain parliamentary independence from the Liberal Party. In 2007, leader Brendon Grylls stated that the party "took a significant step and said no to a traditional coalition with the Liberal Party and will contest the (next) election as a stand-alone conservative party". Following the unexpected hung parliament produced by the election, the Nationals found themselves with the balance of power in both houses of the Western Australian parliament, opting ultimately to support the Liberals without establishing with them a coalition of one political force.

Nationals WA candidate Tony Crook defeated Liberal Party incumbent Wilson Tuckey in the lower house seat of O'Connor at the 2010 federal election, where a four-seat deficit for both sides saw the first hung parliament since the 1940 federal election. Crook previously sat on the crossbench after the election; he and his party remained open to negotiations by both sides on the formation of the 2010 federal government. In April 2012, however, he moved from the crossbench to sit with the Nationals. His main platform is pro-Royalties for Regions policy and anti-Mineral Resource Rent Tax. Since his election, Crook at times has voted for federal Labor government policies in parliament contrary to the official position of the National Party of Australia.