Ministerialists and Oppositionists (Western Australia)

Ministerialists and Oppositionists (Western Australia) were political groupings that were in force in the Western Australian parliament in the elections of the early twentieth century.

At the establishment of the WA parliament in 1897, Ministerialists were defined as those who supported the government of the day (led by John Forrest), while Oppositionists were opposed to it. Multiple candidates for each grouping could run for a given seat. The Australian Labour Party (ALP) was the only major grouping outside this structure. Additionally, some candidates ran as an "Independent".

At the 1901 WA election, the Ministerialists (aligned with Forrest) lost to the Oppositionists (led by George Leake). However, the labels stuck to the groupings, and the "Oppositionists" now had power and the ministries. This strange use of nomenclature ceased with the defeat of the Oppositionists by the Ministerialists at the 1904 election. Around this point, the term "Oppositionist" ceased to be used. The Ministerialists were then to retain power until their defeat by the ALP at the 1911 election.

Immediately after this, the Ministerialist grouping became the centre-right Western Australian Liberal Party (1911–17) under the continued guidance of John Forrest.[1]

In the 1920s, the centre-right Nationalist party (heirs to the Liberal Party) retained the practice of allowing multiple party candidates to compete against each other in a single member seat.

Despite the centre-right parties being in opposition at the time, the Ministerialist term was still used to describe them in WA politics in the 1920s[2] and in the 1940s.[3] The term had long ceased to have any connection to the holding of ministries.

Elsewhere

The "Ministerialist"/"Oppositionalist" means of defining political parties was for a long time in use in the United Kingdom.

In Australia, it was used in Queensland until it's 1907 election.[4]

Notes
  1. Note at the end of the speech build up a good patriotic Liberal Party "STATE POLITICS. SPEECH BY SIR JOHN FORREST". Western Mail (Western Australia). XXVI (1, 341). Western Australia. 9 September 1911. p. 14. Retrieved 7 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "PROSPECTS". The Sydney Morning Herald (28, 349). New South Wales, Australia. 13 November 1928. p. 15. Retrieved 5 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Ministerialists' Vigorous Campaign". Sunday Times (Perth) (2225). Western Australia. 15 September 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 7 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Klaassen, Margaret Jean (2014), An examination of how the military, the conservative press and ministerialist politicians generated support within Queensland for the war in South Africa in 1899 and 1900, Queensland University of Technology, retrieved 7 March 2017
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