What would Robert Menzies think of today’s Liberal party as it celebrates 80 years since its founding in 1944?
His first reaction would be pleasure that it was still here. After all, in 1944 there had already been three versions of Australia’s major non-Labor party since 1909 when the first Liberal party was formed: Alfred Deakin’s Commonwealth Liberal party; the Nationalists, formed when Billy Hughes defected from Labor over conscription; and the United Australia party, formed during the Depression. This last had collapsed at the 1943 election into a proliferation of splinter and state-based parties.
