Core values of the Australian Liberal Party

The Liberal Party is a centre right political party founded in 1944 by Sir Robert Menzies, the longest serving Australian Prime Minister from 1949 to 1966. The Liberal Party first rose to power in 1949 after the initial election loss in 1946 and remained in office until 1972, a period of 23 years - the longest unbroken run in Australian political history. The political party was named Liberal for its associations with progressive nineteenth century free enterprise and social equality ideals.

The ideological framework and core values of the Liberal party is built on the foundations of freedom, choice and enterprise. There has been a narrative presented that the Liberal party is the party of big business, this could not be further from the truth as all major political parties deal with large business, the Liberal party represents small to medium business encouraging entrepreneurship and free enterprise. 

The Liberal party represents the middle class of Australia deemed then as the forgotten people, although a narrative has been put forward that the party represents the upper classes, this is simply not true. During formation, party leadership shared a common belief that Australians should be given greater personal freedom and choice than that what was offered under post world war two socialist plans. Robert Menzies believed the time was right for a new political force in Australia - one which fought for the freedom of the individual and produced enlightened liberal policies.

Citing Robert Menzies, Senator George Brandis stated at the Alfred Deakin lecture at the University of Melbourne "As the etymology of our name 'Liberal' indicates, we have stood for freedom. We have realised that men and women are not just ciphers in a calculation, but are individual human beings whose individual welfare and development must be the main concern of government ... We have learned that the right answer is to set the individual free, to aim at equality of opportunity, to protect the individual against oppression, to create a society in which rights and duties are recognised and made effective."