New England Online > Government & Politics > Politics > Parties > Conservative Party
Conservative Party
| Conservative Party | |
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| Founded: | 2018 |
| Disbanded: | 2020 |
| Last Leader: | Rodney Moss |
| Political Ideology: | Social Conservatism |
The Conservative Party was a short lived political party that held seats in the House of Assembly from late 2018 until the 2019 general election. The party was formed as a breakaway movement from the Liberal Party of New England, which merged with National Party in 2018. Whilst officially a secular party, the CLP had strong connexions with the Pentecostal Christian movement, and most of the funding and support for the party came from fundamentalist Christian churches. The only leader of the party was former Liberal Rodney Moss.
In policy, the CLP was ultra conservative on all social issues. It opposed any reforms to family planning, minority rights, and sought to blur the division between church and state. The party was pro-Australian, and campaigned on a platform of integration and reunification with New England's former master. The party therefore attempted whenever it could, to oppose reforms that separated the two nations further, and often acted as a disruptive force in the Parliament.
The 2019 general election, the party stood candidates in all seats, hoping to unseat National Party members, and form a government of its own that would start the process of reunification. Unfortunately, the party was totally wiped out at the polls, with the six sitting members losing their seats to National Party candidates, and the party attracting less than 5% of the vote nationally. The party struggled on for some time afterwards, and contested the 2020 general election, which was won by the broad left coalition. Again the CLP failed to gain a seat, and six weeks later the party officially disbanded. The impact of the CLP in the brief period it existed was minimal, but it represented a view in the electorate that was by and large without a political home after the merger of the National and Liberal parties. The failure of the party to gain representation signified unwillingness on the part of the electorate to embrace extreme political policies.
