New England Online

Preface · About New England · Latest News

New England Online > Government & Politics > Politics > New England Alliance

New England Alliance

The New England Alliance is the third largest party in New England. Ideologically, the Alliance is a socially progressive party that was formed with the merger of the Country Democratic Party, Liberal Party and the Green Party in July 2027. The current leader of the Alliance is Scott Rogers.

The Alliance has maintained a number of strong and competing factions with the strongest is the social progressive element that makes the Alliance a party in the mould of the British Liberal Democrats or to a lesser extent, the Australian Democrats. The party enjoys moderate support in the electorate and generally polls about 20% of the vote. The heartland of the party is in the urban constituencies of Armidale and Port Macquarie.

• History
• Policy
• Structure
  • Branches
  • County Executive
  • Constituency Executive
  • National Executive
  • Annual Conference
• Party Leaders
  • Leadership Elections
  • List of Leaders

History

In 2012, when New England became independent, there was no party of the centre registred with Elections New England. Those of a moderate and progressive point of view did not have a natural home in the other parties, and were therefore scattered across all the major parties. However, by 2015, a centrist movement began colese.

The Green Party of New England was the first of the parties that would go on to found the Alliance. It was founded in 2012, but for many years it was strictly concerned with green political issues only, and the majority of it's membership did not share the moderate and progressive point of view taken by the centre of politics. The Greens were joined in the fray by the Liberal Party, who were founded in 20xx around Kerrie Stuart after she was elected thegn for Macquarie. The Country Democrats were the third and last of the parties to be founded in 2020, and have been the most influential of the parties that went in to making the Alliance.

Having competed against one another for some years, the emergence of the MMPPR electoral system in 2024 led to a number of spliter parties coming into existance. The various parties tried to complete against each other for the 2024 election, and were not very successful and getting enough votes to have a strong presence in parliament. The election saw the Greens win x seats, with the Country Democrats picking up x seats as well. The Liberals again failed to break into parliament, and did not win a seat. However, the Liberals did much better in the county elections held in August 2024, where they won eight seats and gained an increased majority.

Faced with the prospect of continuing to peform poorly, many members of the various parties began to advocate that a "unite the centre" campaign that might draw together enough support for there to be some success at the ballot box. Members of the three parties lobbied long and hard from 2024 until 2027 for the merger to take place, which finally occured on the 1st July 2027, when the New England Alliance came into being. Allan Smith was the first leader of the new party.

Under Snith, the party worked towards to the 2028 elections, which would be the first test for the new party. Smith guided the party for almost eight years, only to be struck down with an aggressive tumor in 2035. After battling the illness for some months, he retired from parliament in 2035 and died less than a week later.

In 2051, the Annual Conference of the party voted to recommend the renaming of the party. A committee on party structure and development has been established, with a view to renaming the party in time for the 2056 general and county elections. No name has been officially put forward, media speculation has given rise to several suggestions that the committee may consider, including the "National Liberal Party", the "Centre Party", or the "Liberal Democratic Party".

Policy

The Alliance subscribes to three main princpals, which it calls the "three pillars of good government". The pillars are laid out in the parties constitutional premable and consist of:

• Economic efficiency,
• Social justice and
• Individual liberty

The party also explicitly target voters who seek a brake on the powers of the government of the day to change things, with the record of their long-term hold on the balance of power in the House of Assembly acting as an attractive option for many voters. The core support base of the party is overwhelmingly among tertiary-educated and middle-class New Englanders. The party also polls high among younger voters and in particular university students, with the university dominated constituency of Madgwick-Laureldale having been held by the Alliance since 2028.

The Alliance agenda includes interventionist economic policies, focusing on agricultural, environmental and rural outcomes. The party also supports multilateral approaches to international relations, support for science and the arts, generally progressive approaches to social issues, and constitutional and treaty protections for human rights. The party also favours the retention of the Monarchy, and is a member of the Monarchist League in the Witan.

[Top of Page]

Structure

The Alliance is structred quite like the other major parties. Members of the party belong to a branch, which sends delegates to county and consitency executives, and the National Executive, which is the primary administratitive body of the party. In addition, the party holds an annual conference to vote on policy matters and elect the party chairman.

Branches - The party is built around the branch, which is a local grouping of members who form a leadership commitee, and constribute to the policy formulation debates within the party. The branches also appoint delegates to the county and constituency executives. For prospective polititians, election to the branch executive is a vital step on the way

County Executive - The party has thirteen executives that manage the branches and appoint members to the National Executive.

Constituency Executive - Each branch sends members to an executive which is a charged with the pre-selection of candiates for the House of Assembly and county councils.

National Executive - Consisting of sixteen members, the National Executive is the most important body in the party. Each county sends one delegate, who are joined by the chairman, leader of the parliamentry party and the national secretary.

Annual Conference -

[Top of Page]

Election Results

[Top of Page]

Party Leaders

Since the party was founded in 2027, there have been four leaders of the New England Alliance.

Leadership Elections - Just like the other major parties, the New England Alliance conducts a general ballot of it's members to elect the parliamentry leader of the party. Elections only occur when the previous incumbet dies or resigns from the leadership. Since the party was established, there has have been four leadership elections.

For people to be able to vote in the election, a person must be a current members of the party on the day the election is announced or whose membership subscriptions are due within three months of that date.

[Top of Page]

Home · Site Map · Contact Us · Search
Legal Disclaimer · Site Acknowledgments

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.