The party system An Australian party system had begun to develop
during the last years of the colonial period in the 1890s, to
the extent that most seats in the first Commonwealth Parliament
were won by candidates from just three major groups, one of
which was the Australian Labor Party. The outline of the modern
system could be seen by 1910 following the fusion of two non-
Labor parties in opposition to Labor. In 1919 the Country Party
won a significant number of seats, and by 1923 it had joined the
major non-Labor party in the first of many conservative
coalition governments. Today the party battle at the
Commonwealth level and in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria
and Western Australia is dominated by the contest between Labor
and the Liberal and National (formerly Country) parties. In
South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory
the major contest is between the Liberal and Labor parties,
while in the Northern Territory the Country Liberal Party
opposes the Labor Party. Many minor parti